We recently connected with Lauren Dreher and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

The idea: I wanted to be a professional speaker to share my story. Like so many, my first thought was, “am I crazy?” I was strategic about who I first voiced this to. It needed to be someone who was also creative but could also tell me the roadblocks. That was my mom. She said, “I think you would be great at this, and you have a great story to tell. And then she proceeded to tell me the things (including my message) that I needed to create and refine.

The next year was the beginning of the whirlwind, that i’m not sure is really over. I’ve just learned to be in it. I created a book outline to tell my story and then started writing. I joined a toastmasters club to work on my speaking skills. I wasn’t afraid to be in front of people, but telling a story with a message that flowed was a different issue. I took an online public speaking class to help learn how to write speeches and practice posture and all the physical things that came with that territory. I was working on my own mindset at the time. I was journaling every morning to get my thoughts on paper, process things, and talk myself through things I couldn’t get describe and put into words, next steps to take, and giving myself my own motivation that I could indeed do this. During all of this and continuing through it, I had two baby boys, moved houses, and after my second son I chose to quit my current job and stay home with my boys for a year.

I decided during that time, i was going to just go for it. While the kids were asleep, I was continuing to write that book, pitching my talk to summits, conferences, networking and getting in front of small groups. I decided to level up the blog i was writing. During this time, COVID hit. Needing some way to keep going, I decided to create more on that website and figured out how to create a small online video course. Through lots of “how to” video’s on YouTube, customer service chats, and a lot of frustration, I had a website built. Meanwhile, I had restarted the book a couple times, not getting past the third chapter. I started writing for magazines to get a bit of extra cash, writing experience, and keep building my network. I was getting on calls with anyone I could and participating in social media groups.

Still working on the book, I was told, “The book that needs to be written, usually writes itself.” I marinated in that, went home, got real with myself on what i needed to say. For the next few months, I just kept typing pages and chapters. I cranked out the chapters of “Go With Your Gut: Then Keep Going” during naptime. Figured out how to get it edited and formatted and got it published digitally. Eventually, the boys got big enough where they needed to be in social situations and I needed to be around adults again. Deciding I wanted to switch industries, I found a job in the corporate training industry. This job allowed me to keep rolling in my creativity but also grow professionally and polish my leadership and communication skills. I learned a lot about myself, went to therapy for a while, figured out I had ADHD, but kept going. I wasn’t a huge fan of posting social media video’s or going live, but I needed an outlet to talk about daily issues and things I was going through. I created and launched the Go With Your Gut Podcast. I kept networking and “showing up” to calls, different events I got connected to. I wasn’t shy about sharing my story and what i wanted to achieve.

I was growing frustrated with my goal of getting my book in print. Little did I realize, I needed to add some things to it. So I reviewed what I had and once again, started writing. Just through talking to friends and coworkers, I found people who wanted to help bring the project to fruition and utilize their own talents. I had to learn a lot about publishing a physical book. More formatting, adjusting the cover, page bleeds, the details of ISBN’s and the limitations. So many things. I researched and did those things in little pockets of time. Eventually, those little steps led to me being able to finally being able to publish to print by self publishing.

I’m big on physically writing things down, and I hadn’t found a planner that just worked. It was either a set up that didn’t work, too much details, to little detail, etc. So, one day I just started creating what I wanted in a planner. Simple but detailed. I looked up different paper weights, because thats a thing. Got multiple quotes and after a lot of frustration, editing, learning some different softwares to figure out how to do what I wanted. I was able to get a rough draft, but a planner that worked for me printed and usable.

Needless to say, as cliche as it is to, “just start.” It couldn’t be more true. It takes being ok with the first round being rough and kind of ugly. It is so worth it to then be able to adjust and get closer to that vision. I don’t have a background in writing, or coding, or IT, website building or design, I had no idea what it took to create and launch a podcast. All I knew, was that I had a passion to share my story. I had a vision of things to create, and even though it took a lot of failed first attempts and ugly outcomes at first, I got there. The more I just started and kept going, I figured it out. And whats more, I started to trust myself more and more that I can figure it out. And as much as I cringe sharing things sometimes, even when they are ugly, I just do it. I enjoiy sharing my “i’m human” side. I enjoy sharing the journey, because most of the time its messy, and I want others to know that its not all just the highlight reel.

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.

My background is technically healthcare. My degree is in Family Studies and Human Services. I always knew I wanted to help people, it just took a long time for me to figure out what that looked like, and to develop the confidence and skills to actually do it. It took me being miserable in a job and to dream a bit to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do. It took a lot of gradual convincing myself and from others to know I could acutally do it and might be pretty good. I cheesy name I came up with is Living Life with Lauren. Why? Because life is challenging, but we have to live it everyday regardless of what happens. I want to help people live their life, and make the most of it, instead of surviving it.

What got me started as a speaker is that I was born with scars and at a very early age, they were removed. I have very visible facial scars which made an impact on how I saw myself. It took a long time for me to stop hiding them and finally learn to use it for good. I decided i wanted to talk to girls, sharing and teaching them how to build their confidence from the inside. I wanted to teach them to develop and embrace who they are as people, and the confidence will naturally shine through. In learning to do that myself, I developed a passions, maybe and obsession for personal and professional development and later leadership. I wrote the book to share my story as well as the steps I took to get to where I am. I had all this experience and knowledge clawing its way out of me and I needed places to share it. That’s how and why I started the podcast. I needed tools to help me stay on track, which is why I developed my planner.

First and foremost, I love to help. I love to provide fresh perspectives to help people through whatever issues and problems they are going through. I love to use my own life to serve as examples. I love to “meet people where they are” and help them break through some barriers to get where they want. I’m really good at shedding a different light on situations and looking at things from odd angles. I love to help people learn to use what they would consider a weakness, and find a way to make a strength out of it.

I love to speak to audiences of any size to make an impact and show them how to use their skills and really shine wherever they are. I’ve enjoyed being interviewed on podcasts, being a part of panels, consulting with different groups, or sharing how to implement the things I talk about in my book on an individual level.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Its a 50/50 tie between people pleasing and internalizing criticism. I’ve always been a people pleaser. I would drop everything to meet demands, help someone do something, or get their things done before whatever I wanted to do. When I received any sort of criticism, really about anything, I internalized it really hard and beat myself up over it. I would live in that. I didn’t understand I was doing this for a really long time until I found myself angry at the world, and probably myself. I had so much anger in my head that one morning, I couldn’t take it anymore and i wrote down everything i wanted to say to people. I realized then, that i had a choice to say no. I had a choice to say, let me do this first, or i can’t.

Learning to be a “recovering people pleaser” has been a lot of years in the making, and honestly i’m still working on it. It means that I have to be ok telling people no and them not being happy with me. its meant me owning that what I have to say or an opinion may not be a popular one. It means that not everyone likes me. But when I turn that around, I remember that there are people I prefer not to be around, and thats ok. This means that I’m going to accidentally say and do things that people don’t like sometimes, and i have to move on respectfully.

The other side of that is being criticized. Because I wanted everyone to like me, i took criticism really personally. And I would obses over it. As I started to take action on the things i wanted to do, I had to learn to let go of criticism. I mean that both internally and externally. There are a lot of voices in my head telling me i shouldn’t, can’t, etc. After I consider some outcomes, I make a choice to either not move forward, or do it anyway. Most of the time, i’m terrified, and i find a way to do it anyway it it won’t have a negative effect on those around me. A big lesson i’ve learned is that when I receive criticism, most often its a reflection of the insecurities of whomever it comes from. Which is actually very helpful in understanding those people. It also takes a lot of strength to hear those people and know that those things are things they have to be ready and willing to work through.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mom once told me, “God gave you the scars, and the personality to handle it.” For a long time, I just smiled at that. Now, its has taken on a new meaning.

I believe that I was given the scars, the journey, and the gifts for a reason. Yes, I’m resilient and determined. But that hasn’t always been the case. I’m on a mission to serve people and help them find their own potential using a 3 different pillars. I want them to look at fear as a good thing, because it means growth. I want them to welcome difficulty, because it means opportunity. And i want to help the learn to shift perspective, because just that single degree and make a drastic difference. I am on a mission to not only use my voice to share my experience to inspire and motivate. But I want to create resources to help people thrive in their own everyday lives, whatever that looks like for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Ldreher
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/living.life.with.lauren
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/livinglifewithlauren
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/laurendreher
• Youtube: Lauren Dreher
• Other: Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/go-with-your-gut/id1612690086?i=1000631692782