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

Polly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

Life is full of risk. If you don’t risk anything, you’ll never know the possibilities and the highs that you can reach. When the world was shut down during the pandemic, I decided to write a book. At the very same time, I decided to open my own business and also sell real estate. I have been in the real estate business for over 20 years. However, during that time, it was very hard to show properties, and my passion was health and wellness. I opened an infrared light therapy spa. Needless to say, this was maybe not the greatest of ideas because you sweat literally right next to someone in a small room.

I thought to myself, it has been a year since the pandemic started, and I believe people need to get their bodies healthy. I was also in the midst of writing a book and had a documentary that was being made about myself and my father. During this time, business was very slow. I felt positive because I, like many Americans, took out an EIDL loan. I knew I could start making money with this loan, and my business would take off.

Over the course of the year, I finished my book and was bound and determined it was going to be a hit bestseller. I also had the documentary that came out that is currently still on Hulu and HBO. It is called “The Invisible Pilot.” Nothing was going to take the wind out from underneath my wings. However, my business kept getting slower and slower, and people stopped coming in. After one year of putting my heart and soul into this business, I had to close my doors.

At that point, I could either be pitiful or powerful. I got to choose. I chose to rise up like a Phoenix and understand that many have fallen throughout the world in being an entrepreneur. The real heroes are the ones that get back up. Not that I’m a hero, but I come from a very, very strong business-minded, single mom that raised me to be strong. She says, “Quitters quit; you’re not a quitter.” I listened. I closed my doors, but I did not quit in my heart.

I was very proud of the documentary that came out. However, I didn’t make any money. The book that I wrote, the publisher didn’t give me any of the royalties. So everything I put my hand to pretty much flopped. After over a year and a half, my husband and I sold our home, we downsized, and we regrouped. I now republished the book and have a lot of amazing things and doors that are opening by the grace of God. My husband is doing a new venture that looks to be very successful. My spa-owning businesses are behind me, but I learned many valuable lessons.

One being the importance of small business and how hard people work to keep the doors open. My advice to you is, I know this sounds grim, but you never know what’s on the other side of hard work and determination. It might not be a full bank account, or it could be. What it will be is much wisdom that you can give others. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, so you can be a hope giver to other people and encourage them that new doors and opportunities will open! You can share with other people so that they too can get back up on the horse again like you did. Let your mess, whatever it is in your life, be your message to lift up others and encourage them on this path we call Life!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My brand or business is my book. It is called ‘You Got Daddy Issues.’ My real estate site is Pollysellssandiego.com. They both are very, very different but also the same. The common denominator in both is to help someone else. What is different about me than most authors is I actually went through every single thing that is in my book. My dad was the largest drug smuggler in US history. He was involved in the Iran-contra scandal and faked his own death on my seventh birthday. Don’t worry, he came back to life. If you watch the documentary ‘The Invisible Pilot,’ you will see me in it and everything about my story. The book that I wrote, ‘You Got Daddy Issues,’ is about healing a relationship with your father regardless of whether he was there or not. It’s so important to have forgiveness in your heart. When I finally gathered in my heart that the way my father treated me as a child had nothing to do with me not being pretty or good enough, it had everything to do with him. Once I figured that out at 50 years old, I was free.

I carry that over into my real estate business. I want to know what people want, what they can afford, and what is going to be the best for their family. I never push a client to try to buy more than they can afford or move somewhere that they don’t want. I always want them to wait so that they can get what is the very best for them and their families. When I speak on the speaking circuit and different places, my goal first is to smell the soil. What I mean by that is to understand the culture of the church or organization where I’m speaking. This is so that I can speak to that directly from my own experiences in life. When people walk away from wherever I speak, my prayer is that they are uplifted, encouraged, and that they understand how unique and important their purpose on this earth is.

I was born in Memphis. My mom raised me as a single mother, and she rose up through the ranks and helped to start Federal Express. She is still working to this day at 80 years old and owns her own very large organization. Through all the hardships that we had, her and I together, I learned how to always get back up and always help others as I pull myself up. That is really what we’re here for — to help others while we help ourselves.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like I wrote earlier, I had to pivot on my small business. That was a health spa, closed. I had to say, ‘OK, it’s time to get back up.’ I still had my real estate license, so I went to work and I listed two homes within a month. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s OK to lick your wounds for a minute, but you are more resilient than you think. Just keep saying to yourself, ‘I think I can. I think I can. I think I can,’ and you will!

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

I had to unlearn when my business failed, and all the money was gone, that I am not a loser. The backstory is my dad completely abandoned our family when I was a little girl. What I made that mean was I must not have been enough for him to stick around. Somehow I made it mean that I was a loser. So, through this past experience, I had to unlearn that and realize that I’m not a loser, and my dad‘s actions had nothing to do with the character of who I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.Pollysellssandiego.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polly_betzner_walshin?igsh=YzVkODRmOTdmMw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polly.milford?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polly-walshin-37702a2a?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Twitter: Pollybetznetwalshin@pollybetzner
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=skNtVTAYzFnqIwlFNAbzIg&utm_source=ishare

Image Credits
Maria Pablo photography