And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, you have to be on podcast, because there's so much that goes in behind the scenes to what we're going to talk about today. And it's probably one of the most important things. And so if you've never really sat down and put a strategy together or thought about branding, and why I know you're thinking, oh, there's so many podcasts on branding, this one's gonna be a little bit different, I promise you. And we're gonna dive in and talk about why it's important. The differences of brands, and there's just some really cool stuff coming up. So today's guest, I asked her I'm like, it looks like Joe Hana. And then it's like, she goes by Joe, she goes by yo, but really her name is Johanna.
Right. Correct. You nailed it. So it's like,
just, you know, phonetically, and I get all the time with my last name. People try to be fancy with it like profit. I'm like, No, it's just profit, like money. It's just not spelled like that. I know how you feel like I get it all the time. But Johanna, welcome to the show.
Thank you, I'm so glad to be here, I can already tell we're gonna have an absolute blast. We are.
So before we like dive into all the just like good stuff that you were telling me about when we last chatted. I'm like, we have to share this stuff. Just give give our audience watching listening. I know all about you. Because after we talked, I'm like, Ooh, I'm gonna watch this and do this. And it's so it's amazing. Can you just share a little bit of context, like, before you launched what you're doing now with brands? Like how have you gotten to this stage in your business?
Okay, that is pretty much my favorite question ever. So thank you for leading with, it just makes me so happy to tell this story. Because I am a walking talking miracle. So is my business like, the reason I am here is because nine years ago, I was doing design work at an agency, but it was not fulfilling, it was a really negative environment, people got fired all the time for no reason. And like, the sky was always falling. And I it was like a design assembly line. Do it quick. It doesn't really matter what their needs are. Who cares about their brand, just put something in an ad for them and get it out of there. Like, go go, go, go go. And I knew I wasn't living up to my potential. But also I wasn't actually serving the clients. Like I wanted to be able to take time to find their why and and help them show up in the world. And that wasn't happening. So I was like, they're just existing, very mediocre type of existence. And that could pretty much describe my whole life like fear drove the bus. I I just played it really safe. I did everything super safe. And then out of the blue. I went from perfectly healthy to diagnosed with a brain tumor. And my whole world just turned upside down. So it was like, I was like, you know, fine, strong, healthy, like one of the strongest people. I knew 10 pounds stronger than the average woman and 40 pounds stronger than the average man. And that's kind of my identity. Pretty much all I had going for me was like, she works out. She Yeah, she's like, okay, at design at this sucky agency and has some good friends lives here. And you know, she's probably never gonna really amount to anything. That's kind of how I saw myself that might not have been what people actually said. But if I looked around, that's what it was. And then I woke up one, like middle of the night with a heads splitting migraine, that then three days later turned into partial paralysis down my left side, my vocal cords were paralyzed my sternocleidomastoid muscle like, I couldn't swallow, I could barely breathe, I couldn't talk, food was coming out of my nose. Instead of going down my throat, let me tell you, having Oreos come out your nose is a wake up call that something is indeed wrong. This is not just a migraine, and you need to go to the doctor. So I went from thinking like, I'm the healthiest person around to ending up, er, and then neuro surgeon and then en Ts and like getting shuffled down the line and coming back with the diagnosis of you have a brain tumor. And my world just flipped. Like I played it so safe man, what'd I do to deserve this, I was a good girl, I was a goody two shoes I safe, but good, you know, and don't didn't drink didn't smoke didn't do a like nothing in my health history saw this coming. But it came. And when that happened. First off, I expected to be kind of like the show house where they won't sleep until they discover what particular type of tumor This is how to treat it, find the cure, it's going to be fine. Because they care so much. The world is full of advocates now turned out not so much, which is let's tap into that later. Like that is one of the things I do with my clients is I become an advocate for their most audacious self. And that comes from this moment when I wanted to live, I wanted health again. And there was no advocates like there was doctors that did their job very well. Very good doctors. And then they went home and slept and I went home and cried. And the results just kept coming back inconclusive. And for someone who had played it safe and done everything for the sake of certainty, like my job wasn't exciting, but at least it was secure. This just turned everything upside down. And I went from
I'm just gonna, like, keep working at this agency, someday I'll make it up the ladder, someday I'll get a promotion, then I'm gonna move to New York, and then I'm gonna get put on some really cool brand projects where someday I'm gonna get to work with celebrities and, you know, help them with their brand photoshoots and all this stuff like that was my Sunday, but there were no action steps in place for that to happen. When this happened in in the diagnosis came down. I looked around my office and went, Oh, hell no, I am not going out like this. And if they don't know how long I have left, and they kept saying results are inconclusive. We don't know. I asked him am I going to die? Like that was the first thing I said when they said you have a mess. What does that mean? We don't know. Am I going to die? We don't know how much time we don't know. So frustrating. So frustrating. And so I went from really certain insecure of my outcomes to realizing that, in reality, certainty is an illusion. And so much of my life I had just clung to it. And it wasn't really there at all. I mean, this didn't change things just just opened my eyes. And so not knowing what was gonna happen with my health. I quit my job. I walked out the office, I said, If I don't know how much time I have left, I'm going to spend it with my family. I'm going to spend it with my friends. I'm going to spend it on my motorcycle. Am I going to spend it? I'm going to spend like I literally walked out sat on my motorcycle in parking lot. Just stop like, this is not it. But I'm going to do work that matters with the time I have left. Yeah, so I walked out the door down the street and I started knocking on business doors and saying Hi I'm Johanna I designed stuff. Do you need stuff designed? Literally like Mary Kay salesman did my way through. Miracle miracle of miracles, I found a few people who were actually in office. Some of them actually like needed some graphic design work done. And so I launched designed by Joe with a whopping eight hours of promised work on the clock. That was enough for me, because I was just done Like, I was done not living up to my potential, I was done looking around knowing I still left everything on the table. And knowing that there was so many people like that needed something that I had to give, but I wasn't even close to reaching them. So that happened. And just so I don't leave your listeners with a cliffhanger. This might have to be another episode. But yeah, the brain tumors story, the brain tumor story turns out so good. I could not get help from the doctors two and a half years of getting bounced from surgeon to surgeon who said we can help you. And then no, we can't see risky, we can help you know, we can't see risky. But underneath the surface, while that was happening in the medical world, I had a really amazing family friend who was very black and white in his faith kind of Christian, like the kind of guy that sometimes you want to punch when he says things. Yeah, but he's almost always right. And you know that he says it because He loves you. And he loves so well that you could take it when it counts. And the day after I was diagnosed, he showed up on my porch, and gave me a brand new little iPad Mini loaded with every Bible verse about healing that he had been able to find. And he said, You're gonna you've said, your whole life, that you believe in healing, and you believe in God, but you're not acting like it right now. And you're not talking like it. So this is for you. This is tools for the battle, and we're gonna fight.
He challenged me, challenged me to change the way I talked, changed the way I thought, which now I know so much more about mindset than I did, then that was my very first introduction was just Johanna, it's not enough to believe something, you have to do something about what you believe. And so I did, I started speaking out those verses speaking out those words, and my body got better and better and better and better. And even though the doctors could never help me, all my symptoms are gone. I'm a walking, talking miracle. And the crazy thing is I never got the clean MRI that I so desperately wanted. I never got the certainty on paper. But, but I like said, Nope, this is what's happening. I know that I can call it into being I did. And everything reversed in a line like this sternocleidomastoid muscle that runs down your neck was completely missing. And behind my collarbone looked like it had been scooped out with ice cream scoop, it would just atrophied gone from nerve damage. And it all came back stronger than before. Now I think my left side stronger than my right side. And like, I get to live that every day. And now I have a wicked cool story. That when people say, How do you start designing by Joe? It's not like, Well, no, I knew I could better.
It is like a huge I mean, but I'm just like, you didn't have to have surgery, like no one would operate, no one would try to remove it like,
Well, we went to it was like a roller coaster as life often is it sounds tidy and neat kinda now at the end of it. But along the way, it was so heartbreaking. So many ups and downs, I was walking in faith, I was seeing my body get better and better as it responded to that belief and the power of faith. But then I'd go for yet another surgeon who would hopefully be able to help me because I wanted certainty so bad. And they do another MRI and they'd come back and I'd expect it to be smaller or gone. And they'd say it's the same or maybe bigger, we can't tell we use a different machine. And oh, by the way, I can't help you either. My machines actually too risky, like I was gonna use a camera knife, but it might turn this into something more malignant or it might like, break it up and then cause aneurysms as it exits the body of these things. So then they pass me to the next surgeon who did it a different way. And maybe he can help. And that just happened again and again. And I would be going on faith getting stronger and stronger. Like my symptoms are disappearing. I go in so competent that this seminar is going to be clean. And then it wouldn't be and my faith would just crumble like dust. Yeah. And the doctor is trying to be helpful, trying to prepare me would say, oh, and next, you're probably going to lose vision in your right eye, your left Jawbone will likely get pushed out of place. This will probably happen in this like these are the next things you can look for. And I would go into that appointment full of faith and my body doing well. I would leave crying. Go to bed. Wake up the next morning with all of my original symptoms back plus some new ones. Just after that happened twice, I finally got wise to how intensely powerful our mind is. And like, okay, I get that maybe I'm not all the way healed yet. But also I know that overnight, really like, that's the brain. And so I set to work on destroying the fear first, and changing the mindset, because I started to realize that that fear of what they told me was going to happen was actually making it happen. And I had to eradicate it. So I put in inputs, like, I'd play sermons on healing while I worked, just in the background, just because the hamster wheel in my brain on its own was, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. Like, yeah, they said, they said, it's still there. So clearly, I'm not healed. They said, it's still there. Clearly, I'm not hip, clearly, I'm a fraud. Clearly, I'm an imposter, telling people I'm going to be healed. And look at this MRI, and it says, I'm not. And I had to just drown it out. Because until I got through that fear, I, I couldn't fully heal. But I realized, in one moment of shining clarity, that what I was really afraid of, wasn't what happened next. It wasn't dying. It was losing my happiness, because of losing my quality of life that I was used to losing my physical strength, losing my ability to move, ending up in a wheelchair, I was afraid that then I wouldn't be happy, if that happened for whatever time I had left. But then it sunk in, in a moment of like, I was in extreme pain. But I realized that I could choose to be joyful in that moment anyway, I could choose to move just because it was a gift. And I was still capable of it and not worry about whether it made me stronger. Just I can move. So I'm going to, I can be joyful. So I'm going to, and then there was nothing left to fear. And when that happened, like, then my body really got on the road to healing. And we did try to have surgery ended up one guy said, Yes, we can do this. Had me. He did the scans, he said, come back in three months, it'll be a 10 hour procedure, then you'll be done. And at that point, my family and friends were like, Johanna, like why you're here, he'll like your body is doing perfectly. Why would you put yourself through this? I want certainty. I want to never think about it again. I want to know that I know that I know. And I want to have a clean skin so that I'm not a fraud, telling people I'm healed when there's something still on this paper that says I'm not. And so I said I'm gonna put myself through this. And I showed up for a surgery. They had me on the operating table, anesthesiologist is there ready to knock me out? And the doctor comes back in in three months. Apparently, he hasn't looked at my chart in three months. Because he walks in and he goes, Ah, you're gonna hate me. But I changed my mind. I won't do this surgery. Oh, my gosh.
Yeah. He said, I know what the scan says. But I can't do this to a healthy person, when this surgery could put you in a wheelchair for life, or on a feeding tube for life. And I can't do this to
a doctor though. Like I know you're right. Oh, great person.
Yeah, he really was like risking his reputation. Because I probably could have sued the hospital for them, like three months of me planning and prepping for recovery and all of these things and, and then last minute, like, I'm there and I'm ready and they say nevermind, but he he trusted his gut above his reputation, which now I am forever grateful for. But then I screamed those little curtains in the hospital corridors not strong enough for how angry I was. It was 5am I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. And all of my like dreams of certainty once and for all. Were just crashing down. But when when we left, I said that's it. I'm done. I'm never coming back. Like, I have been almost doing something about what I believe. I've been mostly acting in faith. But then I keep going back and checking. And clearly, my faith wasn't quite strong enough to handle seeing something different on paper. I've got to stop seeing that. Like I can't keep going back every six months and getting the pants scared off of me. I can't. And so I said, No, I'm done. I'm out. Thank you, I'm sure someday I'll thank you right now. But that was five years ago, since I've ever been there. And I have not looked back. And when I finally took that last step and said, No more scans, like, I need to trust that this healing has happened. The last of my symptoms just faded away. There was no more choking and no more swallowing issues, and no more headaches and no more like, muscles are bigger than ever. And so I think that was just the last step. And I don't get to double check it. I learned that now. Yeah, and I don't get to prove it. I can't prove anything to you. All I can tell you is, that was what happened. And, and that made me go like, so during that, like two years of roller coaster. I had started designed by Joe. But I wasn't super successful. I was fighting a brain tumor, right? And just kind of like starting a new baby business in the world. And when when I walked out of that last surgery, I went and looked around and went, Okay, I did this massive boost this this sleep, and everybody thinks I'm super courageous, because instead of quitting my job and going on Medicaid, which is what they wanted me to do, I quit my job and started three companies actually, who does that?
Who does people like us? And we're crazy.
Totally. Yeah. But after, after that last, like, I am done, I looked around. And when I went from one kind of mediocre, to a new kind of like, mediocre comfort, I hit a certain income ceiling. And then I was just comfortable. And I still wasn't serving my clients on a big scale like I had dreamed of, I was just doing it in a different method. And so I went and I went to Tony Robbins conference unleashed, okay, it's a good way to start walked on hot coals, which was really the least transformative part of that experience. The the real shift was the mindset, when he told us to think about what our life would be like in 10 years, if nothing changed. How many people would not be impacted? How many people would not get what we have to offer? How many people would not be touched? And I thought about my story. And I cried. And I was like, No, I, I didn't come this far to only come this far. And I can't like go from just I don't want to just live my life as a survivor. I want to thrive, I want to quantum bunny leap. So I went back home, kind of tore through my business, sat down with all my clients said, What can I do more of? What do you need? What do you wish you had in a branding person? What do you wish you had? And they said, well, one, we don't know what we don't know, too. We wish someone would take us through the whole process. Because we came to you originally, maybe to just get a logo and some brand guidelines. And you You did a beautiful job. And you gave it to us in a pretty package. And we don't know what to do with it. Exactly. Or we you told us like next step is website but you don't do those. And yet and, and we went out and couldn't find a single person that would carry out the brand in a like premium way like you started it. And so I went, Okay, I'm gonna fall in love with my clients, not with my business plan, and not with my products or services. So how can I change this? And so I went from just being a designer, to taking all sorts of messaging and strategy trainings, learning how to help them find their why and tell their story first, and then communicate that into visuals. Because when it comes to branding, a lot of people think that one they either think it's just a logo, or they know it's more than that. But they think they can wait. And they're going to publish their book first and launch their podcast first and start their course. And then they'll worry about branding. And what happens then is it happens you still have a visual brand, but it just happened by default instead of by design. And I wanted to solve that. So I added messaging I added team members, I learned to code so that I could add websites and then the first thing I learned to code when I learned to Code was that I hate to code
it to I'm like, Oh my gosh, we're just not that personality, like we talk and like, love people. And not that coders don't. But I just find that if they're coding, they like live in their little tech world that is their happy world. And like, I look at it now. And I'm just like, Oh my God, thank God, I don't do that anymore.
Yep. But at least, I was like, at least I'm gonna learn to speak it. And so now I can confidently design websites that are gorgeous, high converting, and I know they're gonna stand out from the pack. And then I can talk to my developer and say, Let's do this. And when they say that's not possible, I have the knowledge and the expertise to say, yes, it is. And we're gonna do it.
Crazy, how it literally, when I hear first off, like, it's amazing what you have gone through, and then the shift in a very short period of time. And it just shows you how powerful your body reacts when you get your mindset, right. But I've noticed kind of a pattern in, you know, in podcasts and conferences and things like that, that the entrepreneurs who've had that near death experience, have have the word death, like you are going to die, you know, we were told by someone or that's just what the statistics are. And for people like with our personality, it lights a fire under us. And it's like, oh, no, I'm not. No, I'm not ready, like, what do I need to do to reverse this and change it? And like you said, you, you become your own advocate. And, and everybody has a story. Everybody has bad things happen to them? Sure. Oh, in how you and take the information. And I just, I know this, like, we didn't talk about this before, but I do have like two questions for you. Because from just a personal atmosphere, it's like, what I've noticed in myself over the years, it's just like, the people around me their mindset also, like what they're saying. And then I know, you know, like some church, I'm not knocking churches at all communities, and churches are great, sometimes, but it's like, when you have a bunch of people around you, and they're like, you're sick and Oh, poor pitiful that, where it's like, you know, kind of like the traditional mommies of, you know, patting you on your head, and like, I'll pray for you, and they say rosaries, and they make you casseroles. And it's like, that's not what you fucking need. You need a strong ass people around you who were like, Okay, you got six months left girl, you want to travel the world? Who's gonna go, you know, it's like, what do you want to do? And know, from a selfless standpoint, you're like, I want to make an impact. I want to make a difference. Like, I know, I could do it better. And you're like, hell yeah, I'm gonna do it. And I think, do you think that you came really far? Cut quick, like what you've done in a short period of time took me 11 years before I like joined a business organization. Because I was in industry organizations, which did not serve me as as growing. It was great, a great referral network, but personal development mindset is everything. And if you don't have that shit straight, if you can't get yourself straight, you it's hard to run a team, it's hard to have client good clients that aren't taking advantage of you. And so, but did you win when all this started my two questions, or did you have the right people around you that you supported? Or did you kind of have to like, and I mean, this nicely, like potty train them of like, hey, you know, so and so was really an influence on me, I'm really trying to stay positive. And was that a lot of it? And then my second question is, did you change anything with like, your diet, and you're not a diet, but like, your food and, you know, sugar, and you know, there's all kinds of things out there that aren't doctor approved. But there's, you know, 3040 50,000 people who get certain types of cancer, they change what they're eating, and the vitamins, and it's all natural, and it's gone, you know? So that's one thing. It's like your support group, and then what you're putting in your body. Did you have to shift that at all?
So the support group for sure, like you said, potty training, it was maybe some potty training, maybe some breaking up? Yeah, there were people in my life. One, one, like one of the best things I did was quit my job, because I got out of that environment where the sky was always falling and I didn't realize how negative it was until I was sick. And I was like, Oh, I I can't have that. So that was another like really good. A shift. But I had people in my life at the time who two things happen, like some had betrayed, some had be left because the ones that had been left were saying things like, Johanna, you're in denial? You're exactly right. They're like, Johanna, you need to stop talking about how you're going to do this business and how you're fine and how you're healing. And you just need to accept this. And like, wait to die, basically. And I went to what and who does that serve? Like, if I die anyway, sounding like a crazy person talking about how I'm gonna get healed, who cares? I'm dead. You can laugh at me after I'm dead. But I know that if I take the doctors word as the last word, I will die. I have the choice. Yeah. And I am not going to. So those people had to go. And I found them quickly, because they were the ones giving that and it was like, Oh, this is the last time we're ever hanging out. And then, and then there were the people that you didn't break up with, because they were family or friends really close friends. That meant the best ever. But they did things like I've never said this out loud before. But I feel like this is an okay, place to say it. There was amazing people that organized a fundraiser for me to help pay for the brain biopsy. And that was so incredible and selfless, like the whole city came together. And it was really incredible. But I didn't actually want it. Because i i That was early when I didn't. Not that I didn't want help. I'm not ashamed of help at all. I didn't want surgery. Even though part of me pursued that to the gritty end, as you heard, like, at that early on, I wanted to walk away from it, I wanted to say I'm healed, I am being healed. I wanted to stand in that and be done. And because there was all these well meaning caring people doing a fundraiser, everyone is always asking like how you doing, telling me their stories of how they've had like three brain tumors and had like three surgeries and like, they keep coming back and all these things and, and so it kept it in my life longer than I would have wanted, but I wasn't strong enough bold enough. And maybe it wouldn't have been the right choice, like their hearts were definitely in the right place. And in the end, I didn't have surgery, and I donated the money to a guy who needed a heart transplant. So it turned out fine. Like maybe he couldn't have had the money. And that's why it happened. But there was people in situations where family wanted you to pursue medical options. Even once I saw like the doctors clearly saying we don't think we can help. And I knew it was kind of crumbling my faith to keep going back and felt like I needed to take a step back that that would be my final act of standing away, I believe I kept going, because I didn't want my family to feel like I had given up. So there was some training. They mean, well, but it happens. And the same thing happens in business. Like when I went to start my business, my I won't mention who. But I was talking very excitedly, just in case, they ever start listening to backlogs and podcasts I've been on, you know, anything can happen. But I was talking very excitedly about like this new company and all this stuff. And the first thing they said was the honey, what about health insurance? You know, you've had a brain tumor, and you need to worry about that stuff. Like what are you going to do about health insurance? Like that was the sum total of my I'm starting this company and we're gonna change the world and we're gonna do brands that transform people from their current self to their aspirational self in six months instead of in six years and we're going to but what about health insurance?
It's such a yes to mindset. And there's I feel like there's a great lesson that I want to point out here because I'm like, as my mother you're always trying to teach like to teach away there's a there's a really good thing in it is that what you said is so important that's it's happened in knots me but like in my family before were the exact same thing is where these fundraisers were put on, but it's like, Did anybody ever ask you, what do you want? If you need time to think about it, and how can we best support you? And as humans, especially with our personality, we were so quick to like help and want to just just fix everything because we think we can and there are times where I mean my sister has a terminal illness and has for several years she was told six months, and then it's like, well, she wasn't ready to die. You know, we we did something to her totally crazy. And Senator Russia and she got stem cell replacements. And I mean, it's almost seven years later she still up, you know. So it's like, I would just say from this is like, don't take one doctor. I mean, I do feel like we live in a different age, my parents are still in a generation where it's like, whenever the doctor says, Go jump off this cliff, it's going to make me feel better. It's like you do have to be your own advocate. But something like one of our therapists taught me was that she's like, Angela, you're not always here to teach. And so instead of always offering, you know, through your experiences, how you can help somebody, like sometimes just ask, like, what do you want? How can I help? Like, do you want me to listen? Or do you want me to share some experiences with you of how we've dealt with some situations that are similar? Or I know nothing about this? Like, how can I help. But I think it's a really good lesson just for every single person hearing and listening that sometimes just when you're when you're quick, and you're excited, because you can help someone, or you can go plan a fundraiser or whatever it is, like, take a step back. And just ask the person that you love that, you know, friends family, like what do you want, and a lot of times people we don't know what we want, and we don't know what we need. But at that time, you needed that guidance in that faith. And that's what helped you really get your mindset, right. And then I can't even imagine, like, you know, going to a Tony Robbins conference. And y'all if you've never been to one of his conferences, or Summit, some of the people that run in the same space, it's like, you come back with a fat fire under your ass. And you're like, Oh, I'm gonna conquer you know, I mean, it's, it's the best feeling. But it's like, how do you keep that momentum going? Right? Because it's like, you, you say yes to everything in the beginning of a baby business, because you've just watched the work. And then like you were you started to say, a few minutes ago, you get into it, and then you're like, Okay, hearing him just comfortable again. And you know, you're not challenging yourself. And you're bored, I'm assuming, because this is
totally on. Board. So it's like, then, okay, what do you love doing and the passion and then putting it into play, but in full service, so that you can service it's not about the quality, it's not about the quantity and the numbers of how many logos you can do and how many jobs that you can do. And listen, there's agencies out there, it sounds like you saw it for one. And it's like, and that's okay, some people just need that. But it's a completely different service process, feeling everything, when you go to someone who's had an experience like yours, and you value every single client from beginning to end, and you have that process, and they trust you. And knowing the care and the heart behind it. Because you know, you don't want to go out half assed doing anything, which is why we say, No, a lot more than we say yes. Now, because if we don't have the time to dedicate to it, I don't want to have us do anything. And so it's you know, we have a process and we follow it. And so it's just it's that way, we do it with our businesses, but what is just crazy to me is a lot of humans, we don't do it for ourselves, we don't stop and say, okay, you know, I like reset every year. And I'm like, where is my value best going to help and like, leave a legacy. And the older I get, the smaller the group gets, and the smaller the funnel gets. And you don't need a million people to make a million dollars. And it's not about the money. I was at a conference the other day, and a guy said, and I loved what he said how he said it. It was so good. It was so powerful. And then he was just quiet for like a minute. And it seemed like 20 minutes, but he's like, we aren't here to help. He said, We aren't here to make a million dollars, we're here to make or help a million people. Yeah, that's what he said. And some people say, Oh, it's just about the money and blah, blah, blah. And you're standing up there saying I mean, there's pushback, right? When it comes to help you guys, people have an opinion, and they are trolling main people. But what I have found and just kind of observing in that, in that state is that they almost can't be happy for you because they're hurting from something and they can't find an answer. And what worked for them what worked for you didn't work for them. So they're just pissed and they're just trying to find answers. And so they're not taking it out on you but it seems like they are and that's where you know, the psychology meat comes in and I'm like, don't take it personal. You know, you gotta growth, some thick skin because for every one person like that, there's probably going to be 10 people that you actually can help. So it's okay to I don't know if you did this or not Sounds like you did. But it's like when I have when I've had things like that I just shut out all the negativity, anybody and everybody that's bringing in energy that I don't need, I literally shut down. And then I just focus on what I need to do to get it right. And all the negativity and all the outside forces, it's like, it's not going to serve you. So why even take the time to play into it? So I'm more like, how did you? How did you? How did you get the balls to just start, you know, like, quit talking to me like that? Quit telling me, you know, that I'm gonna die and quit telling me these things? Like, was there something that you did to just say, just stop? I mean, I'm just, I'm just so curious. Because these things are not easy things to do. I mean, they're not and like, these are big, big, big life lessons. So I'm just like, I mean, not that I want to make this whole thing about brain tumor stuff, but
it's gonna have to be a part two, and we'll talk about branding another time. Yeah. So let me let me answer first the question you that I didn't quite answer you asked me to before. Yeah. One was, what else did you do? Like about eating and stuff? I want to make sure I answer yes. Because I know that some of your listeners, listeners, they get so many different opinions and different advices and different things. So I definitely lived through that. Let me answer that. And then yes, I totally remind me to answer the second one because yes, there was several things that happened. But with the first one, you asked, what like, Did you was it just mindset or was in healthy shifts and healthy eating and stuff, too. I'm gonna give that kind of my overarching answered that was lesson learned along the way that I think applies to medical procedures, food, like workouts, anything you might try or be told to try for whatever's going on in your life, which was what you believe matters. But what you do about what you believe matters way more. And I think that there's, there's so many ways to healing. Our bodies were designed for perfection, not for disease. And so you might want to cut out sugar. Awesome, do it, do it 100%, wholeheartedly believe that that is your path and stick to it. And it's going to do mazing things for your body. Like you might be wanting to try a juicing diet or the side of that debt. Okay? Do it be all in and believe that that is your path. Or you might want to go to a doctor and get surgery. Like, I thought I did do it and be all in. And I've known lots of amazing doctors and people who have had that kind of a miracle. Because they were like, This is my path, and they stuck with it. But when you don't get healing is when you waffle back and forth. And you might be doing the thing, but you second guess yourself and you doubt that that's actually going to help have you back to mindset read the book. You are the placebo. Dr. Joe Dispenza. Oh
my god, I have to edit. So no.
Yes. Okay, great, though. That is amazing. There's so many stories in there, which I had not read any of this until like two years ago. So everything that I discovered during this brain tumor journey I discovered on my own. And these last few years, I've been reading all these books, and going to Tony Robbins and all these things. It's just been confirming it. It's like, wait, I know that I did that. That's what happened. Yes. But what I picked up on was how powerful the mind was, especially after that first like six months where I was almost healed. And then I went and saw scan that said I wasn't I believe this scan went home. Next day, I woke up with all of my symptoms back. Yes. Like it clicked that my mind is controlling a lot of this. And it also clicked that when the anxiety and the fear that was swirling in my brain would really be strong, the symptoms would get way worse. And so I started going fear is controlling a lot of what my body's doing. So let's cut out the fear first. And so it wasn't enough to just believe that healing works, that God is real that like that anyone can be healed. I had to actually submit wholeheartedly to that path and follow through to the end. And so it's like, I think I could have gotten surgery if someone would have done it on me. And I could have had a different kind of miracle. And like, so there's so much second guessing in doubt and waffling that goes on, that we like our minds never fully accept, and therefore tell our bodies. So it wasn't until my mind was fully on board, like, and this was inputs eight hours a day of listening to messages on healing and sermons on healing and, and just drowning out because like you said you gotta go into your bubble. I had to. I had to I couldn't listen to the news I couldn't it was like, even well meaning people, they feel sorry for me and then I downward spiral. So I had to just put in things about being healed and totally drown it out. And I didn't do any particular diets. I was already pretty healthy eater. I was healthy. Yes. Yeah. At that time, and
you weren't down. It
wasn't you're doing right. And so there wasn't a lot to shift there. But I have had a lot of friends talk about like, major amazing shifts in their body when they went to clean eating and those kinds of things. I'm all on board for those things. That just wasn't a factor because it was actually frustrating factor. Like what more can I do? By the books? I'm really good. And one thing I did, I did start doing yoga. During that time, I actually kind of got tricked into it. I used to think yoga was for sissies. I only did hardcore workouts like CrossFit. p90x And yeah. But when this happened, it was like pounding migraines if I would move too much, along with partial paralysis on my left side. And so I couldn't do those workouts. And I had a another sweet friend who kind of entered my life about that time. She tricked me into doing it by teaching me acrobatic yoga first. Which, that sounded just badass enough for me to be like, I'll try it.
I would try. I don't do yoga, really, because I talk too much. And I'm like, way too headstrong, but I was doing this like acrobatic, okay, okay, I could get
there you go. There's your secret. So she tricked me into it invited me and my boyfriend, then at the time to try it. And I freaking loved it. Because I'm, I've done ballroom dancing much of my life. It's got a lot of similarities with the partnership and the trust, you got to have not stuff. But then she started like doing longer and longer warm ups. At the beginning of acro yoga, that was just regular yoga, and vinyasa flow and all the stuff and I'm like, Oh, it's so bad on scales pretty good. Oh, I could do this. Even though it's not boring. It's totally checked during the yoga, which was very helpful, I'm sure, because it was one of the few exercises I could still do with both sides of my body. And as I began to heal, it allowed the left side to begin to build up more. So there was some physicality involved. And then the other thing was, on the physical side of things, I kept moving, just because I could no longer worried about the outcome. Like the outcome was frustrating, I worked out my muscles still somehow got weaker, that doesn't seem fair. But when I chose psych, I choose joy. And I'm going to move today because the day is a gift. And this movement is a gift and the fact that I can go for a walk as a gift. And it doesn't matter if it makes me stronger. I'm just grateful that I can do it. That helped a lot to one for your mind, like moving your body helps your mind. I know you have a treadmill under your desk. I'm surprised you're not walking right now honestly. I know. I know.
I know, I haven't moved the podcast, but it is coming in January. And a lot of the stuff we're doing is hopefully we'll get to like do some things in person too. But you know all about the movement and how when you're like you've got to move you got it. I'm like, guess guess that it all starts with moving people, you just have to get up and move your body. Get out of the bed. Stop feeling depressed, because if you don't move, you're gonna stay in that state. And your body is going to stay in that state. And if you don't get out and move, it can be walking, it could be dancing, it can be Yoga it but I am 100% with you, I and that's what gratitude and mindfulness every single morning and every single night. It's like, I don't love paper. I'm not a journal person. But every single day, I'm like, Okay, we do highs and lows. This was my high this was my low and if it's a low, we all have a low it's like some days were just great. You know, you don't have a low but if there's a low in the bottom 5% How can you reframe how can you have gratitude and not complain about it and what could you change to make it different? And so when you just sit there and do it with yourself, it's it's so I mean, things start to change, because what you put out is what you're gonna get back In the universe,
yeah. And then when it comes down to it, all of those things, they were little action steps like put in inputs. Stop listening to people who say you should just give up. It doesn't mean don't listen to things you don't want to hear like my friend who said, Johanna, you're not acting like you actually believe this, I needed to hear that. I didn't want to hear that. So don't shut out everyone who says something, you don't want to hear that. It's not necessarily the case. But there's a difference between things you need to hear and just like negative for the sake of negative. But then, once all that was through, like all this massive action, I'm literally speaking out verses every day. Anytime I'm in intense pain, I'm just talking it out telling my body this is what's what. Then it came down to massive action, total surrender. And I finally had to reach this place where I went, alright, Lord, I believe that you heal everyone who asks, I'm in everyone. I believe that this is for me, I've done all this stuff. But even if I don't, I'm still going to choose joy, I'm still going to love you. And I'm still going to serve as many people as I can, with the time I have left. And I would do these. I didn't call them meditations. But they really were like, I just be sitting there praying, and I picture this altar in a forest. And I just crawl up on it, and lay down and go, alright, Lord. And I started to notice when I would do that the pain would go away for the time I was there. So then, I just started spending more and more time in that state of surrender and going, like, I have done everything I can I have goals, I have dreams, I want this outcome so bad. But I let it go. And whatever happens happens. And I think that has been my secret to success in the rest of my life. And in my business. Like, if I had stayed on the path I was on when I first started it, I wouldn't be here. But I surrendered that and said, What do you need more of? I added it. And I said, Okay, I'm gonna do everything I can to become the brand name in brand design, and we're gonna go way beyond and I did quantum bunny leaps. I treated you said something earlier about. We do it for other people, but we don't do it for ourselves. I finally learned that and I did do it for myself. I literally after I got back from the Tony Robbins thing. I took three months off of taking any clients. I sat down, I looked at my business and I said, I'm telling people that I can help them brand like the best. I'm telling them that I can do this luxury output premium photos, amazing website. But if you look at my website, it's just a portfolio. It's a little embarrassing. It's kind of crap. If you look like different touchpoints in my brand, not super proud of them, I'm all tell in no show. And so I finally broke the curse of the cobblers children were no shoes. And I I redid my brand. I saw that I did my messaging. Then I went and created these Luxe business cards that literally are like dripping gold. You can see them on my website I went I dunked them in paint, brought my photographer flung gold all over the studio had these like custom nails made with diamonds and, like, had so much fun doing for myself what I
see. They're amazing.
And it was just because I finally said, I can't just talk the talk, I've got to walk the walk for myself up to. And so I redid that I redid my website to align with what I was saying I was capable of. And that was like three or four years ago. Now I'm looking at it again, like probably time for an upgrade. Things change. And it's always like there's always more. I just did a photoshoot on Tuesday with my motorcycle and this epic gown with this tiered train like this read off the shoulder dress. And coming out of the darkness is gonna be so cool.
Just showing up as yourself. You know, it's
finally showing up myself and letting the world know and love me for who God made me to be. And I stuffed that for so many years. But now, when when I thought life was almost over, I realized Life's too short to live does anybody else and I'm gonna go all in as who he made Meeting up. And in that, I got to see what it felt like to start to live up to my potential. And that lit the fire in me to help my clients and other people do the same. I'm like, now, my friends joke that I'm the race, raise your price very, like, oh, come to me. And they're like, Well, you know, I, I charge $25,000 for a speech right now, but I'd like to charge 50,000 or, or this and I'm like, Okay, well, you know what, you're gonna look like it like you've charged. Amen to that gotta look like it. You got to show it all. Like, stop just telling people that you give the best damn speeches around? Yes, you're gonna build reputation, and you gotta practice and you got to have substance. But if they come to any one of your touch points, like, they look at your slides during your speech, and they look like they were made the original PowerPoint.
Oh, you gotta update.
Like, you gotta look. You gotta like, like,
you have to, I just, I could continue. Like, we have to do part two, because like, I want everyone to see, like what you do, and like, where you're going? Because it's so flippin incredible. But it's like, now I gotta go do a podcast, I'm like, um, because I just, I think it's important for people to understand. And again, you know, after the whole pandemic thing, I mean, I have a completely different mindset around business and personal and taking care of yourself first. So when we talked a lot about it, you know, we first met actually, and it's like, if you like I said earlier, you can't get yourself right. And some people have never been through an experience that either of us have had and, and that's okay. never will. Right. But even if you don't ever personally go through it, you know, somebody who is having, everyone has issues, everyone has problems, we all have challenges, life can suck. Absolutely. But life can be amazing. If you shift your mindset, and you start to look for the thankfulness and the opportunities, and like you said, I mean, when my feet hurt, and I'm like, so tired, but I'm like, Okay, I need 3000 more steps before I meet my daily goal before I go to bed, and I'm so tired, but I'm going to, I'm going to walk on my treadmill, and but I'm working because it's a stand up desk with treadmill underneath. And I'll GST and get shit done, but also finish my steps out. And then I feel better. And you know, so it's just like, setting these personal goals. And don't let anybody, nobody keep you from doing it. And it's like, we're our worst enemy, right? But we have to have a part two, because what you're doing is amazing. And thank you so much for being here today and starting the conversation, and we're going to continue the conversation.
I tried to find a faster way to tell that story.
But it's so important because these are the personal things, a lot of people are still you know, if you're not like overly an extrovert, and you don't really you haven't had a lot of successes, yet. You don't people don't feel confident and comfortable in sharing kind of like their sob story, which it's not an sob story. You know, it's just people need to hear that first. And then it's like it really, really, really is the foundation so that they can better understand why you're doing and the approach that you're taking to what you're doing
cannot connect to two nuggets to take away all of this so that they want to listen to your part two. Yes. Okay. So one, the outcome that happened when I broke the curse of the cobblers children were no shoes, and I treated myself as a priority. And I really looked at my business and did what I do best to my business was I went from being able to charge about $5,000 for an initial brand package to being able to try Say that again. $1,000 from being able to charge $5,000 to $100,000 in the course of one year.
I have been how do you do it?
i i brand position I positioned my brand where it finally belonged. I knew I was amazing. Sorry, that sounded really braggy I didn't know. I knew I had I knew I knew I was transforming businesses and transforming lives and had something amazing to offer the world. But I just looked like everyone else. And so I took it and said it is time to show up as my most authentic, amazing self in every aspect of my brand. And when I that like literally next day some guy in a coffee shop, asked for my business card and then ran and checked my website ran back and said oh my gosh, you get branding. You hit me. I need you to do work for me. By the way. I work for Google. And it was like that overnight.
Amazing. Just Okay, so you gotta listen to part. So nugget is
why you want to do like not just branding, but why you want to show up as your most authentic self, like your brand should capture your uniqueness and invalidate your value to your dreamiest of dream clients and polarize. The other ones like scare off everybody else. You're not absolutely work and please everybody. You're meant to work with the people that you're perfectly aligned with, and more to come.
If anybody wants to connect with you reach out to you, what's your favorite platform? Where can they find you? And we'll put all the links in the show notes too. Okay,
you can find me on my website designed by Joe studio.com. Send me a contact form, like just send me a message. Or you can find me on LinkedIn or Facebook, as at designed by Joe studio.
I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And if you're watching or listening, thank you so much for your time today. And be sure to tune in next week to another episode of business unveiled by y'all. That's it for this week's episode of business unveiled. Now that you have all the tools that you need to conquer the world and GSD get shit done. Would you share this with your friends and fellow business leaders? One thing that would really really help us and help new listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a comment and Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you tune in and listen to business unveiled. You can check out the show notes at Angela proffitt.com/podcast and link up with us on social media so you can share your biggest insights and I want to know your aha moments. Until next week, remember the profitable shifts and structures you're creating in your business help you be more present in your life. So get out there and GSD