We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dena Breslin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dena, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In 2009, I was recruited to help launch Swarovski’s direct sales division here in the US. I had practiced medicine as a PA prior to this and had taken time off to raise my young children. My marriage was failing, and by all appearances it seemed the wisest choice to go back into medicine, rather than start something new. (I had years of sales experience prior to becoming a PA). I chose the riskier option in Sales with Swarovski, as it allowed me more flexibility with my children, plus a much higher income potential than medicine. Most of my close circle of friends and family were not supportive, and thought I had lost my mind. The income was barely-paying-the bills low the first year, challenges were higher than expected, sacrifices were made, and yet I gave myself 3-5 years to hit the 6 figure mark. I named my ‘organization’ right out the gate and began visualizing the big 3-5 year picture, in detail. I did things a true start up CEO would do like fly cross country, invest thousands of my own money, worked far more than 40 hours, and came up with creative ingenius ways to build a direct sales business. Almost to the day, at year 3, I hit a 5 figure month, which turned into a 6 figure year. By year 5, we had over 3000 consultants in 35 states, and by year 6 I had hit multiple 6 figures. By 2019, we had hit our best year ever, at $14.3 million in organizational sales. The Golden Takeaways for risk taking, I would say, are: ASSESS ALL the Pros and Cons, develop a CLEAR VISION, Course CORRECT as needed each year (or more), do NOT let nay-sayers block your way, and be ultra vocal, generous, and grateful for those who DO support you. Oh…..and get yourself a COACH. :)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

What once was a dream to be a physician, turned into a beautiful long and windy road to helping heal people by connecting their minds and their physical bodies. A long standing career in “sales”….Ive sold life changing pharmaceuticals, launching the worlds first combination treatments for HIV/AIDS. This led me to take an alternative route to practicing medicine as a Physician Assistant in Gastroenterology, which, was STILL sales. If you consider a definition of sales to be “influencing others”, then yes….I was selling health and wellness to patients, teaching them about their bodies and physiology of body organs when they are well. Switched gears to stay home with my kids, who, at the time were 3 under the age of 5. While I was home, I got re-inspired to “sell” a product again, from home, to have flexibility to be with the kids. And so it began, a 20 year career shift to multilevel marketing/direct sales, building with a couple well known brands, and loving the ability to work from home, successfully. Along the way in 2010, I came across a “life coach” and was curious. I had been in traditional talk therapy on and off for years, and wondered what could be different about coaching. What happened amazed me. I grew more in that year span than I had in the decades of therapy preceding! I knew I needed to study that more, and provide that coaching for my team. Fast forward 12 years later and I have a Coaching practice of my own, which includes private care, group and workshops for entrepreneurs, corporate employees, other coaches, and teens/twenty somethings. The best way to describe what I offer as coach, is I am passionate about teaching people to KNOW and UNDERSTAND their brain, and body, and how they have become who they’ve become up til this moment. We then can deconstruct the thoughts, behaviors, and neural pathways that arent helpful (in fact are harmful) and redesign a new identity where they feel free, successful, loved and empowered. The work is not surface by any means, it is also a combination of talk, as language plays a huge role in who we are, and various physical exercises and techniques. What I am most proud of is the methodology Ive created from combining the most effective treatments, that actually stay with a client as a part of who they’ve become. The success rates are so much higher than traditional mental health treatments. That is EXCITING!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Our lives are a neverending journey of trial, error, learning, growth and becoming new. So, one thing that was a profound shift in my awareness, was a shift from “there is something wrong with me”, to “there is nothing wrong with me.” This took decades for me to finally FEEL within my body. It was no longer a “thinking thing”. It was a FEELING thing within my cells. I had several coaches and healers work with me to achieve this new way of being. It is very challenging to do this deep work alone. And with that, my body was unlocked to heal on its own. Our skin cells turn over every 28 days, blood cells 120 days, liver cells every 2-300 days, and on and on. Once we understand that the body has an innate built in ability to heal itself, we can choose to get the heck out of its way! And…..create the best environment to do what it was created to do. And part of that is with the help of a wellness coach and healer. Do your homework, and understand what makes one wellness coach or healer better than another, dont play it “by ear.”
All great coaches, have their own coaches, as needed, so be sure to include that in your discovery work in hiring your own coach.

Any advice for managing a team?

Leadership and Influence of a team, is far different than “managing” a team. I prefer to use the former to describe what is the most healthy way to arrive at team success. First and foremost, do your OWN INNER WORK, to understand the way your own mind sabotages your efforts, and gain some proficiency in using tools to grow out of those bad habits. Next, recognize that others have a mind too. In order to influence and lead another’s mind, you have to understand that, their stories are not about YOU, but can be shifted BECAUSE of YOU. Study the masters of leadership and influence. The Ancients: Jesus, Buddha, the Stoics, Marcus Aurelius, and contemporaries like Mother Teresa, Tony Robbins, Brendan Burchard, Jack Canfield, Brene Brown, James Clear, Patrick Lencioni, Chris Voss, Jocko Willink, to name a few.
Understanding oneself, and sharing oneself with others, using vulnerability and humility, naturally allows you to be a great listener, and understander of others. This builds a strong foundation of trust with a team, which is key to longstanding growth, morale and wildly successful outcomes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.denabcoaching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denabcoaching
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DenaBCoaching/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denabreslin/

Image Credits
Jack Canfield Success Principles Event James Gardiner All in with Love Podcast Touchstone Crystal National Conference