We recently connected with Deborah Drummond and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Deborah, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

We have had incredible success in monetizing our podcast as well as having a very strong listenership in a short period of time. We have turned the podcast into a strong marketing funnel for our guests in ways that other people are not doing. There is a multitude of things that we do differently that gives the podcast guest an experience that makes them talk about us in the marketplace.

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?

I’ve had an incredible journey of being able to create multiple companies with one core message behind them and that is simply to serve. I am very clear that my dharma, my mission, my reason for being an entrepreneur is to truly serve others. Even in my early days of participating in the music industry as simply as being a cocktail waitress, I was the happiest cocktail waitress! Not only did I get to listen to music, I got to serve people in a state of happiness. I then moved on to having a private health studio where I got to work on over 30,000 clients, helping them to achieve top performance from their physical, mental and spiritual states. Being able to create companies that allowed other people to create income so that they can live out their mission is truly where I sing the most. At the present time, I am proudly the owner of Mission Accepted Media where we create platforms through publications, speaking opportunities, books and podcasts to highlight and take to market for others whatever it is they have to share with the world. As my heart is steeped in the health and wellness sector, I also create business opportunities for people to endorse top performance, high level health and wellness products through international expansion of e-commerce business. As an entrepreneur, one of the things I am most proud of is seeing that raising my children in an entrepreneurial environment has allowed me to spark their creativity and allowed them to see that they can build a business around anything that they would like. Whether their business was product-based or centered around the mission or vision of their lives, both my daughter and my son have experienced incredible expansion, freedom of thought and freedom of choice from being raised in a very creative environment of entrepreneurship. I feel what really sets me apart from other people in my industry is that I see the platforms I create for people to raise their business from the perspectives of a consumer as well as a provider, because I am an entrepreneur. I go all in and think of all of the details! I raise the bar in people’s experiences of publications and podcasts. No one to date, that I know of, does for their podcast guests what we do here at Mission Accepted. We really are all about raising the bar. In terms of my private training and coaching, my expertise is in not only teaching WHAT to do to be a successful entrepreneur, but I go one step further and teach HOW to do it. Truly how you do it makes all the difference between results and top performance results. This has been my study for thirty years and has allowed me to receive numerous awards and multiple mentions in success and business publications that have never been done before. I get more joy when I see my clients accomplish bodacious goals and walk across stages. At the heart of the matter for me is the heart of the matter. Why my clients want to achieve high level success is so important to the formula for me that I feel as though I am on the journey with them. When they accomplish their goals for themselves, their family, their community or their project, I can’t explain the feeling of joy that I have, not only for them, but feeling that I have fulfilled my mandate of serving.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson that I had to unlearn was the belief that I had from being raised in a home where I often heard the words “money doesn’t grow on trees”, “a penny saved is a penny earned”, but most of all “money doesn’t grow on trees”! The back story to that is I was raised in the home of a single parent along with my brother. We also lived together with my aunt who was a single mom to my cousin. To say the least, we were not living in a state of abundance. There was definite financial struggle that both my aunt and my mother experienced. We knew it, and we felt it. There were many times we had wieners and beans for dinner except there wasn’t enough money for wieners. Saturday night was a big hit in our house because it was hot dog night! We had to share bedrooms, wore hand-me-down clothes, we cut a lot of coupons and my mother made milk by adding powder to water. We were definitely raised in an environment of lack-consciousness, nervousness around money, and always being in need. That took a lot of re-wiring. I am now a successful business woman, yet when I think about what I had to overcome; those messages and those beliefs around money, that took a bit of work. I wanted success. I yearned for success, but moreso I just yearned for something different. I can still remember the day, as a young child around 5 years old, being outside my home and saying to myself that I wanted something different. I remember in my teen years and early 20’s striving to have a different life so that when I had children it would be a different experience. I was raised with the ethic of work, and with that I have no problem. I have no challenge around putting energy and effort to get the result that I wanted. I needed to learn, as I went through my experience as an entrepreneur, through studying books, courses and masters in the arena of business success and top performance. I really put those learnings to the test, pushed myself, and placed myself in situations where I would be tested – not always a comfortable choice or situation. I strived for success on many different levels and, therefore, my belief systems got tested and challenged and my belief system around money was one of them. I remember having to really work hard to not give my work away, as someone who worked for 27 years in the holistic industry. When you are a giver (as I am) and empathic (as I am) it is easy to give your gift away. I really had to learn lessons of value. Valuing my self, my craft, my expertise and my position in the marketplace. I remember about 11 years ago walking home one evening after I went to a movie on my own, and I was washed over with an incredible feeling of pride. I remember calling my best friend of forty years and saying “I think I’ve made it” and the self pride I had in knowing how difficult those messages were and others that I had overcome.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What I think helped me build my reputation within the marketplace was a multitude of things. I took a look at my services through the eyes of a consumer and asked myself how I could put it all on the table. How could I give everything that they could possibly want from my service that would guarantee a high level of performance and success. I branded myself around authenticity before it was a meme. I branded myself around quality. From the time I started my first company, I always used quality products. I always used quality ingredients. I always delivered the highest level of quality that I was able to, within my means, for my clients and customers. People knew that I didn’t make decisions lightly and that, before I would make a decision to refer someone to a product or a service, I had done my homework and research. What I was endorsing was the best that I felt was being offered in the marketplace. Similarly, for any product that I take to the marketplace, I expect the same level of excellence from me. I do my very best to deliver that to the highest level that I can. I think what really has built my reputation has been a steady and constant showing up as who I am, and long enough so that people got to know my name and what it stood for. There have been many offers that I have said no to because I didn’t feel like they aligned with what I was offering my clients. I endorse people and their services after they have been vetted. I don’t take that lightly. If I refer people to someone, it’s because I feel they have value in their craft as well. I think it goes beyond putting the customer first. It’s about knowing who you are and not being afraid to stand in that, which relays great competence and really defines your tribe for you. I think it is a great business and personal lesson as well that, as a woman in business, not everybody is going to be your customer, align with you, or agree with you. Not everybody is going to want your services, and not everybody should. What I put out in the world of media, how I talk, how I dress, how I act, is the exact same on camera as it is off. I believe people know that, see that, and appreciate that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://debdrummond.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debdrummond_official/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeborahLDrummond
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debdrummond/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnh0BsWjHS1aba4cItw4rw