Cold Open And Show Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I have this genius idea to relocate my family part-time to Mexico. So now we're between Kelowna and Mexico, Kelowna, British Columbia, which is absolutely stunning. And I enter my void. And you know, you do the work, you do the mindset work, you do the personal development work. But then somatically, I do now realize hindsight 2020, that's 10% of our expansion, of our growth, of our evolution. The rest is in our body. It's nervous system, it's looking at from the energetic space within your body of what old programming, subconscious, what you're unaware of, what is still in the way of the life that you're meant to live.

Meet Anna Lozano

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Welcome to Tried and True with a Dash of Woo, where we blend rock solid tips with a little bit of magic. I'm Renee Bowen, your host, life and business coach, and professional photographer. At your service, we are all about getting creative, diving into your business, and playing with manifestation over here. So are you ready to get inspired and have some fun? Let's dive in. My guest today is Anna Lozano, and she is a serial entrepreneur with 16 years of experience building purpose-driven brands. She co-founded Love Powered Co., which is an affirmation company that went from a Kickstarter campaign to a successful exit in 2022. And she's now the founder of Maya Pickleball, host of the top-ranked podcast, The Prosperity Playground. And she also runs transformative founder retreats in Mexico. And she lives between British Columbia and Tulume with her two daughters. And everything about her life feels really deeply deliberately chosen. So we talk about everything from what it took to build her first company to what it felt like when she sold it and went into what she calls the void. Um, and what she experienced during that time and where that also led her. And we have a lot in common. So we really go there in this conversation with things like you know, all all things, all the things that I love to talk about here on the podcast. The how neuroscience meets the woo, the identity loss, the you know, certainty versus certainty, masculine versus feminine, all things mindset, nervous system regulation, all the stuff. Like she's really walks the walk. She really has been on this journey for a while, like myself. And I know that you're gonna find a lot of really great insights and value in what she has to say, not just about building her companies, but who she became along the way and how she discovered that. So let's jump into this conversation I had with Anna. Hello, Anna. Thank you so much for being here with us today. I want to go back to the beginning really quickly because we're gonna get to this whole story and it's super fascinating. But before Love Powered Co. was anything, really, what was the version of you that decided to even do this? And like, what were you what were you trying to solve? Like, did you even have that awareness? Kind of where were you at?

From Corporate To Purpose Work

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yeah, such a good question. So I'll I'll take it back a little bit because it all ties in together. But I was raised um in an immigrant family, so Polish immigrants in Canada. We came with literally nothing, and so I was really wired and programmed to work hard, get good grades, you know, find that safe and secure thing, and and do that as a career path. And so that's what I did. I worked really hard. I started working, you know, age of 14, and then I studied really hard, got into corporate. I started working for Unilever and I looked around and I was like, oh my gosh, I worked such a greater part of my life towards this, and it just it's soul sucking, truthfully. And and I do believe now being an entrepreneur for 16 years, that entrepreneurship is not for everybody. And some people love the what stability and what corporate brings to their life. And so everyone has to follow their path. For me, it was not my path. And so in my early 20s, I really went through a surrender moment and saying, you know, I I trusted this path, I was told to do this path, and like, what is my purpose? What is my mission? And I surrendered. And I I like to jokingly say I entered a pyramid scheme and quit my corporate job. Because I was so programmed to be corporate thinking when network marketing entered my life. I had never heard of this industry. And what fascinated me was that I could consume a product that I believed in versus the products I was told to market in my corporate career, and I could actually create a business out of it. And so for me, this was 2010. It was really this playground of testing my own self in the entrepreneurial space and at the same time entering the world of personal development. And so I started working with Bob Proctor, which, you know, his program, You Were Born Rich, was truly life-changing. And one of the my earlier conscious manifestations was that I wanted to meet Bob Proctor. And three years after that, I was invited to speak at a conference in Las Vegas, again, mid-20s now. And Bob Proctor was in business class on my flight, which was insane because I started. So you got to take the action, right? So, like, universe God presents you with these opportunities. It's like, what do you what do you do with this opportunity? So I wrote him notes that the flight attendant then passed to Bob Proctor, and we were literally like pen pals on the flight. Oh my God, that is incredible. It's insane, and I'm used to him saying it. And then his second program arrived in my mailbox in Toronto on my birthday, just a few months later. He sent me his next program, Thinking into Results. Wow, which was insane and divine synchronicity, which actually I just recently, about a year ago, redid the program. Still very true, like very embodied in truth, extremely powerful. And I do believe, you know, work that really resonates for us is meant for us. So if something is calling you back, even if you did it before, go for it. It's for a reason. Anyways, that was just a little tangent. So I entered this world of network marketing and realized, like, holy shit, I love entrepreneurship. I'm really good at this. We went to the top of the company within four years, got to travel the world again, mid-20s, um, speaking on stages, teaching others how to build this business. And then I became pregnant and I had my first daughter. And I remember looking at, you know, these perfect, clean, clear, slate human beings that are just absolutely perfect. And I started thinking about like, what if I created a tool? What if there was something that would support them in parents raising them consciously versus down the road in your you know teens, 20s, 30s, having to unfuck yourself from all of the programming that wasn't yours? And that was really the intention of the company is raising the next generation of mindful leaders. And um I found a business partner. She had her own story of affirmations and personal development work and how it supported her with anxiety. And we got to work. And within nine months, we had this company that was called Love Powered Co. Um, product-based business, completely different from network marketing. So, you know, we'll go whichever way you want to go, but it was really fascinating to have a thought, have a product idea, and in nine months hold that in your hands. Like that was an incredible experience. And this is where, you know, the addiction for entrepreneurship comes in. It's like, okay, thoughts become things. How incredible that we have an opportunity to do this.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Wow. Yeah. Okay. So so many, so many things. I first of all, all the personal development stuff totally identify with. Like, yes, I mean, I was like, I always call myself like an OG personal development girly because like when I moved to LA at 25, way back in the 90s, um, that was my jam, right? Like that's kind of when I felt like that part of me opened up when I was able to like, you know, leave my place of birth and everything that I knew literally overnight. And I just kind of threw myself into this, and you know, LA, it was even back then, very, very much that way. And I ended up going to a massage therapy school that was very hippy-dippy, you know, mind-body, all of that. And so with my degree in psychology and that, I was just primed for it, right? So I love all of that first and how it literally like led you to such a creative idea, right? Because you had it in front of you. It came out of like a need and a want of your own, right? Which is what everyone says is the key, you know. And then how quickly it came together. Like that is so interesting to me. And did you launch on Kickstarter? Wasn't it like funded very quickly? Is that this company or is that a different company?

Building Love Powered Co. Fast

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah, this is this company. And it was, you know, the beautiful part of this creation process is that my co-founder and I, we really had the opportunity to stay in our zones of genius. So my background is sales and marketing. I'm a four-six generator in human design. So building community and collaboration, that's my jam. She is the creative brains. And so all of the affirmations on the cards were channeled through her. And she would not identify herself as a you know, spiritual teacher or a channeler. But when you're like I have goosebumps, like when you read these cards and you read them with your children, like there is no chance it can come from someone who's sitting in their 3D acting as a human and creating words on paper. There's just no chance. You can feel the depth of them. And so I always told her, I'm like, you're such a channeler when you're in the spaciousness that you need to be for your creativity to pour through. It was so beautiful to witness her creative process. So for me, it was more so the creation of the company, the vessel, more of the masculine energy, where she stayed in her zone of genius and did all of the creative, from the words on the affirmation cards to the photography to, you know, all of our beautiful, aesthetically created and generated uh photography and photo shoots and video shoots and all the things. And that in that process, we decided that we're gonna launch with Kickstarter. And it's interesting because now as I'm gearing up to launch a second product-based company, I was on Kickstarter yesterday. I'm like, is this still a thing? I was kind of looking into it. I'm like, huh. And then so I'm launching with a fashion brand, which we'll we'll lead into that later. But I was like, is there fashion brands on Kickstarter? And so it's interesting because it was such a this is 2016. We launched in 2017. It was a really incredible platform, and our product was not the common product you would find on Kickstarter. And so thankfully, we got funded mostly friends and family. Now it was interesting when orders came through from Italy or from Germany or Australia of like cold market, like that right there. You're like, okay, this is proof because I know my friends and family have my back. And once you start reaching cold market audience and having those sales, you're like, okay, I think we're on to something. And so we did launch through Kickstarter. And it's it's interesting because I go back through these photos to kind of do some throwbacks on social, and it's like, wow, like literally, you're you're launching something on a platform that you've never used before. People are trusting in you because you don't get inventory for at least three months. And so three months later, I was looking at these photos. I'm like, we so literally we sent thousands and thousands of dollars to China, crossed our fingers, praying the product would arrive in Canada. Thankfully, it did. And then you receive these mounds of boxes of inventory that at that stage, bootstrapped uh startup, we were shipping from our basements. And it's like, this is the founder journey. And so as I bring it back to my first point, I'm like, absolutely, it's not for everybody. However, if this is your heart, if this is your purpose, if this is, you know, something that is so alive for you to turn thoughts into things, it is the most exhilarating experience.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Love that because I I don't speak with as many, you know, founders who have done it this way, and specifically even like product-based. Because that is, it's a whole different situation than, you know, let's say courses, coaching, you know, things like that. And yeah, like you you're not just relying on, you know, your own expertise or experience or whatever. That's part of it, but it's not all of it. There is literally like a physical product, you have so many moving parts to this. So I can see the benefit too, like you just mentioned of how you each had this zone of genius, and it's so interesting that it is sort of like that masculine feminine, and you guys just sort of like were able to kind of dance in that energy together. I I love that because for most of us, as you know, like solopreneurs, we gotta do it all, right? Like we gotta go in and out of all of that. And some of us obviously lead more just naturally with masculine or feminine, right? But I really have noticed for myself anyway, and a lot of my coaching students as well, that there's a there's a time for both. And we have to really we have to really pay attention to that and be conscious of it because left to our own devices, we're just gonna sink back into what feels comfortable for us, which may not be the best thing to grow the business or to to bring it to you know its fruition in the way that you really want it to be. And for me, I know personally, I have to I have to physically, literally remind myself to step back into my feminine. Like I lead with masculine energy, I can talk about marketing all day, every day. It's like like my my love language, right? Like I my brain just wants like takes it and just goes off with like ideas and solutions and fixing and all the things. And so I have to grill myself back in and be like, okay, we need to get this back in our body. Yes. And so, how do you balance that? I know that you know you had a partner building this company, but now that you're doing all of these other things, like what has been your journey with that discovery? As far as like, I know you said, yeah, I'm good at that masculine stuff, but like when you notice that something might not be right, you know, to need to continue.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

So good. Well, one is like, I love that you're like marketing is my love language. I'm like, pickleball is my love language. It's like, what's my love language? So I'm gonna answer this question with tying it back to the story because there's a conclusion, and then there was a the whole other chapter that was unveiled. So we scaled the company within six years, and in that six years, obviously there was a global pandemic. So that was really interesting to navigate as a product-based business where overseas is where we're getting our product from. So at one point, we completely sold out, and we were reliant on our retail partners to support the sell-through of product because we had no inventory. After that, I have to say that I consciously manifested one of our actually our biggest collaboration with a large Canadian influencer named Gillian Harris. So Gillian Harris, who is a former bachelorette, uh, fell in love with the company during the process. We did a ton of influencer gifting. Jessica Alba had our product. You know, there was just so many incredible people that fell in love with the product. So, quick story. I was driving through this Canadian town, and I was like, okay, I do feel that Gillian Harris lives here. And so I literally like throw my hands up in the air. I'm like, I think I've seen it on story somewhere. I was like, God universe, if we're meant to collaborate with Gillian Harris, make it fast, make it fun, and make it easy. I get to my email. So, right, this is the whole thing with how we're co-creating and we're moving and flowing between masculine and feminine energy. So that was very feminine. That was like a surrender, a trusting, and then, you know, in that energy, you take the action. That's the doing, that's the masculine. And so I guessed her email address. I'm sending an email from Love Powered Co. She already has the brand awareness. And I said, you know, if there's an opportunity to collaborate for one of your jelly boxes and to co-create a product together, like we would love to explore this. Within eight minutes, she writes back and she's like, There's an opportunity a year from today to work together on a journal because I'd love to include a journal in the fall 2021 Jilly Box. I was like, We're in, we're gonna figure this out.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Wow.

Pandemic Scaling And The Exit

SPEAKER_02 16:56

So we literally co-created a journal from scratch, and it's not just like a journal with a beautiful cover and white blank pieces of paper. Every single page is uniquely created, very intentional. It's called the Everything Journal. And so a year from that date, we officially launched 16,000 units, tons of brand awareness. And that's when I said to my business partner, I'm like, if we're gonna exit, we have to exit on a high. And this is an interesting part because when you're on a high as a founder, you want to ride that wave. Things are easy, opportunities are flowing your way. You have so much brand awareness that anything that you ask for, usually it's a positive response. However, if you do want to exit, it is also the most important time to exit if you want your top valuation. And so we got to work, we started working with a business broker, which in the end it was fascinating because the buyer came through my Instagram. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Wow.

Mexico Move And Entering The Void

Nervous System Healing Through Meditation

SPEAKER_02 17:53

So 2022 December, we have an exit. Now, interestingly enough, I became really good friends with the woman who purchased the company. And I literally sent her a voice note today. I said, we need to resell the company because when she purchased, she's an accountant by trade. Her accounting firm literally within a month boomed. Multi-seven figures, extremely busy. She did not have the capacity or the team who had the know-how at the time to build this e-commerce business, very different from her zone of genius and her expertise. And so I'm like, you know what? It's now been, if we look at it almost four years, like my intention, my heart is I want this product to live on because it was so consciously curated. I have people coming up to me all the time. This product changed my life. I use it with my kids all the time. It is, and I know because of the intention it was created in. And so we're actually like, I'm talking to her. I'm like, let's do it. I'm here to support you in this resell. It's not where I personally want to go just because I'll go later with what I'm co-creating, but I'm like, I do believe there's a buyer out there for it because it's so powerful in terms of a tool. So, post-sale, I have this genius idea to relocate my family part-time to Mexico. So now we're between Kelowna and Mexico, Kelowna, British Columbia, which is absolutely stunning. And I enter my void, and you know, you do the work, you do the mindset work, you do the personal development work. But then somatically, I do now realize hindsight 2020, that's 10% of our expansion, of our growth, of our evolution. The rest is in our body. It's nervous system, it's looking at from the energetic space within your body of what old programming, subconscious, what you're unaware of, what is still in the way of the life that you're meant to live. And so I got into deep work, three years of really inner world work. It was, it's, it's so fascinating now, hindsight 2020, seeing like the beauty of the external world around you and then the struggle of your inner world. And so I started manifesting these allergic reaction bumps on my hands. They would literally show up every couple of weeks. They were extremely itchy. And there was a few things going on. You know, I was walking around without vision, without purpose. And for me, that's nervous system safety. Nervous system safety for me is in the doing, was, I will say was because this has shifted. Nervous system safety in the doing, nervous system safety in the vision and the purpose and the mission and in moving towards something greater than myself in the identity that I had created, that I had been known for for the last six years. And having that go away was the most extremely difficult part of my life and the most important because reconnecting back in again, not only from the conscious mindset, personal growth work, but from the subconscious and the somatics and the nervous system, and now literally like feeling and moving through all the discomfort that you don't feel through the doing. It was such a fascinating journey. And so I can say one of the biggest transformational tools for me was meditation and not just any meditation. I deeply devoted to 70 minutes a day. And when I say that, it's like, oh, but I can't do that. I don't have enough time. That you lost me, Anna. You know, where am I gonna find? It's not about that, it's really about in whatever capacity, being comfortable in the quiet, being comfortable, just being with yourself, being comfortable in the presence without the noise around you. And that's when the most incredible things drop in. That's when the next purpose, the next vision, the next why dropped in. And I and I can say with full confidence that it's divinely guided. And so for me now, it's like Living in alignment with synchronicities, living in alignment with, you know, just before we hopped in, I was like, God, lead this conversation. And I'm not a very religious person, but 100% spiritual. It's like, you know, God, creator, lead through me. I'm just a vessel having this human experience, but I know that every single one of us is here for something so much greater and deeper. But first, we need to allow ourselves the spaciousness to feel it and to hear it. Oftentimes we're in the masculine and just stuck in the doing and we can't. So that's really been my work the last three years. And I can say about a year ago, the next vision dropped in. And like, that's a long time for women like us who are used to creating.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Yeah, for sure. Now I want to touch on this meditation piece a little bit because it's something that I talk about a lot as well. And, you know, I also do hypnosis, I'm certified in that. And my coaching students who are listening know how much I harp on this. And I just had it's so interesting because I'm working with one of my one-on-one students. When she came into the container a couple months ago, I never had meditated or really been able to, and never really done any hypnosis or anything like that, right? So there's a there was a lot of there's a decent amount of programming and it's interesting because creatives come to me for help figuring out this business thing, right? Because like I can help you figure out how to make money at what you love to do. But it's we there's so much undoing in that. Like that's what they they they're coming in for, but really they're getting a lot more than that, right? And it was just interesting because this last conversation I had with her, she's like, you know, I was just doing this meditation because she's been committing to it. And I mean, ever since then, like I've seen, I've seen these little glimmers of changes, right? She saw it this this last weekend, and and she was like, I had this experience like when I was meditating, and I don't know, I can't explain it. And I was like, You don't have to, like I'm like, you don't need to, I know exactly what you're talking about. And I was like, that is that is the deal, that that right there, right? And it's like what you were just talking about sitting with it, like so many people tell me, I don't, I don't have time, like you said, I don't have time to meditate, or like I sit down to do it and my mind just keeps going and I can't I can't meditate. Like that's something, yeah, right. And Dr. Joe talks about this all the time. I know that you've you found his work during that time, and I know you're familiar with Dr. Joe Dispens. And I have been for probably at least 10 years. And he talks about this a lot. He's like, No, no, no, we give you something else to do during that default mode. Like, that's just normal, right? Like, and yes, so many people just need to hear that right there. Is that you're normal? Like this isn't you're not broken. Of course, your brain is gonna start looking for patterns and start trying to your unconscious mind just wants to kind of pull you back to safety. Like, this isn't our normal safety thing. Like, what are you doing? We have to be doing something right now, we have to be figuring things out, right? And so that is the exact reason why I feel like everyone should be committing to this because that is where the change happens. Like you said, it's not up here, it's so integrated with your whole being. And I mean, like we could go off on a tangent on Dr. Joe, but my whole point to this is that anybody listening, like I really hope you guys hear what we're both saying here. Like, it's not woo-woo shit. Like, this is neuroscience. You are literally changing your body, you're changing your chemistry, and you're not having to go and do ayahuasca for it. Like, now, if you want to do that, that's fine. But like meditation gives you this, like it literally in it it's so accessible for us. And so, really, what I wanted to kind of like ask you is I know that you had already been on this like journey with self-development, and you're already there, right? Like you were already, it's like you went to found Dr. Joe from like point zero, right? Like you're already doing a lot of this work, but still that can be very hard for people, especially when you're in this like void, as you called it, um, to to be open to it. So, what do you really think it was that like kind of cracked you open enough to actually like perceive what was meant for you in that moment?

Co-Creating Vision With The Woo

SPEAKER_02 26:23

So good. Yeah, that's such a great question. I feel well, there was a big part of me that was really impatient, you know, and and really just wanted to be on the next thing and doing. And consciously, I made the decision that we're not gonna do that. Because if we create from that energy, it's not gonna be divinely guided. It's gonna be me guided. And me guided is like one percent of the possibility of what can be when it's divinely guided, like chills all over my body. And so I want to create in co-creation. And so I had glimpses, enough glimpses throughout my career, just keeping, you know, I've been doing this for over a decade. Like I've been an entrepreneur for 16 years, and so I've had enough evidence in my life of what alignment and flow and I like to call it ease and the effort feels like, and that's the way that I love to feel when I'm doing, and it's always that much more fruitful. Now, the pre-Anna who just described all this was the one that would sit down at her computer nine to five, because that's what I should be doing. And then even if I had no work to do, I would look for work to do, right? Like that was the first part of my chapter, was like nine to five Anna, way past. Like, I had already quit my nine to five, but now I'm an entrepreneur and now I'm sitting nine to five. And if at 3 p.m. I had nothing else to do, I figured shit out and I just made shit happen, right? And so it's like then there was the evolution into the next phase where there was more personal growth, conscious work layered in that started gifting me the evidence of ease and flow. And ease and flow does not mean lazy, it does not mean you're not creating, it does not mean you're not doing, but you're doing it from a completely different energetic vibration. And so when we can consciously choose to be in an energetic vibration that makes us magnetic to the very things that we desire, that's when we get to experience it all. So at that stage, I already had enough evidence to be like, I want it the other way. I want it this way. That feels good. And so, yes, there's there was this human Anna living my human experience, who's very impatient, very frustrated. You know, I just gone through an exit, but I'm also someone who who who's always like I've been working since the age of 14. And so now I'm like in Mexico, and what like my husband is taking care of our family, and like, like, no, that no, I've always been a co-supporter of our family and our lifestyle, and and I love that. And so, in the discomfort came the deep devotion to this work, and so as I consciously made these decisions day by day, I was invited to a meditation group who meets every Thursday to start meditating with Dr. Joe Dispenza. And my first thought was like, Well, I don't meditate. I have I'm a generator, I have way too much energy to meditate, right? I go on walks and I meditate, which it's a cop-out. I'm sorry. Like, no, we need, and listen, and it's not about like just sitting there and and witnessing our thoughts. You got to find your meditation that works for you. That kind does not work for me. But when it is guided through someone like Dr. Joe, it becomes a lot more accessible. And as it becomes more accessible and you become more devoted to it, then you start to see shifts around you. So as I'm sitting in this meditation, I don't know exactly in terms of the time frame, but my podcast dropped in. So my podcast is called The Prosperity Playground. And I feel like the most beautiful thing about it is I had made a list of dream guests. And we're talking from, okay, of course, Jillian Harris, who I had mentioned, to if you look at the list, I was like Neil Donald Walsh, Conversations with God, Danielle Laporte, Firestarters, and you know, her incredible work for the last for decades. Um, Kate Northrub, Jessica's Wai, Gay Hendricks from The Big Leap. Like I had my dream list. From that list, 99.5% have said yes. And so I knew if I'm gonna do a podcast, because I'm a generator, I love to respond, right? So being on podcasts for me is just so easy. It's natural. Hosting a podcast, I was like, okay, they're okay, it's coming in for a reason. And I needed to align with the intention. So then it clicked for me. So one, it was gonna be my growth edge. Because for me to go after these dream guests, it's edgy, right? It's like, what if there's rejection? What if they say no? What if they all say no? And I don't have a podcast. And I just trusted that it came through the meditation for a reason. And the name, the prosperity playground, which in my opinion is freaking epic, was available. Like that's kind of how I gauge everything. Like when we launch Love Powered Co., I'm like, love powered. The website's available, the Instagram is available. Like, come on, like what an iconic name. So, you know, like, and and these are just like this is how I hype myself up. Like you can see, I'm my own hype woman, right? And so it's not ego, it's just like we need to have our back no matter what. Yes. So for me, again, the pod was growth edge. I was like, okay, this is an opportunity to build up community, to add value to the marketplace with the most incredible thought leaders and people in on to support entrepreneurs. Like that was the vision. Got to work. Okay, we're in month seven right now. And then the next business idea dropped in also. I have to say here to disclaimer. So for seven months, I was meditating 70 minutes a day.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

I have to say it's a huge commitment. Am I doing that today? I'm not. I'm doing 10 to 15 minutes a day. However, there's a part of me that, like, because I'm going into a big next chapter of this product biz, that I want to go back to that. So there's this like, I think we should go back to this. Because if you co-created that with your first iteration of being in meditation, what can we do now? And so I'm not there yet, but I'm like, I'm I'm getting the I'm getting the nudge. So what's it gonna look like? I might have to wake up earlier, which I'm not a morning person. Um, I might have to time block before I pick up my kids, right? So it's like, okay, being curious for you if you're being called to meditation, you're tuning in, what could it look like for you? Even if you're starting with 15 minutes a day, you know, you can start with Dr. Joe, you can start with Esther Hicks, you can start with, you know, there's so many incredible meditations out there on Spotify and YouTube. It's like, what are you being called to? And what is the how piece behind it? How are you going to devote to it? So, where are you going to time block? What feels most in alignment for you? Maybe it's before bed. Before bed for me is tricky because I fall asleep and I don't want to fall asleep. I want to be consciously, you know, programming the subconscious while I'm I'm listening in. And so number one, decide, number two, devote. And number three, however, it has to happen for you, likely scheduling it in.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

For sure. It has to be a priority. You have to, well, you know, also I feel like if people being called to it, or anyone listening to this in particular is thinking, like, wow, yeah, I've spent on my mind, and I've just sort of been pushing it away, or whatever that is. You know, you have to realize that the version of you that got you here doesn't necessarily get you to it can't get you to where you want to go. If you've got that vision, first of all, I always tell people like if you had the vision, if you have the feeling, if you have the thought and desire, that's already happening. Like it's already happening. It's already done. It's done. So that is a sign in and of itself that you are on the right track. So trusting, and like you, I don't consider myself very religious, but very spiritual and God and creator and spirit are very interchangeable for me.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Totally.

Launching Maya Pickleball For Women

SPEAKER_00 34:28

And whatever it is for you, um, that co-creation, I wanted to just highlight that very quickly, like what you said a few minutes ago about the co-creation, because so many of us, founders, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, whatever, we we we get in our bubble, right? And it's very easy to get in a bubble, especially if you don't have partners that you're creating with. Like most of my audience, I would say, are running their businesses alone or with just a very small team, right? Or they're just kind of like figuring out how to take people on as their team. And so there's a lot of work there, but it also is very easy for us to get stuck in that me-me-me mentality. And we have to remember at the end of all of this, really, like, what are you really doing this for? Tuning into that, like that coherent heart and getting the brain and the heart to really connect and realize that you know, what you're doing is way bigger than you, that sense of purpose. Like, that's that's a huge, huge piece of it. Creating outward instead of like having it all about you, that's where it gets hard. And that's where you get stuck in like this mentality of I don't have time, I've got to be the one to do it. If I don't do it, no one else can do it. All of that stuff lives in the me and the ego. And when you expand and open up and open, literally open your heart, you are you're available to so much more, but also available to, oh, this is like not even about me, right? At the end of the day. And so that's where that magic happens. And so I love that you highlighted that because that's a huge piece of it. A huge piece of it that a lot of a lot of people I feel like either gloss over or they don't quite connect in that way. But but Dr. Joe also talks a lot about that too, as well. And you know, just like anything else, like I tend to, you know, I'm gonna actively seek out more of what I align with, right? So when I'm putting my makeup on in the morning, I'm not watching social media. I'm probably watching something of Dr. Joe's or you know, someone else that I like Esther X or whatever, um, even passively. And sometimes I'll just listen to meditations passively because I've done them so many times. Like I'm not actually going into a meditation, but I'm at least sort of like tuning my energy toward it. And I feel like all of those little pieces they they have to be intentional, like you said, you have to make it a priority because at the end of the day, what are you really doing here? Like, how are you taking action? Are you just thinking about it? Are you actually doing something about it? And that's a very big piece of it. And as a generator, I also am a generator too. Are you? Okay, I'm a two-four. And so I I get the four as well that you were mentioning before, but I that two for me is like I I always knew that I needed to go away and to regroup and to have my my cave time, you know. And then when I learned about human design, I was like, oh, okay, yeah, that that just makes so much sense. But the other piece of the two line that I didn't even realize right away, it took me a little while to kind of get this piece, is that I've always been the kind of person, like I can teach myself anything. And I always I just thought other everybody else could do it too. Because of course, like your own experience is your own experience. And so, you know, like I'm just thinking, like, what why can't you just teach yourself? Like, how hard is it? You know, and you're like, Oh, that's the two. Okay, I get it now. And so all of those little pieces, too, like the human design and meditation, like everyone has to like always tell people, like, what is in your tool belt? And that's really what it's about. Like, you like you said earlier, you gotta find what works for you. Dr. Joe may or may not be for you, but like there is something that is for you. Just keep following those breadcrumbs. What's important is that you have the tool belt of self-awareness tools that you can just reach in and grab whatever you need because we are human and we're going to get in in our heads. We're going to get in our own way. That's just kind of how we're built. But that's what matters is how how well you're able to recover and what you have at the ready, how well resourced you really are. And that's really why I started this podcast is because I want people to be better resourced or in a way that feels good to them. Because it isn't a one-size-fits-all. So I appreciate you going down that rabbit hole with us and sharing that experience because I know so many people listening are going to be like, oh my God, yes, that they they can see themselves in so many of those pieces. So before we move on to like what you've got going on now, I just wanted to acknowledge that thank you. I really appreciate you sharing all of that. And let's do talk about all the things that you've got coming up. Because you, okay, so you mentioned pickleball, which I think is fascinating. I love this. I've never played pickleball in my life, and it's definitely in my age group to be playing it, but I haven't played it. Um, you do retreats, you've you're building um Maya pickleball. I think it's called yes. And so talk to us about that iteration, kind of where that's leading you, um, and and your retreats a little bit before we have to wrap up.

Learning To Trust Uncertainty

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yeah, thank you. It's so fascinating because this process. So when we moved part-time to Mexico, my husband got into pickleball right away. And for me, it was a frustration point because I'm like, you are playing every day from four to six. The kids are home from school and everything's on me. And I would like, I would, I was resentful. I was like, huh, you just get to do this, you know? And listen, I love hanging out with my kids. And it's also so powerful to have a passion and an outlet. It was more so my own frustration of not like I was trying and testing, like, what is my passion? Like, what's my thing? And I wasn't finding it. And so I was taking it out on him, as we sometimes do so on our husbands. But at the same time, when he was playing, I was like, we should launch a pickleball company because the you know, business mind of mine was like, it's the fastest growing sport in North America. I can see your passion, I can see your addiction, I can see everyone's addiction around you. I'm like, there's something here. So we got to work and I hired a branding agency out of New York City, and you know, we started creating. And then a part of me was like, We we just can't launch this. Like it just, you know, we had dumped already$10,000 into it. And I was like, we just we can't, we gotta pause this. And um, I don't know where that decision came from, but it was a hard stop. So we had, you know, completed the branding, completed the paddle designs, and we paused. And last summer, when we were in Canada, I started playing pickleball, and my obsession was very fast and furious. I was like, I was an athlete growing up, I played volleyball track. My dad made me play ping pong on weekends at the Polish Community Center, which I hated at the time, and now I see hindsight 2020. And I became like I so last summer to now, I became pretty good pretty fast. Like we're playing a tournament this weekend, and then I was like, we have to do this company, but now the vision version of it is completely different. So, what started out as a really like fun, bright, colorful brand is has now morphed into. So I rehired a new agency. We completely created new branding, new designs, and what we're launching with is actually a sleisure. So it's it's fascinating because I was just talking to an agency from Australia who sent me their proposal yesterday to take me through the process of idea to inventory and warehouse. I'm not a fashion designer. I have never been in the fashion space. And I was telling my husband this morning, I was like, you know, this investment to work with this agency to create the product that I have on my heart and and I hold in my vision is the same amount of money that I paid for business school. I'm like, this is what I want to see as the future of education. I'm like, this is what I want for my children. I'm like, I want them to experience this and actually create a business versus paying for business school and being in a classroom doing theoretical case studies, you know, because where I went in Harvard, very similar. You're working hours upon hours upon hours on case studies that are theoretical, you know, like sure they must, they, they happened, but you're not actually solving a problem. So I'm like working with this agency is like literally going back to business school and creating something in the fashion space for an industry that I'm only obsessed with. I have no experience in pickleball. I'm like, how exciting is this? You know, someone might be like, what the fuck? This woman's crazy. This is so scary. And I was like, it is, and how exciting to learn all of these new skills. So layer on top of this idea, we just decided a few weeks ago. I'm like, we have to raise money. One, it's because, you know, the slow burn, bootstrap, like been there, done that. I want to do this fast and furious and position this really strategically, this company really strategically in the pickleball space for women. So it's a brand for women for I would say like 35 to 65, who value premium quality, innovation, kind of think aloe for pickleball. Um, and so that takes a lot of capital. And so I was like, ooh, okay, I get to learn another skill of raising money. Like, why not? Let's go for it, right? What's the worst that can happen is I don't, I'm not gonna go there. We're not even gonna plant that seed. So every day I'm like, wouldn't it be amazing if I raised$1.2 million from all these incredible women who want to be part of this country? Company. And then I was talking to a friend, she's like, only 1.2. She's like, you can easily do more. I'm like, okay, right now that feels safe for my nervous system. I'm like, okay, this feels good, right? It's like generating the frequency to then be ready to take the action once I have the pitch deck done. So who knows? Maybe you're gonna get an email from me and being like, hey, who do you know who's looking to invest in pre-revenue women's pickleball company? Right. It's like, this is it. So I'm in this process and it's hella exciting. And if this was 15 years ago, I'd be scared shitless. Who knows if I would do it? But I'm just so excited right now.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Yeah, that is very, very exciting. Well, you also seem like the kind of person, just in general, but probably also because of the proof that you have gathered by doing right, that uncertainty. For most people, uncertainty is fight or flight, right? But not for you. And that's that reframe. And so some people really are motivated by that in a different way. It's exciting. It's like you said, the uncertainty means I get to grow, I get to, I get to learn something new, I get to challenge myself. And that is a growth mindset. Like that's that piece of it that you know you could say it's the same thing, but like two different versions of it, right? Like, and so you've been able to and maybe it wasn't even a reframe. That's maybe just like how you are.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Like I said, it's I think this is a huge disclaimer point. Like this, this was me three years in the void. Like I was so extremely uncomfortable in the uncertainty. Like most of us, most of us, I was I know it's like Tony Robbins talks about this. It's like certainty and uncertainty. Most humans feel extremely unsafe and uncertainty. And so I went through three years of uncertainty and really finding peace in the uncertainty. Really, the reframe really was that you know what I call the void of the void for me at first was the living in the uncertainty. Dr. Joe calls the void the area of possibility where all creation happens. And when I heard that, I was like, that's the version of the void that I'm tuning, tapping into, not mine. Because like goosebumps again, it's like this is where all possibility exists. If we can tune and plug into that, then we can be the vessel for the co-creation. So that for me was massive, but it was also sitting physically in my nervous system, finding safety in the uncertainty.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Yes, that's a huge, huge piece of it. So many people have such a hard time sitting in that. It's so uncomfortable, right? And I mean, for some more than others. Some people carry more trauma than others, whatever it might be, like there could be a lot of other stuff that keep us from really wanting to do it. But I'm telling you, like I get it. Like I've sitting in the uncertainty. I mean, I'm married to an actor and I started a business and then another business. And so, like, my life is nothing but uncertainty in so many different ways. And it it it could be very easy to fall into the fight or flight version of that, where it's like this means we could be homeless in three months. You know what I mean? Whatever. Such a fine line. Yeah, really is a very, very fine line. And that is what so many people don't. I know, like most people who get into entrepreneurship, you don't have that thought. You couldn't know that, you know what I mean, before you do it. But that is a huge piece of it, is that you will be walking this fine line of certainty and uncertainty. And it really is how you frame it and where your intention goes with it.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Totally. Can I just add one more thing to that? Absolutely. In my in my phase of uncertainty, I actually hired Neil Donald Walsh as a coach. So, again, conversations of a God author are incredible.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

He's in his 80s. No, I I'm obsessed. That's amazing that you hired him.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

So incredible. And it was truly it, it was so fascinating to be with someone who's in his later years, he's 82. What he focuses on is not the things that we worry about. You can see with wisdom and depth in all of his experiences that the things that we find scary and uncertain, he's like, I'm gonna die soon. Yeah, you know, that doesn't matter. And so there was this sense of calm that he really brought into my life. But also, he had been on the streets for about a year before he channeled conversations with God series. And I look at him, I said, you know, even if that was the worst case scenario, for anyone listening, like, would you ever actually be on the streets? I can tell you, like, absolutely not. I have parents, thankfully, that I could move in with, a brother, I have friends who would take me in. There's a 0% chance that in this lifetime I would be on the streets.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

So if that's the worst case scenario, then it's actually not even a probability or possibility. And so that gave me a lot of peace. And so my invitation for everyone listening is like the uncertainty is because we think of worst case scenario. But I want you to actually sit with your worst case scenario. And is it actually truth? Yeah. Because if that's the worst case scenario, I know it's not truth. I know it's not truth for you, I know it's not truth for me because you can move in with me if that was your worst case scenario, you know? Girl, I got two homes. Let's go. I take you in for as long as you need, right? And this is why community and and and friendships and nurturing network and relationships is so important, is because ultimately, if we come from a space of collaboration, we have each other's back no matter what.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Absolutely. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

So worst case scenario, going and then feeling into that worst case scenario. And what does it bring up for you in your body? And is it truth? So, like, sit with the feeling and then really go in your mind and is it actually truth or is it bullshit? And likely it's bullshit.

Where To Find Anna And Closing

SPEAKER_00 49:57

Oh, yeah, absolutely. No, that's definitely that's something I do in my coaching. I mean, it's what I've had to learn how to do as a baseline anxious girly my whole life, right? Is like sit with that and go, is that really true? Ask again, is it really, really true? And allow myself, I call it the anxiety highway, and just allow myself to go down the highway and just like as neutral as possible, right? Like, so like up above it, you know, yeah, and sort of watch it happen and put it in black and white if you need to take some even more charge out of it and neutrally observe if that really is a worst-case scenario. First of all, would it really ever happen? But also if it did, you'd still be okay, right? Like removing all of the the emotion from it is and the charge from it for me is like uh very, very powerful. So, yeah, thank you for bringing that up because it's true. I mean, we we create so much of it, and really it's just our unconscious mind pulling us to safety, going, ah, this new thing is really safe. You're being chased by a bear. We need to, we need to stop this like now. So that's all the work that we were talking about in this whole podcast is making the unconscious conscious and being intentional with it. So I know that we could, like I said, we could really, we can keep going, but I wanna I wanna be respectful of your time. And I'd love to let you know my listeners know how they can find you, work with you, know more about you, all of that, where you like to connect with people, what you got going on.

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Totally. So Instagram's my my my space, so underscore analizano, that's where you can find me. Connect. Let us know what resonates. I think that's really important, is because podcasts really are a labor of love. They are very time and uh financially consuming and and and we're doing it from the heart. It's like how much value can we add? And so absolutely, you know, if this episode, if there's any piece of it that resonates, like let us both know. Create a message with both of us in it. We'd love to know. It continues to fuel our passion for the work that we do.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

100%. Thank you. Yes, and I'll list everything in the show notes for people to make it easy to find too. But thank you again for being here. You are a gift. Thank you. Thank you. So, what strikes me most about this discussion we just had is that she didn't just build a successful brand. She built it, she let it go, fell apart a little bit, and came back with something most entrepreneurs never really find, which is a reason to build that has nothing to do with proving anything. And I I particularly love so many things about the topics we covered, but really what I had mentioned before is taking yourself out of that equation, right? So a lot of people I work with either feel stuck, like they've been in business for a while, but maybe they've sort of lost the plot, right? Like, why am I doing this? Because that may have changed over time. You have changed over time, and so it's very important that we pay attention to those little nudges, those internal nudges that say, Hey, what are we really doing this about again? And just follow those breadcrumbs because it's there. Something, something is definitely trying to get your attention, right? So if this hit home for you, do share it. Send it to somebody in your life who's maybe in transition or maybe sitting in their own version of a void, because it could be exactly what that person needs to hear. And if you yourself are going through anything like that right now, just remember that your timing is perfect, right? Truly. I really believe that. And what's meant for you is always meant for you. Open yourself up to some possibility, get a little uncomfortable intentionally, create a little bit of intentional uncertainty. That's where the gold is, that's where you stretch yourself, and that's really where you find out what you're made of, but it's also where you create this next version of yourself. So thanks for taking this journey with me today and for being a fan of the podcast. I appreciate you. Have a great rest of your week. Love you. Bye.