Today we are joined by the incredible Lisa Marie Pepe. She is The Confidence Coach and Online Visibility Expert for passionate and purpose-driven entrepreneurs, a five-time #1 International best-selling author and co-creator of The Art of Unlearning Anthology Series, Mindset Mastery for Entrepreneurs, a motivational speaker and podcast host of The Resiliency Factor with Lisa Marie. Trained at the graduate level in both Education and Clinical Psychology and with over three years of experience as a successful virtual assistant and social media manager, Lisa Marie empowers her clients to fully embrace their unique gifts and talents by providing them with the skills they need to develop rock-solid confidence, become vibrantly visible online, and transform their wisdom into wealth. She has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Thrive Global, YFS, and several other noteworthy publications. Lisa Marie has also appeared as a special guest expert on over 80 international telesummits and has been interviewed on dozens of highly regarded podcasts such as The Stellar Life, The Big Movement, Becoming Your Greatest Possible Self, and Women in Leadership.
Toni [00:03:31] So tell us a little bit about who you are and what kind of got you on this path. What's your vision? What is it that you're trying to.
Lisa Marie [00:07:12] The surgery is very complicated. The recovery was obviously brutal. It resulted in some nerve damage and some other chronic pain conditions that I still deal with every day. I don't talk about them, but I deal with it every day. And so there I was in 2014 and I looked up at God and I just said, you know what? I don't know what I'm doing. I clearly need your direction, so I'm just going to surrender like I have nothing. I can't force anything to happen anymore
Toni [00:10:44] Absolutely. I love how you found gratitude for even those hard times, because it really does are sometimes those things that give us the greatest strength to really accomplish what it is that we need to to accomplish here. So, share, there's a little bit more about what it is that you do and how it is that you help people.
Toni [00:15:13] I love that and I love how you say that you dove into the personal purse because really how you do one thing is how you're going to do everything. Yeah, if there's issues in one area that you aren't willing to address, then it's going to transfer over. Very true. And so many people, I find, you know, take what they're struggling with and they're able to help other people. And that's really their source of connection and getting out there. So it's it's a great place to start. So tell us a little bit more about your podcast that you're starting.
Lisa Marie [00:21:15] They found my car like four days later in the state capital, completely trashed, completely wrecked in the middle of a pandemic. Yeah. And so, you know, close to ten thousand dollars in damage. And it was a brand new car. So, of course, you know. But I mean, that all happened in about eight weeks. And so I kind of at one point I think it was when my car got stolen that at that point I just started laughing. I did. It sounds crazy, but that was my only response because I had I had been crying for weeks because of my mom. I would be had been crying because of the state of the world. I was so, so disheartened when I found out my foot was broken. He has physical exercise is super important to me. And I felt like, okay, well, they closed all the gyms, but at least I can use my elliptical rider at home. And then that got taken away from me. And I was like. You freaking serious right now?
Toni [00:24:12] I love that strong and powerful and a great message to share with people today is everybody. Everybody has their things that they're going through. Absolutely. Yes. So do you have any tips or advice that you can help people with increasing their resiliency during these times?
Toni [00:28:43] Oh, hugely. It's what an amazing blessing that you can connect with people all over the world and get this opportunity to, you know, hopefully make a positive impact in the world. Exactly. Yes. Now, I'm very grateful for that. I'm grateful for this opportunity. One thing that I've started practicing that I've found to be really useful. Being a mom of four kids and having lots to do, sometimes it's like I have to do this and I have to do that. Just getting out of that habit and not even saying I have to because every day I am so grateful for my kids and I get the opportunity to be there for them and do the things every day. And that simple mindshift has made a world of difference.
Lisa Marie [00:35:45] You know, like, I feel great that everything is falling apart around me, like that's a weird vibe, too. So just be. Be gentle with yourself, but don't do it alone. You don't have to be alone. Not in the world we live in.
Resources and Links
https://www.facebook.com/lisamariepepe
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-resiliency-factor-podcast/id1530089435
https://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Marie-Pepe/e/B00WQHWHQK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
EVEP22.mp3
Toni [00:00:07] If you ever wondered why life just doesn't always work out, if you'd like to join me as we learn the skills to stop reacting to what occurs or doesn't each day. And dig deep to find our visions. Discovering those things that will truly bring us happiness in life, relationships and business. Guiding you on a journey to Pete what you envision and then create it.
Toni [00:00:27] We only have today at this very moment, and each one is a present meeting for you to not only see it embrace this. Welcome I'm Toni Jo, and this is embracing vision.
Toni [00:00:49] Welcome today. I am so excited to introduce you to Lisa Marie Pepé.
Toni [00:00:55] She is an amazing friend, colleague, and she is a confidence coach, an online visibility expert for passionate and purpose driven entrepreneurs. A five time number one international best selling author and cocreator and a motivational speaker and podcast host of The Resiliency Factor with Lisa Marie. So welcome. I'm so excited to have you here today.
Lisa Marie [00:01:23] Thank you so much. It's really it's great to be here.
Toni [00:01:27] Thanks so, Lisa. Go ahead and share with us a little bit about your background and who you are and how that is helped shape where you are going in the future.
Lisa Marie [00:01:39] Sure. So let's see. As you read in my intro, I am a competence coach, an online visibility expert. What does that really look like? Well, it looks like this. I combine my graduate training in psychology along with my love and a passion for entrepreneurship and social media and combine them all into one. So I work with other individuals who are also passionate and purpose driven entrepreneurs and who are really trying to move to the next level in their business. And sometimes, you know, they're their own little gremlins, the monsters in their head or, you know, we all have them. Whatever are getting in the way of them truly moving forward and being successful in the way that they want to be successful. So I think that success is very subjective. So I do a lot of mindset work in terms of helping individuals identify what their fears are, what's really holding them back, even if it's, you know, something that's from their past. We try to work through that. And then once those things are in place, it's sort of like the sky's the limit. Right. And so with my experience as an entrepreneur and in particular online entrepreneurship, I'm able to direct them in terms of becoming more visible. Being seen as credible and also in transforming their wisdom into wealth. Because at the end of the day, as an entrepreneur, that's what that comes down to. Yes, we all want to make an impact. Yes, we all want to have amazing, you know, stories to share with our children and grandchildren. But at the end of the day, being an entrepreneur also means that you create your own wealth. And so this is sort of the three pillars of my coaching. It's competence, visibility and wealth.
Toni [00:03:31] So tell us a little bit about who you are and what kind of got you on this path. What's your vision? What is it that you're trying to.
Lisa Marie [00:03:39] Sure. So back in two thousand eleven. I'll give you a shortened version. But in 2011, I had an on mobile accident and injured my neck and my shoulder pretty significantly. And at the time, I was a licensed massage therapist and I was really actually I would say at like my fittest level, just personally, like I was like a gym rat. I went hiking all the time. I went running all the time. It was just really physically fit. And so my life revolved around things that were active. Right. My job was active. My, you know, my love for working out and just going out, going into nature, going hiking, going, running the. I said. And so I got into this accident and although I didn't think I was injured, I was. And, you know, one day turned into the next and spent three months and four months. And I suddenly just found myself so distraught, like so depressed because I had had to give up all those things. And I tried going back to work. I tried going back into massage therapy and I couldn't do it. I physically could not do it. And those are real blow to to me, just I think mentally, spiritually, physically. It was really hard. I was like somebody just taking away everything you knew right in the blink of an eye. And I was a lot more harsh to them myself. So I think I blamed myself for it. I was like, you know, you're never gone to the accident. If you didn't drive that way home that night, you know, you start doing all kinds of crazy stuff in your head.
Lisa Marie [00:05:21] So for about three years, I really struggled with chronic, debilitating physical pain in my neck and shoulder because I was misdiagnosed at the time when the accident happened. And I really just spent those years really feeling confused, feeling really depressed, not really knowing who I was, and just I wasn't very nice to myself. And about three years following. So as dealing with the chronic pain and I wasn't getting any treatment for it of any kind because again, I had one MRI in the beginning which didn't show anything. And so doctors were just like, oh, it's in your head, you know, you fibromyalgia. You've got this and this and that. But it's not anything structural. And I knew better. I knew my body. I knew. That, you know, as an athlete, I know when I'm injured and I know when I'm just like sore. There's a very big difference. So long story short. 2014 rolls around. I decide to kind of get my life together because again, from 2011 till 2014, I was kind of just a mess. So I get sort of this wakeup call and I say, you know what? I've gotta I gotta get back on my feet. I've got to do something and stop allowing fear to kind of stand in the way. So I also have a master's degree in teaching. So I'm like, you know, I'm going to go back and teach. So I finally get a great job. I go back to teaching and feeling better, not physically, but I'm feeling better emotionally and mentally. And I find out I have to have surgery, so I have very complex reconstructive shoulder surgery in 2014 and I think that I'm going to pick up my pieces in a couple weeks and go right back to work.
Lisa Marie [00:07:09] And that did not happen.
Lisa Marie [00:07:12] The surgery is very complicated. The recovery was obviously brutal. It resulted in some nerve damage and some other chronic pain conditions that I still deal with every day. I don't talk about them, but I deal with it every day. And so there I was in 2014 and I looked up at God and I just said, you know what? I don't know what I'm doing. I clearly need your direction, so I'm just going to surrender like I have nothing. I can't force anything to happen anymore. And so in that moment, I just had a lot of clarity that I could actually make a living. Working for myself. Making a difference in other people's lives. And within a couple of months of that decision, I found myself just knee-deep in online entrepreneurship and really trying to figure this whole thing out. And it wasn't I wasn't always the confidence coach, no low visibility expert. You know, I started off doing health and wellness coaching and I worked as a V.A., which is a virtual assistant during that time because I had earned money. And, you know, at the age of like 30 singers, 34, 35 and at the surgery.
Lisa Marie [00:08:31] You know, nobody was going to giving disability in a handout of any kind. So I was on my own. You know, just sink or swim. So I decided to, you know, go into coaching. But as you know, the first year is not easy. The second year is not easy. Trying to really build a lucrative business. And so. I wound up doing things like social media management. I did a lot of the work for people, but it was a great experience because it taught me so much about the back end of businesses and online systems and things like that. And that's mentioned. But the pay is actually very good. You know, I don't know if many people know that, but a V.A. in the online world, like anywhere from 25, 30, 35, even 40 forty five dollars an hour is not uncommon. And yet when people work out in, you know, quote unquote the real world, you know, in a brick and mortar, you know, they go to a job every day and, you know, 25, 35, 40 dollars is a lot of money for some people. And so for me, I was like, wait a minute, I could stay home, take care of my neck and my shoulder and my body. I was. That means stretching, heating, icing, whatever I need to do it. Not when somebody says I can do it. And if I could do that and still make decent money, well, sounds like a good plan. So I was doing that. I was building up my coaching business and about into year two, like maybe the two and a half year mark. I choose to do competence, coaching and online visibility.
Toni [00:10:12] That's awesome. It sounds like your path was guided to right where you knew to be.
Lisa Marie [00:10:16] Absolutely it was. It was all according to divine plan. And as much as the years that I felt really lost and. Believe just things were hard. You know, I went through a different, you know, a very difficult time. But I don't know that I would take it back. To be honest. Because if it brought me to where I am right now.
Lisa Marie [00:10:41] Well, then I think it's all worth it.
Toni [00:10:44] Absolutely. I love how you found gratitude for even those hard times, because it really does are sometimes those things that give us the greatest strength to really accomplish what it is that we need to to accomplish here. So, share, there's a little bit more about what it is that you do and how it is that you help people.
Lisa Marie [00:11:08] So in my current line of work, which is confidence coaching and online visibility strategy, I really I feel like. I really help individuals on a personal level as well as a business level and a professional level, because I know there's a lot of coaches out there and they're either like marketing coaches or their sales coaches. And so they do those very specific things. And that's great. I think it works for a lot of people. But for me, I was someone I am someone who always wants to dig deeper and to truly understand, like what is really getting in the way of people. Feeling like they can't do something, feeling. Not confident, feeling not good enough to put their work out into the world. So a lot of the work I do tends to actually fall more into like a life coaching category. I would say it's really ending the fears, the triggers, the things that, you know, suddenly they think they're ready. It almost done something triggers them and they start to panic and they withdraw.
Lisa Marie [00:12:25] So we do a lot of work like that. Like I said earlier, you know, I. You know, my training in psychology. Plus, my own personal life experience really has trained me to. Want to really understand what drives human behavior? We all do things to either avoid pain or increase pleasure. Yeah, those are the only two reasons why we do anything from eating to. You name it. Right. Like we eat to avoid the pain of feeling hunger and to increase our pleasure of having something good that tastes good. So it's a very basic human thing. But that that that goes across the board. Right. So very primal things like we eat to avoid pain of hunger. Well, we also want to make a lot of money so we don't have to feel stressed out. Right. To avoid the pain of feeling stressed out when we're trying to pay bills. So I love that. I'm always really interested in what drives people. And so working on those things, oftentimes people will come to me for business coaching. We wind up doing a lot of life coaching in the beginning. And then as we move through that and we really help people get clear and they're feeling more confident and they're looking at the things that are holding them back, whether it's themselves, whether it's past memories, whether it's a spouse or partner or their children, whatever it is, we kind of move we move through those things and then it's time to really dove in and start creating. Like I said earlier, a credible online presence.
Lisa Marie [00:14:01] Essentially, people should know who you are and what you stand for simply by seeing your photo or by seeing a quote you wrote or landing on your Facebook fan page or on your Web site.
Lisa Marie [00:14:15] They should just know who you are already and. What you can do to help them. And so we cover everything in terms of business coaching. Primarily, I do work with social media and helping individuals figure out how to show up on social media so authentically and vulnerably. But at the same time, confidently, you can be vulnerable and confident. Simultaneously you can be passionate and you can be raw at the same time. Right. It's not like give it all figured out and you just show up as an expert. And then more recently, I've started working with individuals to help them get featured in more podcasts and online summits and things like that. As I've learned how to do those things for myself through my own trainings and stuff. I've also been able to show other entrepreneurs how to do those things because that ultimately is what's going to also create more impact in income.
Toni [00:15:13] I love that and I love how you say that you dove into the personal purse because really how you do one thing is how you're going to do everything. Yeah, if there's issues in one area that you aren't willing to address, then it's going to transfer over. Very true. And so many people, I find, you know, take what they're struggling with and they're able to help other people. And that's really their source of connection and getting out there. So it's it's a great place to start. So tell us a little bit more about your podcast that you're starting.
Lisa Marie [00:15:44] Yay! OK. Yes. So I just started a podcast is called The Resiliency Factor with Lisa Marie. And I'm so excited. It launched officially like on September 12th. We've already hit, I think, beyond the hundred download hundred downloads, like within just a couple of days, which was amazing. So without any paid ads or anything yet. So I'm just really diving into it. Podcasting is brand new for me. Now, ironically, I've been on probably 200 podcasts in my five years of being an entrepreneur. But being on the other side of it is really different. It's very different. And so I was really uncomfortable, really uncomfortable these last several weeks getting the podcast done the way that I wanted it done, creating forms and production questions and hiring people to help me edit and do all these things. But it's been an amazing experience and it's allowed me to have conversations with with people that are absolutely amazing, like just the stories that I've heard so far. And I just get so lost and I spend hours talking to people about their story. And of course, you know that the theme is resiliency and the focus is on resilient entrepreneurs. And so that's who we serve and that's where our audiences.
Toni [00:17:09] I love it. And if you guys haven't tuned in yet. Check it out. It really is a great podcast with inspiring stories. So I'm curious, what is the resiliency factor, what how did you come up with that? Do you have a little secret that you liked that you are willing to share with us?
Lisa Marie [00:17:24] Yeah, I think that's a great question. No one's asked me that yet since I started it. So. I put out a question on social because I was challenged by my coach to do this and it was ask people to describe you in one word. And you are deathly opening up yourself for some serious vulnerability. You know, you're just like, I'm going to just be completely raw here and ask people what they think when they think of me. And this past year has been so tumultuous in terms of my personal life. And with all this stuff going on around us, you know, we're obviously in the midst of a pandemic. We're in the midst of chaos and racial tension and rioting and war. It just feels like there's a lot happening right now. You know, childhood, you know, sex trafficking. I mean, there's just so many awful things happening in the world right now. And yet. I feel as though. I'm really resilient, and that was the word that kept coming up over and over again for me when people were responding to that question that I asked, because I'm very open and I'm very honest about the things that I experience in life. I share these things online and share them with my tribe because I don't want anyone to put me on a pedestal. I don't want anyone to think that just because I'm confident now and know my way around social media and how to run a business does not mean I'm not human. You know, I'm very human and I wear my heart on my sleeve.
Lisa Marie [00:19:05] So, I mean, I lost my mom back in February, which was probably the worst experience I've ever had in my life. I mean, truth be told, you know, that's one of the most devastating things you can go through. Yeah. And then, I mean, we have this pandemic and then we've got you know, then I broke my foot and then I had my car stolen. Like this all happened in like a two month period back in February, March. She has what is six about a eight week window where we literally had my mom's funeral. And two weeks after that, the whole world shut down because of covered, we all shut down, which was scary in and of itself. Nobody knew it was happening. People were deathly afraid to do anything. We were all afraid to even say, go outside and be there. We know what's going to happen. And that was that in of itself. As I mean, everyone's experiencing trauma on some level because of that. And then, I don't know, maybe a two, two or three weeks into that, I started limping one day. My foot started throbbing and I wound up going to like a walk in orthopedic clinic. And I was told that I had a stress fracture in my right heel and I wasn't allowed to I wasn't allowed to do anything at it, put a boot cast on and was like, great. That's awesome. I really wanted that after everything that happened. And then about, I don't know, two, three weeks after that, I was going to go grocery shopping with my dad and my car was in the driveway the night before my dad got out to the garage. He said to me, he called me on the phone because he also had a bad foot and couldn't walk very well. So he calls me on my cell phone from the garage and he says to me, Where's your car? And I was like, I don't understand the question. I was like, brother. Like, I didn't understand what he was saying. You guys said, Where's your car? And I'm like. It's in the driveway, and he said to me, no, it's not. And I said, you got to be kidding me. He. No, I'm not. He goes, your car's not here. And that was in April.
Lisa Marie [00:21:10] So sure enough, you know where to file, please report, et cetera, et cetera.
Lisa Marie [00:21:15] They found my car like four days later in the state capital, completely trashed, completely wrecked in the middle of a pandemic. Yeah. And so, you know, close to ten thousand dollars in damage. And it was a brand new car. So, of course, you know. But I mean, that all happened in about eight weeks. And so I kind of at one point I think it was when my car got stolen that at that point I just started laughing. I did. It sounds crazy, but that was my only response because I had I had been crying for weeks because of my mom. I would be had been crying because of the state of the world. I was so, so disheartened when I found out my foot was broken. He has physical exercise is super important to me. And I felt like, okay, well, they closed all the gyms, but at least I can use my elliptical rider at home. And then that got taken away from me. And I was like. You freaking serious right now?
Toni [00:22:19] So when the car was stolen, that's when I just looked up and I was just like really like is really this is this really happening right now? And I just started laughing because I was like, what am I gonna do, cry, cry again? What would have made no sense. So and then I kind of found it interesting in the way that the police handled it all, just because I guess it was in the middle of pendent making. Nobody knows how to function in a pandemic, at least not people that are alive today. And they basically didn't they didn't do anything. They I mean, yeah, they found the car, but that was it. They found it and they returned it to my dealer. And it was a mess. And it took me two months to get it back because again, with Kovik, people were working like every other day, you know, who wasn't working and then who was at the office, who was. We don't tell it like we were on the phone and back and forth. So I finally got my car back. After two months and even then it was like the thing was so trashed, it was ridiculous.
Lisa Marie [00:23:20] So I've been through a lot of crap this year, but I'm still standing. And so the resiliency factor to get back to your original question is the capacity for me at least to continue to be persistent and to persevere through all adversity no matter what. And yeah, and so when I was coming up with a title for the podcast, played around a little bit different titles, and then I just said it, it just hit. It stuck. It felt incredible. It felt. Just it was it was just the thing. And so it's one of the questions I ask all my guests. Like, how do they define resiliency? Because I'd love to hear with their expressions are. But for me, it's really just a commitment to God, a commitment to myself that I will not give up.
Toni [00:24:12] I love that strong and powerful and a great message to share with people today is everybody. Everybody has their things that they're going through. Absolutely. Yes. So do you have any tips or advice that you can help people with increasing their resiliency during these times?
Lisa Marie [00:24:32] Yes, I do, actually. So self care is very, very big on my list of non negotiables, and that means carving out time every single day to nurture and nourish. Your mind, your body and your soul. So in these times of uncertainty, in these times of chaos and not knowing which end is up, it is absolutely crucial that we take really good care of ourselves. And that means eating incredibly well, right? Eating wholesome food. You know, that's not prepackaged, processed and, you know, not helping our immune system. So eating really well is really big for me. No, eating like a raw organic diet is basically what I you know, what I live. That's where I live everyday. Stuff like a special diet I just created once in a while. It's just the way I live. Drinking lots of water, you know, good supplementation with vitamins and minerals and herbs and things like that. Also, exercise every day is very important. And I can't leave out, of course, spirituality, which is actually first rate, saying thank you to God every time you know, your feet hit the ground in the morning when you wake up journaling. You know, meditating, Reiki, whatever it is that brings you peace of mind, that is not harming somebody else is what you really need to do. And you don't have to do it for an hour every day. It could be five minutes before you start your day where you literally just close your eyes and just say a little prayer, maybe meditate, maybe you say some positive affirmations.
Lisa Marie [00:26:18] It can be done in small chunks throughout the day. For example, like before you go to eat, let's say you're eating four to four to five times a day. Me, I eat six times a day. It's eight very small meals, but every so make it in, you know, a thought in your head that before you eat anything, you're going to have these little meals or big meals out of there. That right before that, you're going to just take a minute to just sit silently and just appreciate the fact that you have food to eat, whether it's, you know, you know, a big salad or it's a big bowl of pasta or it's pizza, whatever it is that makes you happy. You know, be thankful for that. Right. There's a lot of people that are very, you know, there no, they don't have enough food. They're there's they're scarce in their in their food supplies. So, you know, really just being grateful for the little things. You know, your faucet turns on in the morning. Be grateful for that. A lot of people who don't have running water.
Toni [00:27:13] Yeah, we went without water for a week just recently because there is E. coli in the water, so I am very grateful for water.
Lisa Marie [00:27:20] Exactly like and I think all of us at this point, I'm in Connecticut. And just like a couple of weeks ago, we had a tornado ripped through the state. And, you know, I'm grateful to God, like somehow it jumped over my neighborhood. But like the road down the street to the left and the road down the chute to the right, like in the towns that are adjacent, were destroyed, destroyed. Like trees are like 300 years old, ripped up from the ground and just tossed aside like like they were toothpicks, you know, like some big giant was coming along with toothpicks and just throwing them or whatever they landed. So I don't take anything like that for granted. You know, I'm very grateful for it. It's the little things like I'm grateful that I have the ability to, like, brush my teeth on my own parade. I mean, it sounds so silly, but I think about it and I'm like, there's lot of people that don't have good dental hygiene. It's just not available to them, whether it's lack of money, lack of education, whatever it is, they just they don't have it. So I'm grateful, like even in the mirror, I'm brushing my teeth and I'm like I'm grateful that I have teeth. I'm grateful that I'm brushing my teeth. Right. You can find gratitude in anything. The fact that you and I are on right now, we're communicating them. We're not even remotely close to each other geographically. That is something to be grateful for.
Toni [00:28:43] Oh, hugely. It's what an amazing blessing that you can connect with people all over the world and get this opportunity to, you know, hopefully make a positive impact in the world. Exactly. Yes. Now, I'm very grateful for that. I'm grateful for this opportunity. One thing that I've started practicing that I've found to be really useful. Being a mom of four kids and having lots to do, sometimes it's like I have to do this and I have to do that. Just getting out of that habit and not even saying I have to because every day I am so grateful for my kids and I get the opportunity to be there for them and do the things every day. And that simple mindshift has made a world of difference.
Lisa Marie [00:29:25] Yeah, it's so beautiful. And, you know, I'm not a mom, but I could just imagine. Right. And so for you to just think you said you can say have to Ray or you can say like it's an honor to do those things, you know. I know. I know. For me, like right now I've been taking care of my dad because he had major foot surgery and now we're looking at possible hip surgery as well. And with my mom gone, it's like it's me, right? I'm the one and only child. And there are times like you, I'm sure, where I'm just like, oh, I have to cook dinner again or I have to go do laundry again or have to go. Do you. And then I just kind of take a step back and I'm like, you know what? Let me really just look at this is like this is like a blessing that I have the opportunity to cook my dad really nutritious food and present it to him every night. That makes me feel good. And I know it makes him feel good. So, yeah, you can always look at everything as either like a chore or a blessing.
Toni [00:30:24] Exactly. And I'm sure you're probably a huge blessing to your dad right now, especially after losing your mom, have the opportunity to have that connection.
Lisa Marie [00:30:33] He and I have really bonded a lot.
Lisa Marie [00:30:35] The last several months and was funny after his surgery because he just had it in June, had it as soon as they allowed what they considered elective procedures. I don't know how was elective winds, but was basically falling off his leg. But it's another story for another day. I just remember. Promising him that I would not let him go to a nursing home after the surgery because he was gonna be non weight bearing for 10 weeks, eight to 10 weeks, completely non weight bearing. And it's just me. You know, I'm 5'5' and 113 pounds and have my own compromised neck and shoulder. So it's like I could do a whole lot of lifting. But I promised him that I wasn't going to let him go to a nursing home and that I would I would be there to take care of him. And that's what I did. And that's what entrepreneurship has allowed me to do. And I'm really grateful for that. I didn't have to ask permission to go to the hospital to visit my mom when she was dying. I didn't I didn't work for seven, eight, nine, ten days in a row. I if I had clients, I obviously was responsible enough and I made arrangements with them. But that's a blessing. I got to spend time with my mom every day, the last two days, I. Yeah. Like. And I'm so grateful for that. So grateful for that. My dad having this surgery after I knew that him going to a nursing home mine is covered for a minute. Let's pretend for a minute. That wasn't even a factor. He there was no way after losing his wife of almost 40 years that that would have been a good idea at all. It just would not have been a good idea. He was already feeling really sad and really depressed about losing my mom. I was feeling really sad. We did not need to be separated during that time. Then you throw in covered and the risk of that and the fact that now if somebody does go into a nursing home, you can't go visit them.
Lisa Marie [00:32:34] You can't visit them. So I said right away, I said, Dad, I don't care what we have to do. I promised you that you will come home when your vital signs are good and you're ready to go. We will get you home and we will get you through this. And so for the first eight weeks, it's been 12 weeks now when he's doing really well. It was you know, we did have some help from outside family members, which is very, very appreciated. But it was it was me. It was it was me, you know, and we had an aide come in three times a week for about an hour at a time just to help him with a sponge bath and go to the bathroom. And that was it. So there's the other two full days of, you know, the work week plus the weekend. And it was me. All right. I was doing so. And again, like you were saying, like I could complain. And there are moments where I did. I was like, oh, you got to be kidding me. I cannot believe I have to empty this thing again.
Lisa Marie [00:33:30] You know, it was also an honor to be able to to be there for him.
Lisa Marie [00:33:35] And to allow him to be himself and to cry and feel vulnerable. And, you know, express sadness over my mom's passing and things like that. He and I really bonded the last several months and that feels really good. That's a huge blessing for both of you. Absolutely. What a great opportunity to serve him. Absolutely. I mean, it's you know, they took care of me for the first 30 years of my life of being really honest. You know, emotionally and just I mean, emotionally, always, I guess I would say, but. I mean, even with financial stuff, you know, they think that would help, you know. You know, when I lost my job and everything, they helped me. I'm not one of these people who pretends like, you know, I am, like, completely self-made and never had a dime growing up. Like, I wasn't wealthy growing up, but my parents were not going to, like, charge me rent when I didn't have a job because I got hurt. Right. They they worked hard. They did those things. And it does feel really good for me to be able to go out and do these things for my dad, you know, to buy good food for him and to serve and cook them. And they cook good meals like that feels really good.
Toni [00:34:47] So is there anything else you'd like to share with everyone before, you know, just that, you know, no matter what you're going through, no matter how hard it seems. Just know you're not alone, especially in this current climate that we're in with pandemics and, you know, natural disasters and sex trafficking. And just I mean, there's so much going on. Racial tension, riots like the world right now is in chaos. And so there's a lot of people right now who are feeling. Anxious and depressed and lonely and isolated. Reach out. You have to reach out for support. You don't have to suffer in silence. You're not alone. What you're experiencing is perfectly normal. That's the other thing I just wanted to reiterate. You have to normalize it. It give you weren't feeling some kind of. Like, this is strange. This is odd. This is.
Lisa Marie [00:35:45] You know, like, I feel great that everything is falling apart around me, like that's a weird vibe, too. So just be. Be gentle with yourself, but don't do it alone. You don't have to be alone. Not in the world we live in.
Toni [00:35:58] I found to like just going into your heart and just, you know, really feeling that, you know, spiritual connection can bring such peace. There is a lot of chaos, but I feel like there's always a balance on the other side. And there's just so much joy and so many people doing amazing things. And when you can get tapped into some of that, also, it really helps bring a balance to it. That could be life changing and inspiring.
Lisa Marie [00:36:23] Absolutely.
Toni [00:36:25] Well, thank you so much for joining us. And if you guys have it, please go check out her new podcast. Very exciting. So the resiliency factor with Lisa Marie. All right. Thank you.
Toni [00:36:40] Thank you so much for hanging out with us today. Please subscribe to the show and give us a review down below. We look forward to seeing you next time.