We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dana Hayes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dana below.

Dana, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken in my life was the risk I took when I got sober.

I didn’t know what the consequences would be.

Would my friends still want to hang out with me?

Would my husband be embarrassed of me?

Would I be able to walk with my head held high in the leadership role I’d assumed for myself as an online coach, mentor and business owner?

Would colleagues and clients take me seriously?

The unknowns were limitless, but so were the possibilities…

At the time I was a marketing coach.

I had dreams of helping people express themselves fully through creating personal brands and online businesses.

I was always digging for more.

I was always attempting to guide my clients toward discovering their purpose, their reason for doing what they did so we could use it as the overarching message and theme for their brand.

The problem was, I couldn’t get to that place of depth and purpose for myself, let alone guide clients to it.

So I began to ask the Universe for the answer. Relentlessly.

I knew I was being called, and that it was up to me to answer when the time came.

So I asked for the awareness.

It’s all I thought about.

The idea of finding a structured path to help these entrepreneurs (and myself) get to the core of why we were here, and what we ultimately wanted to bring to the world consumed my entire world.

One night I was padding back to my bedroom after putting our toddler back to sleep for the 3rd time and the revelation came like a slap in the face, stopping me in my tracks.

“You’re an alcoholic, Dana. Go get help and you’ll find the answers you’ve been searching for plus much more, or, don’t tell anyone you had this thought and nothing will change. The choice is yours.”

I was cosmically cornered. I had a choice but the choice was risky.

I could either make the move, go ask for help and see what played out, or I could play it “safe” and continue on doing what I already was, even though in my heart I knew it wasn’t working.

I got help that very next morning on May 1, 2019.

I’ve been sober for over 3.5 years (which makes me grin in gratitude as I type) and what’s still so unbelievable to me is that the day I got sober is the day I was handed a structured method for helping myself and other entrepreneurs to connect to their deepest purpose and higher brand message.

It’s through the process of emotional and spiritual recovery.

I get chills when I think about it.

Because of my willingness to take that risk, the Universe was willing to show me the answer.

And because of that first experience of operating from a place of faith instead of fear, and the undeniable miracles that came as a result, I live my life as an intentional risk taker.

And doors continue to open, and life continues to go better than I could have ever planned for myself.

I no longer dwell in the uncertainty of life, I thrive in the possibilities.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m 100% a soul led entrepreneur. I previously worked in the wealth management industry thinking that was the way to wealth.

And what I found was a bereftness of my soul that I cannot put into words.

After just over a year with a 401K, benefits, insurance, stock options in the company, etc. I quit.

I saw something online about becoming a coach and I couldn’t shake the pull.

Fast forward 6 years and the evolution of my brand and lifestyle is clear.

I started as a marketing coach, desiring more depth and clarity in my vision and now I’m working as the CEO (chief energetics officer) of Living in Power.

My personal brand.

A brand that offers spiritual healing and business coaching for the soul-led entrepreneur who wants to do just that…

Discover the depth and clarity in their business (their preferred art form) that they crave.

I offer coaching that ranges in price from free to premium with high value being the minimum you can expect from an experience no matter where it falls on the scale.

I offer long-term 1-1 containers, online group workshops, hour long 1-1 coaching, etc. all based on my experience with growth in spiritual healing as well as in business and mentorship.

And I show my clients how to do the same.

How to create a multi-dimensional product suite that reflects the stage of growth you’re in for yourself.

How to become an energetic match for the type of lifestyle and leadership you desire to bring forth to the world through your own empowering experiences with it.

How to ultimately create the space needed to expand, grow and become the magnet otherlike-minded individuals seek as their guide.

No inauthentic cold DM strategies, no focusing on vanity metrics, number of likes, etc. No.

We’re focused on community building, creating content with heart (attraction vs. promotion), & developing programs that light our souls on fire.

And of course there’s the sales strategies which are taught completely differently than traditional business would teach.

My money is made by never pouncing and always trusting.

This is what people really want.

To be respected and led, not attacked and used.

This is how I teach my clients to stand out.

Because once you learn that souls do not compete the game changes and gets waaaay more fun and the possibilities for your success become limitless – because you’re no longer working against, you’re flowing with.

I feel most proud of the fact that I’m doing business in a way that demands I prioritize my core health, my spirituality.

I’m no longer pushing and pulling but allowing myself to be led and to be one with the experience of healthy entrepreneurship.

A type of entrepreneurship that doesn’t only provide once the money takes off but during the building process as well.

Healing is the foundation and Soul is the structure.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I answered the call to sobriety I quickly learned that I was being led down a spiritual path of healing, and with that comes surrender to the will of your higher power.

I’d just spent the past two years fighting tooth and nail to build my online marketing business, Simple Stupid Marketing.

I’d literally just forked over the $1800 for a trademark and it was becoming clear that in order to hear the next steps from the Universe/God/Source (whatever you want to label it) I needed to humble myself enough to know that what I’d built might not be the path I was destined to take.

It took about 2 months for me to completely accept that Simple Stupid Marketing was no longer in alignment with my path and that tearing it down was the only way to make space for the new.

It was painful.

But completely necessary for my growth as an individual and as a soul-led entrepreneur.

I slowly but surely let my domain names die out, I canceled my website hosting plan, disconnected my integrations to Leadpages and stripe and eventually I let it all go.

What rose out of the pile of Simple Stupid Marketing ashes is Living in Power.

Even the 2 names so clearly reflect the journey from ego to spirit as my inner experience with transcendence manifests itself into the physical in the form of my business – and for that alone the decision to do what felt most painful was worth it.

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

A lesson I’d learned (and had to unlearn) while teaching traditional marketing to past clients was to always sell to the pain points of your buyers.

After investing in high level mentors myself and being surrounded by premium buyers in premium masterminds I’ve come to learn that in order to build a business that sustains not only my pocketbook, but my soul, I have to take a closer look at who I’m sharing my energy with and how I’m valuing that energy.

If I desire to expand my horizons, to continue to create the next piece of art from my soul (oftentimes in the form of a workshop or program) I must surround myself with like-minded individuals.

Those who are being pulled toward the same energetic abundance and are willing to invest in themselves the way I am.

Because the investment isn’t about the money right? It’s about the initiation.

Taking the leap because we trust in the path and our own intuition.

The money becomes the leap and lends itself as an amplification instrument for the possibilities contained within.

If you continue to keep yourself open and willing to work with those with a similar mindset my trajectory for growth (inner and outer) becomes infinite in its potential.

But when you limit yourself to focusing on speaking to people who are stuck in their pain, who don’t yet desire the shifts that you can produce, the changes you can create, you’re wasting not only your own time, but your energy too.

And to waste your energy is to leak your genius.

And when you leak your genius your well-being takes a hit.

And when your well-being takes a hit, so does your business.

This isn’t to say I don’t care to, or don’t help people who are further behind on the journey.

Of course I do.

But I do it in a way that feels nourishing and expansive to me first.

It’s about always pouring from the overflow, never the cup itself.

Otherwise you’re not going to be of service to yourself for long and your capacity to create will become capped.

And really, when you cap yourself, who does that help? Nobody.

This might mean that you guide them to the free value you provide, or maybe it makes more sense for them to buy a lower priced workshop, or maybe it makes more sense for them to book a 1 hour session with you (priced at the value they’ll receive of course).

For some people it makes sense to invest in me and my longer term, premium priced containers because they’re closer in proximity to where I am on my own journey.

And they’re ready for a time collapse around what’s possible for them and their business no matter what stage of business they’re at.

But do you see how marketing to the pain point would be calling in all of the people still stuck in the pain body, not fully ready for your genius that you’re experiencing now?

And how marketing to the inspirations and aspirations of the humans who are so close to where you are is the most sustainable and caring thing you can do?

For yourself, your business and the future clients and fellow light workers who will be so positively affected by your infinite expansion and dedication to energetic growth no matter what the traditional marketing industry tells you is right or wrong.

This lesson was one I had to unlearn, and it is so deeply ingrained in our society that I continue to work on releasing it from my marketing and messaging and I hope you can see the value in doing that for yourself too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.danahayes.com
• Instagram: @daring_to_be_dana
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/livinginpower