Working For A Dream

For a lot of folks, hitting rock bottom is more than the product of a single adverse moment or even season in your adult life. Wounds from childhood run deep, and without working to understand the ways our subconscious and unconscious selves impact conscious choices and behavior, self-awareness and success can be hard to find.

That’s where Tiffany Toombs comes in. As a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and hypnosis coach, she helps people dive into the unconscious mind and, as she puts it, “pull out all of the gunk that’s been holding you back.” The journey that brought Tiffany to this line of work is a personal one. After a series of toxic relationships and a miscarriage, she was at her life’s lowest point. That’s when she realized that her trauma was all part of the same continuous thread, and that this thread began with abuse she’d experienced as a child at the hands of her stepmother.

“These events that had seemed separate throughout my life had built up, and I’d been sweeping them under a rug to pretend they weren’t there,” she recalls. “It was no longer a small pile of dirt. It was this huge mountain of stuff. I was like, ‘Oh, nothing to see here!’ and trying to cover it with, like, a face cloth. I realized that I had to do some healing.” 

After discovering NLP and seeing her life transformed by it, that’s when Tiffany decided to dedicate herself to helping others access this same healing. Today, she helps clients understand how the brain combines beliefs, emotions and the language we use to create our perception of reality — and how, by harnessing the power of NLP, we can improve our reality.

On this episode of the Working For a Dream Podcast, Patrick and Tiffany talk about rewiring the brain, letting go of self-limiting and damaging belief systems, and getting unstuck. 

What You’ll Learn:

• How 95% of our adult beliefs were planted in us as children, and how we can liberate ourselves from those beliefs
• How self-talk interacts with the brain’s reticular activating system (and what exactly that means)
• Why NLP can be the thing that helps you make true change a part of your routine 
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“A lot of people, whether they want to admit it to themselves or not, are comfortable with being the victim of their circumstances because they don't have to take responsibility for their life. They don't have to take ownership. It's never your fault that something happened to you. It is your responsibility how you choose to move forward from that.”

— Tiffany Toombs

How to Get Involved:

Connect with Tiffany: 

Blue Lotus Mind

Facebook

LinkedIn

Instagram

YouTube

Connect with Patrick: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Starting a business can take you to places you never would’ve expected — sometimes literally! 

Not long ago, JC Hite was growing a real estate business in his home state of Arkansas and, next, an ed tech company that he’d go onto sell to IBM later. It was during this second entrepreneurial endeavor that he decided to spend some time in South and Central America, where the majority of his clients were based. After travels that took him to places like Guatemala, Chile and Ecuador, JC met his future wife and permanently relocated to Nicaragua to be with her — and to start a digital marketing agency alongside her.

Launching a company within a different culture gave JC the opportunity to expand his awareness and EQ as a business leader. Building a business, he says, is all about applying that EQ to answer a few questions: “How can we operate and work through other people? How can we encourage and motivate them and get them really excited, and do that in different cultures and with different people?”

Today, he has learned not only how to scale his own company — in just three years, Hite Digital has grown to employ about 80 people, with offices in Nicaragua as well as Dallas, San Francisco, Nashville and Miami — but also how to use digital marketing to scale others’ businesses. On this episode of the Working For a Dream Podcast, Patrick and JC talk about the changes coming to digital marketing in 2021, how JC approaches his daily routine and how you can help your team achieve alignment as a leader.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to set core values at your company (and use those values to hire the right people)
• The secret to motivating people, across age groups and cultures
• Why there’s a power in hitting rock bottom
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“We have everything against us. We went through a civil war in Nicaragua. We went through an economic crisis in 2020. And our last offer to buy us out was just under $15 million. That’s insane. We’re proving that you can build something like that in a country like Nicaragua, and hopefully that’s going to lead a lot more opportunities.”  - JC

How to Get Involved:

Connect with JC:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram 

Hite Digital

Connect with Patrick: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

How do you channel loss into purpose, and how can healing be gleaned from that sense of purpose? These are among the questions that Pam and Gary Roberts had to explore upon losing their daughter — who, after a car accident, struggled with an addiction to opioids and pain medication — at age 27. 

Their daughter’s experience in Florida rehab facilities — where Pam and Gary say patients were ping-ponged, by design, between rehab and halfway houses as part of a “terrible cycle” — opened their eyes to the need for more holistic addiction treatments. And as a firefighter and crossfitter, Gary saw similar needs for natural antidotes to pain in his personal and professional communities. That’s why today, the couple is finding healing both for themselves and others through the medicinal uses of hemp, cannabis and CBD. 

As the owners of Pure Body Zen, Pam and Gary bring superior-quality CBD to U.S. markets. As the hosts of the Pure Body Zen Podcast, they fight misinformation and myths about these natural substances and shed light on their medicinal value. And as the founders of Promises Recovery Center, they’re exploring the ways that CBD can be used, in combination with exercise, nutrition and vocational training, to heal from addiction.

On this episode of the Working For a Dream Podcast, Patrick, Pam and Gary talk about learning from loss, ending the stigma surrounding CBD and making healing a part of your daily life.

What You’ll Learn:

• How CBD can help rebuild your brain and body
• Why we need better alternatives to addiction recovery today
• How to handle adversity, in life and at work
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“You’re still going to go through tough times. It doesn’t mean that life is over. You always will go through tough times… Whatever adversity we have, go with it. It’s not going to be all day, every hour. It’s going to be at that moment. So take it, swallow it and move on.”

— Gary Roberts

How to Get Involved:

Connect with Pam and Gary: 

Gary’s Instagram

Pam’s Instagram

Pure Body Zen Podcast

Purebodyzen.com

Connect with Patrick: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Do you have a growth mindset? If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you’ll need one. The good news is that, by hacking your brain, there are ways to cultivate that mindset.

That’s according to Alex Vonderhaar, the CEO and founder of Hidden Falls Media, a neuromarketing agency that applies psychology and neuroscience research to digital marketing. As someone who originally went to school to study pharmacology, or the impact of different substances on the brain and on behavior, Alex has long been interested in ways to optimize the human mind. But it was a brush with death that ultimately brought him to his current path.

“I had a near-death experience, and it ended up causing me to be dead for over two and a half minutes,” he says. “It was from an unknown airborne allergy that I dropped dead, literally, in one of my best friend’s dorm rooms. They brought me back, and after that I had a new approach on life.” 

After a subsequent stint working in flotation therapy, Alex realized that his understanding of psychology could be harnessed to explore the world of marketing in new, innovative ways. On this episode of the Working For a Dream Podcast, Patrick and Alex talk about what exactly that work looks like, how to calm your anxiety’s “monkey mind” and pursue your goals, and why 2021 will be the “year of collaboration.”

What You’ll Learn:

• How Alex brings a neuroscience-based approach to his daily routine
• What he’s reading, and what you should be adding to your shelf
• Why the “Eisenhower Matrix” is the secret to successful prioritization  
• Alex’s No. 1 tip for anyone who plans to advertise in 2021 (hint: it has to do with changing your social media approach)
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“The biggest thing that 2020 really taught me was that, for everybody who mentally checked out, it was a ‘separation season.’ We got lucky in the sense that for people who said, ‘I’m going to take this as a blessing in whatever way, shape or form it appears to me and run with it’ — those are the people who are winning right now. They’re the people who are going to be succeeding over the next few years.”

How to Get Involved:

Connect with Alex: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

The Hidden Falls Media Experience

Connect with Patrick: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Success is relative, and even for people who’ve “made it” by society’s standards, feeling fulfilled isn’t a guarantee. That was the case for Joey Yak. 

It was just a few years ago that Joey, now known professionally as the Studio CEO, was living what he calls a “crazy rockstar life” as an independent artist in Hollywood, traveling across the country in tour buses with his face plastered on the outside. People thought he was living the American dream, but in reality, Joey says it felt like he was stuck inside “the worst nightmare.” 

“Everything that I didn’t want to become, I felt on the inside that I was that person — away from my kid, flying first class on a guilt trip,” he says. “I would wake up and pop Adderall, and in order for me to go to sleep, I had to drink alcohol.” 

Ultimately, Joey was pushed by something he now recognizes as God to get sober, get home to St. Louis and come up with a new plan for his life. That plan would see him build a six-figure business creating custom theme songs for entrepreneurs, using his musical prowess to help others get their dreams off the ground. But Joey didn’t get here overnight.

On this episode of the Working For a Dream Podcast, Patrick and Joey talk about changing your life’s direction, the power of music for branding and how to create consistent content that’ll get your business attention.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why you should use your personal story to add value to your business
• How to put out content that creates “edu-tainment” 
• Why it pays (literally) not to ask for permission
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“Everyone wants to know the end result before they take the action. I go into it saying I’m going to prepare myself for an opportunity that may never happen and create that opportunity. Opportunities don’t just come to you.”

— Joey Yak

How to Get Involved:

Connect with Joey:

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Joeyyak.com

Connect with Patrick: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

When you’ve lost your sense of motivation and purpose in life, every day can seem like a battle you don’t feel like fighting. Patrick Bolanos knows this all too well. Not long ago, he was simply going through the motions of life, working a job that wasn’t making him happy and living paycheck to paycheck in the process. 

“I wasn’t doing anything with my life,” he says. “I would come home, turn on the tube and drink some beers. I was overweight… I wasn’t all there, I wasn’t committed, I wasn’t happy.”

Patrick’s identity, he says, was “severely broken.” Until he got a wake-up call four years ago that made him realize it was time to turn things around, for the sake of himself and his family. Today, he’s the proud co-owner of a thriving food truck company and the supporter of not only his own four children but also kids in his native Nicaragua, where he founded a baseball academy. His marriage has been patched up, he’s out of debt and most important of all, his life feels like it has meaning again.

From hitting rock bottom to finding fulfillment, hear Patrick share what he’s learned, where he’s come from and where he’s going on the Working For a Dream Podcast. 

What You'll Learn:

• How embracing self-development and gratitude helped Patrick change his life
• Why it’s never too late to find meaning and purpose again
• How to recognize the signs that it’s time for a life overhaul
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“If you’re about to hit rock bottom or you don’t know where to start, it all starts with feeding your mind with positivity and being grateful, and then we go from there… All you have to do is be consistent, apply the disciplines, and one small step at a time, you will see incremental changes.” 

— Patrick Bolanos

How to Get Involved:

Connect with Patrick: 

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram