What is a mindset coach and how can one help you with your nomadic business? Do you ever feel like you wish you could have someone look from the outside in at your business and help you get clear on your goals, strengths, values, and roadblocks?
Someone to be there for you, advocating for you and keeping you on track especially on those down days?
Maybe you’re just not sure what all your business offerings are worth?
Or maybe your inner critic is a bit out of control lately and you need help managing your mind and emotions better!
In this episode of The RV Entrepreneur, we have the pleasure of speaking with Holly C. Priestly, a nomadic mindset and strategy coach for freelancers and entrepreneurs.
Holly’s been a mindset coach since 2016 and she lived out of her 1997 Ford E350 van for over 3 years with her pup traveling the American West. She traveled and worked as a freelance writer, a coach, and a photographer, and also picked up odd jobs as they presented themselves.
Today, Holly shares her experience as a nomadic mindset and strategy coach and how she helps individuals build businesses that are deliberate, sustainable, and authentic to them.
Rose and Holly also discuss the Four Types of Freedom and how they play an important role in starting or growing your business. We also touch on female solo travel, things to consider before working for yourself, tips to stay focused on business tasks and RV travel with pets and how I (Rose) traveled with a bearded dragon!
How a Mindset Coach Can Help You Build an Authentic Sustainable Business
with Holly C. Priestley
Your Host: Rose Willard
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Find Holly at her website:
https://www.hollycpriestley.com/
Follow Holly on Instagram
www.instagram.com/hollycpriestley
Listen to The RV Entrepreneur Episode #306
Listen and subscribe to The RV Entrepreneur on Spotify or in your favorite podcast app. Or, read the full episode transcript below. Leave a comment, or contact us with any questions.
Check out a couple of Rose’s videos about her bearded dragon “Max”
https://youtu.be/AvnFG_RrxQ8?si=50eRu1p7IGwcAN8K
https://youtube.com/shorts/8R60tK9jVoM?si=G5yUAOph86f7QVZB
https://youtu.be/ceXPh2siBtg?si=BKP5pthdWTSYY_PR
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https://therventrepreneur.com
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The RV Entrepreneur #306 Full Episode Transcript:
How a Mindset Coach Can Help You Build an Authentic Sustainable Business with Holly Priestly
RV LIFE: Welcome to the RV Entrepreneur podcast. The weekly show for Nomads, Work campers, RV ers and entrepreneurs looking to earn a living or build a business while enjoying the RV lifestyle. This week’s host is Rose Willard. Let’s settle in and enjoy the RV Entrepreneur podcast brought to you by RV Life.
ROSE: Hey there. It’s Rose Willard, your host this week of the RV Life Entrepreneur podcast. I’m excited to bring to you today a real gem. Holly Priestley. She’s a nomadic mindset and strategy coach for freelancers and entrepreneurs and helps them find clarity and direction in their personal lives and in business, building the confidence necessary to grow. Holly has lived out of her 1997 Ford E350 van for over three years with her pup, and together they traveled the American West. She’s traveled and worked as a freelance writer, a coach and a photographer, and also picked up odd jobs as they presented themselves. So today, we’re going to talk about business and life coaching from the road. And while I’ve never personally used a business or life coach, but I feel I should, I can really see how beneficial they can be to entrepreneurs just having someone there to help work out all the details and address any mental blocks and limitations and someone who can see your situation from the outside in provide valuable insight and offer helpful and actionable suggestions. But before we get into this episode, we’ll take a short break to hear from the sponsors who make this show possible.
RV LIFE: This episode is sponsored by wholesale warranties.
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ROSE: Hi Holly. Welcome to the Life Entrepreneur podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today.
HOLLY: Thank you so much. Rose Happy to be here.
ROSE: So I recently interviewed a fellow entrepreneur, Sierra Eberly, whom, you know, Holly, and she shared her name with me as someone who might be a good guest to have on this podcast, because she said, you’re such a gem because you really help guide people and their businesses to find that clarity, direction and confidence. And that is super, super important. And I feel our listeners will definitely benefit from our conversation today. So I’m really excited to speak with you and learn more about mindset coaching and what you offer. But before we get into all the details, since this is the Entrepreneur podcast, tell us when you first got into the life and what does that look like now? And it can be kind of a short version if you like.
HOLLY: Sure, sure. I bought my van in August of 2018 and I spent the rest of 2018 tearing it apart and putting it back together. And I moved in on January 1st of 2019, and I lived in it full time and traveled the Western states in America with my dog for the next three plus years. And I just got a stationary house last year. I still have the van, so now I’m a little bit part time in both.
ROSE: That’s great. I mean, you know, permanent RV life, a full time life is not forever. It doesn’t have to be. It’s just part of the journey, right?
HOLLY: Yeah. Yeah. It was a very good part of the journey.
ROSE: That’s awesome. I have to agree. And you are an entrepreneur. And since all our listeners are entrepreneurs, we’re all entrepreneurs. What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
HOLLY: For me, it means I mean, the nuts and bolts of it are that I’m not a W-2 employee. I don’t work for anybody else. And sometimes that means that my work looks a little different day to day. So I started in the in the van full time working for myself by myself, and I’ve just continued doing that over the years. So it has looked like a lot of different things on the surface. But the gist of it is, you know, getting to decide more of my my working life.
ROSE: Right, right. I have to agree with all of that. Being an entrepreneur, you get to call the shots. I mean, you have to go with, you know, your clients and what their needs are and get things done. But you really have control over a lot of things and some freedom, which is great.
HOLLY: Yeah, freedom is a huge part of it.
ROSE: Yes. Now so tell us a little bit more about what you do as a mindset coach.
HOLLY: So I’m a mindset and strategy coach for freelancers and entrepreneurs, and what that means is that I help my clients really hone in on their goals and their strategies and how they are going to achieve what success looks like for them. So we dive in to how they’re thinking and how their thinking affects how they’re behaving and how they’re behaving affects their results and all of the things in between. And then we actually figure out systems and strategies and habits and what to do next and how to respond to this email and, you know, how to grow your business to a sustainable way. We can do all the strategies in the world, but if we do not get your mindset aligned with what success looks like for you and which type of freedom is your most important type of freedom and what it is you actually want out of freelancing and entrepreneurship, then you’re just going to feel like you’re treading water forever. So I try to give that water treading a direction that.
ROSE: Is so great. That is so necessary. Oh my gosh. And so what really got you into coaching in the first place? I’m curious.
HOLLY: I started the coaching part of my business after I had started my business doing copywriting and social media management for a couple of small businesses that I knew and in conversations with them about their content strategy and about their organic social media marketing, it became very clear to me that maybe they needed help in other areas. It started out with, okay, you guys clearly need help with your content and copywriting and your social media, so I’m going to help you with that. And then in our meetings about those things, I was starting to see a lot of gaps and a lot of misalignment with where they thought they were going, where they wanted to go, and then where they were actually like positioning their businesses. And so the coaching part evolved from that. It evolved from starting, you know, with your hands in the dirt, growing something and then being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Let’s tend to the soil first.
ROSE: Totally agree. Yeah, it’s a whole person. You’re not just dealing just with the business. They’re this person in the business. You really need to deal with all of it, right? And you do. So you do both life and business. I mean, you just. Marry them both. And is there a big difference?
HOLLY: It depends on the client and it depends on the week. Oftentimes. But with freelancers, with entrepreneurs and small business owners, we are so intertwined with the work that we do and with the businesses that we run. You know, it’s different than doing content or social media for a large brand. It’s just a different animal entirely because it’s not, you know, 100 people. It’s usually 1 to 5. And getting everybody aligned there is is important. But so much of my approach is making sure that your lifestyle and your business are working harmoniously together because we get into freelance and we get into entrepreneurship and we get into small business so that we can have more control over the work that we do. Right? Like we said a few minutes ago, like what does entrepreneurship mean to you? It means I get to have more choice and I get to have a little bit more control over what I do. And so oftentimes we’ll do, I’m going to do this business, I’m going to go into this service, I’m going to offer this thing so that I can live in a van so that I can live in an RV, so that I can live out of a backpack. And if if those things are misaligned, then you’re going to be so frustrated and feeling like you’re constantly like on a hamster wheel. And so like the life coaching, the mindset coaching and then the strategy and the business coaching intertwine a lot. But some of my clients really need more growth for a few weeks or a few months, and some of them really need more mindset for a few weeks or a few months. And we kind of bounce back, back and forth between the two because as this one grows, this one grows and then this one grows and that one grows and you got to keep them at pace with each other, right?
ROSE: No, that’s that’s great. I agree with that. And you know, something that really stood out to me on your website was what you were talking about, that for ideas that you put together, what motivates one to become an entrepreneur and to start a business or grow a business? You know, your your purpose and you had like the four types of freedom. Can you go into that for us?
HOLLY: Heck yeah. The four types of Freedom is a concept that I developed early on in the coaching because I was working with so many different business owners and we were trying to make their businesses successful. And then you have to figure out what success actually means. And everybody has a different idea of what it looks like. And so the four different kinds of freedom was what I identified as the four main motivators for pretty much anything we do in life, but especially for freelancers and entrepreneurs and small business owners. You know, we want either actually we we all want all four of these, but usually 1 or 2 are like the main drivers at any given time. But it’s the freedom of time, the freedom of location, the freedom of creativity and the freedom of finances are the four different types.
ROSE: I love it. I love it. And what do you find that people want the most of those freedoms or what comes up first? Do you see that often.
HOLLY: There isn’t a universal primary freedom type, even for entrepreneurs, even for entrepreneurs who want to live on the road. And most often my clients will see the four types of freedoms will do the work, they’ll do the quiz, we’ll do worksheets. We’ll work on figuring out which one is their main motivator. And sometimes to them it’s like, well, obviously the freedom of time, location, creativity or finances is obviously this one type of freedom is going to lead to all the other three. Like that is clearly the most important thing. And it’s like, okay, for you, that is the most important thing. But for my other clients, this other thing is clearly the most important thing that will lead well. If you have the freedom of time, then you’re obviously going to have the freedom of location and the you know, and that’s that’s how our brains work. And so then we can figure out what our primary motivator is either by, you know, the thing that you think is the most obvious going to give you all the other three, or if you’re like, Well, I want all four of them. I don’t have a priority between the four of them. I want all four of them and I want them right now. Actually, if we work reverse and we figure out what you’re willing to compromise on and what you’re willing to give up, then we see what your primary freedom type is. Because if you’re willing to give up making all of the money in the world to do work that allows you to be wherever you want in the world, then freedom of location is more important than the freedom of finances, for example. Yeah.
ROSE: Yeah, that’s so true. You’re right. Yeah. If you’re okay with making a little less money, then maybe you can work a little less or live where you want to, you know? So. Yeah, that’s awesome.
HOLLY: It just depends on the person. There is a pretty even spread amongst my clients and among the people that have taken the quiz. Pretty even spread.
ROSE: That’s awesome. So okay, so you’ve got this coaching, What types? Of packages or what type of coaching do you do? How do you set it up?
HOLLY: I have a few different programs. I have a one on one program for my clients and then I have a group coaching program and my one on one coaching is more of a premium service. We meet ideally once a week for a few months, for an hour at a time, for a half hour at a time. Whatever it is that works best with your schedule. And we dive in very specifically on your situation and what is going on with you right now. And we get actionable insights every single time. So you walk away with homework.
ROSE: That’s important, actually. Yeah, homework is pretty important.
HOLLY: And then, yeah, every week we go through how the previous week went, how the tasks went, what worked, what didn’t work, What do we need to adjust for next week? Anything that pops up in between in terms of, well, this client came back and said this How do I make this easier in the future? We make the systems so that you streamline your services, you streamline your offerings and your business. And then the group coaching program is is not one on one, but we have weekly modules that come out. It’s about a 12 week program and we have weekly modules where we start with mindset stuff. We start with the four types of freedom. We start with values and thought models and somatic practice and that sort of thing. Before we launch into a couple of weeks on organic digital marketing and social media marketing for your brand, for your business, for your freelancing, and that is in more of a group setting where you can talk to each other and have little supportive textual conversations. And twice a month we also have a live stream coaching of something that is adjacent to the core curriculum. And those those extracurricular calls remain in the program forevermore. And every 12 weeks the core curriculum itself resets and starts over at the beginning with any updates or additions that needed to be made after the last time it ran.
ROSE: Great. So I would imagine someone like myself or small business that are just starting out and they really would like to pursue a coach, a mindset coach. Do you feel they go for that one on one kind of first, one on one 30 minute? Is that what it is, conversation with you?
HOLLY: So I’ve had this question before whether going from group coaching to one on one is the graduation or whether going from one on one to group coaching is the graduation. And again, it really depends on the client and it really depends on how their business is going and how they’re feeling. If they’re at a point when they come to me that they’re like, All right, I really need one on one attention. I really want to figure out what’s going on right now. And then we work together for a few months and they’re like, You know what? Cool. I can like, maintain this and I want to maintain with the group coaching program so that you’re continually getting access and content and meeting with like minded people who are kind of in the same place, then that’s what we do. And some people come to the program with more of a, All right, I need help, but I’m not ready to commit to one on one yet. I’m just going to I’m going to do the group thing and I’m going to, you know, kind of wade through that and see how it goes. And then you get through three months of that program and you’re like, All right, now I’m ready to put some fuel on the flame. Yeah, it kind of just depends on where the business is right now and what the immediate goals are.
ROSE: I can totally see that. Yeah. Let’s see. So what kind of clients do you see the most?
HOLLY: Primarily my clients are service providing freelancers, so freelance writers, social media management, website design, copywriting, SEO, that sort of thing. But I also work with some traditionally employed people who are just looking for ways to make their outside of work life more aligned and more authentic. And those are the majority of my clients. Most of them are freelancers and.
ROSE: Then how long do these clients typically work with you?
HOLLY: The longer the better. On average, most of them work with me between 3 and 6 months for the one on ones. Some of them I’ve been working with for longer. Some of them get the results they need shorter and then move to the group coaching. But the more time we spend together, the more I get to understand what makes you tick. And I get to understand how your brain works and where your roadblocks are so that I can more efficiently help you overcome them as we move forward. And so if you’re going to work with any kind of coach on a one on one basis, I would absolutely recommend planning for that to be a few months long process because you’re going to get more out of it.
ROSE: Yes, of course. It’s kind of like with anything, you got to stick with it for a little while, right?
HOLLY: Yeah. Any business you start is not going to show you exactly what it’s going to be in the first. Oh, no.
ROSE: Yeah. No, it takes a couple of years to really get going. Get your feet going. Yeah. So in the beginning too, how did you initially acquire your clients? How did you get out there?
HOLLY: That’s a good question. When I very first started with the content writing and the social media management, I was already very well embedded in a community of small business owners and entrepreneurs. And so I reached out to them, you know, going that whole warm lead route, because that’s an easier way to like emotionally put yourself out there when you’re starting something new that’s a little scary. It could be really scary. So if you start talking to people who you already know, like, Hey, I noticed that when you do your social media, you do it really well, but you’re pretty inconsistent. Can I help you with that?
ROSE: That’s awesome. Yeah.
HOLLY: It’s a little easier to approach somebody who knows you and who knows you’re not, you know, throwing shade or making a dig at them, right?
ROSE: No, that’s smart.
HOLLY: And then since then, I have systems for my social media and for my newsletters that I also help my clients establish for themselves. But if you don’t tell people what you do, they’re not going to know what you do. And so you have to get comfortable talking about what it is that you do, talking about who you help, talking about the results that you get them in a way that makes you feel like you’re providing value and not like you’re being sleazy. And I think so often, like entrepreneurs and freelancers don’t want to talk about themselves and they don’t want to talk about what they do because they don’t want to come off too strong. And we work on that. You kind of just got to get over it. Rip the band aid off. I have a seven day challenge. That’s like a talk about your work challenge and you talk about it every day for seven days.
ROSE: I saw that, yeah, on your Instagram. I love that.
HOLLY: After that you can like shut it down to like once a week, twice a week, you know? But you got to like really get past that hump of like, oh, I don’t want to talk about myself.
ROSE: So that’s a big thing that probably trips people up in the beginning. But are there any other, any other things you find that kind of trips people up, kind of growing their business or getting started?
HOLLY: That’s definitely one of the biggest things is learning how to talk about yourself and having confidence in talking about yourself. And then I would say the next biggest thing is actually believing in yourself and believing that you are worth being paid to do the work that you’re wanting to do and that you are doing a good job. Very often I will work with freelancers who before they have a lot of clients, before they maybe before they have any clients, they’re like, I’m really good at this and I’m going to do this. And then we start putting them out there and they start getting feedback and they start getting people who want contracts and then they kind of freeze and like don’t necessarily want to respond to emails right away because they have this resistance and they don’t always know what the resistance is coming from. And very often it’s it’s an insecurity in, you know, do I actually want this? Am I actually going to be good at this? What if they hate it? You know, and if you’re providing some kind of creative service like writing or photography or graphic design or, you know, something like that, you’re putting yourself into it and you think you’re going to help them. And then, you know, the inner critic comes in and says, No, no, no, you don’t know what you’re talking about. And I think that is the second part that trips people up. And then you got to work through that.
ROSE: Yeah, I think we all go through that, that inner critic and it’s great that you’re there. You can be a coach and kind of push them along. You can do this, you know, especially in the sea of so many freelancers or so many whatever your business is, you feel like, Oh, how am I going to rise to the top? You know, am I that good?
HOLLY: Yeah. And you don’t need to be the best out there. You just need to be the best right now. And the best.
ROSE: Assistant to.
HOLLY: Consistency is everything. It is.
ROSE: It is. So what should one look for in a business coach when they’re okay, I’m ready. I want to do this.
HOLLY: If you are looking to work with a business coach, I would recommend finding someone whose communication style aligns with yours and whose values align with yours. Yeah, Somebody who is going to work with like a tech startup is going to be different than someone who’s going to work with, you know, a freelance copywriter. The mindset is different, the strategy is different. But I think finding a personality that you can gel with is really important because this person is going to be really deep in your brain and it might be a little bit uncomfortable. And if you are uncomfortable with the person that you are talking to, the person that you are hiring to help you, if you’re uncomfortable with them, you’re not going to do the things that they tell you to do and you’re not going to see results. So you need to work with somebody that you trust and who is going to make you a little bit uncomfortable, but in a way that you want to push through and you want to be held accountable, not in a way that you want to resist and run away.
ROSE: Right? That makes sense. That’s good. And. So there are so it seems like there are a lot of life coaches, business coaches, mindset coaches out there. What sets you apart? I mean, I can kind of sense it right now, but tell me in your own words how you feel.
HOLLY: I think my unique background for how I got here, most of my clients are currently have been in the past or have ambitions in the future of being on the road. And I think that that is a pretty unique perspective. If you’re going to talk to a business coach or a mindset coach who has always had traditional housing, it’s a little bit of a different thing to work through than, you know, if you’re moving around a lot and you have other logistics to take into consideration. And I think that my background being less corporate and more small business and more scrappy, more creative is just less traditional. And I think that that element of, you know, not being bound by preconceived parameters on what business or coaching looks like can be really beneficial as well because we can pivot a lot easier.
ROSE: No, that’s great. A lot of entrepreneurs, they definitely need. I know we felt that too. We needed someone who understood this lifestyle and could kind of see what we do and where we want to go. So I think that’s great. You’re doing great. So real quick, back to the RVing side. What do you think the things for people to consider before hitting the road while starting their own kind of thing or growing their own thing on the road?
HOLLY: Whew, That is too big.
ROSE: Heavy changes.
HOLLY: Yeah, it’s too big. Things happening at once. And I mean, been there, done that. I think when you’re moving into a mobile lifestyle, there’s a lot of change happening. There’s a lot of disruption happening. And, you know, I think now after 2020 and all of that nonsense, there’s a lot more people who have given it a shot. There are a lot a lot more people who’ve tried it. There’s a lot more content online about how to do it and how to do it properly. And the best way and the best layout and the best whatever. Those are all great, but what works best for you might not be something that is already written about online. So I think keeping in mind that things might look different than you expect them to and really managing your expectations in both mobile lifestyle and in business, how somebody else did it is great. Like you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but also you are doing this for your own unique goals and your own unique personality and drivers. So keep that in mind. Manage your expectations. Things are going to be fluid and they’re going to be pretty uncomfortable for a while, but they will settle in.
ROSE: Yeah, it’s so easy to lose yourself and say, Oh, this person is doing this and they’re doing really well, so I’m going to try and copy what they’re doing or do it, you know, but then you lose like, why are you doing it? This is not your personality. Right? So, right, right. I agree.
HOLLY: A huge part of the work that we do and like figuring out what your values are and what success means to you is is huge.
ROSE: Yeah. And if you’re on the road and you’re say you’re solo and you don’t have someone else to bounce ideas or like, keep you going, come on, you can do this. Some cheerleader, you need a coach. You definitely need someone to be there for you.
HOLLY: So yeah, very cool. I think it’s really important to have people in your life that you can talk to about your work because, you know, I have plenty of traditionally employed friends and I just can’t always talk to them about what’s going on with my clients, what conversations we have, what work I’m working on, because they just don’t understand it. It is so valuable to surround yourself with people who are doing similar work or who are living a similar lifestyle because they’re just so same, same, but different to the way the rest of America is living. Yes.
ROSE: So a little different question here. Being a solo female traveler, did you feel safe out there? And kind of what tips would you give to female solo travelers?
HOLLY: I would say looking back, when I first got on the road, I was probably more nervous and three years later I was a lot less nervous because I had more understanding and more capability, you know, more.
ROSE: Confidence.
HOLLY: More confidence, more experience, just more of everything. When I first got on the road, my friends and family were more afraid for me than I was. Right?
ROSE: And then they put things in your head and and then they put things.
HOLLY: In your head. Or they ask questions about, like, your security systems and, you know, do you have this weapon or that weapon? And it’s like, I don’t think that I need those things. No, thank you.
ROSE: Did you boondock a lot? Yes. Out west. Yeah, we did, too. Absolutely loved it. And we felt safer. Boondocking.
HOLLY: Oh, my God. Absolutely.
ROSE: And in campgrounds or stuff. Yeah, it’s great.
HOLLY: Yeah. Boondocked a lot. And I definitely feel safer boondocking than in campgrounds. And I almost always feel safer when I cannot see a single other rig around me. But I have solo female van or friends who don’t feel that way, who like to have like, I just want to be able to see like 3 to 5 vans in the periphery. Like, I just want to see.
ROSE: I understand that.
HOLLY: Yeah. I mean, the most dangerous thing on the road is not wild animals. It is wild people.
ROSE: It’s wild people trying to steal your generator or something like that. Yeah, it’s just.
HOLLY: People made me more nervous than anything else. But I also grew up in the outdoors. I grew up hiking and camping and, you know, so I’m not afraid of things that go bump in the night. But I’m more afraid of human beings.
ROSE: Yeah, I have to agree. Um, what was your biggest challenge on the road like working for yourself?
HOLLY: Uh, the first year on the road, the biggest challenge was finding Wi-Fi and being able to do the work. For the first eight months I was in the van. I didn’t. I just had a regular cell phone plan. And my strategy was just to be like in towns and go to cafes, go to libraries, go to breweries. And it worked pretty well until it was like the heat of summer because again, I traveled with a dog and so I couldn’t take her into certain cafes or libraries, most breweries. Ticket taker, too. But. So then I’d have to calculate. All right, where am I parking the van? It’s behind this building. This building is this tall. The sun is coming from this direction. It’s going to be in the shade for this many hours. And I’m going to sit in the cafe where I can, like, have a window view of my van, and I’m going to work as fast as I can. And then as soon as it gets too hot, as soon as the van gets hit by the sun, I’m going to take her to a park and we’re going to lay under a big tree until it cools off and then we’re going to go do something else. Oh, man, that became a big challenge. But this was also in 2019. This was the year before the pandemic started. And so I still had access to cafes and libraries and things like that that I did not have access to the following year. So by that point, I had figured out a hotspot system that worked much, much better for me. And so by the time the pandemic started and everything shut down, I already had mobile Wi-Fi situated and that was the biggest blessing.
ROSE: Oh, man, isn’t it? Yeah. No, we ended up having we did a hotspot from Sprint, which was great. It was truly unlimited. We pushed that thing to the max. We have a YouTube channel that we did on the road and.
HOLLY: Oh my God.
ROSE: That’s so much data. Fine. Worked fine for that. And we had a wee boost too, to boost the cell signal first. But if you don’t have a signal at all, then nothing works. But we had that. We have two boys and they were on their tablets, kind of some streaming as well. And then we also tested it by having Glenn on his phone, my husband, and doing his thing. And it was okay. But then then we had to get rid of that. They sold it, you know, kind of thing. And then we went to AT&T Hotspot through Fmca, the Family Motor Coach Association, which we still have, and it’s only $60 a month. That’s great.
HOLLY: Oh, that’s that’s great. That’s basically what I did. But I got an unlimited Verizon plan, actually unlimited like the grand plans.
ROSE: People say there’s never there’s not really a truly unlimited plan. But I feel like we’ve kind of tested it. I don’t know, maybe at some point it will push you back.
HOLLY: Yeah, I think there used to be a lot more unlimited things and now they say unlimited up to some gigs, which is exactly not what that word means.
HOLLY: No. Oh, man. Yeah.
ROSE: So back to the entrepreneur side real quick. What are some things, some important things for people to consider before working for themselves? Any tips there?
HOLLY: I think you really need to honestly assess your risk tolerance because working for yourself, especially when you’re just getting started, can be very up and down. It can be a roller coaster, it can be super feast or famine. And just to figure out what habits and systems consistently work for you, you have to be consistent doing things when you’re not getting consistent results from it, especially at the beginning, most of the time. And so if you are not prepared for that emotionally or financially and logistically, then it can feel really, really scary and make you not want to continue to pursue it. So I think accurately and honestly, assessing your risk tolerance and being prepared emotionally for inconsistency, being prepared financially for inconsistency, having backup plans on backup plans, on backup plans. And there are always backup plans. There’s always work you can do. There’s always seasonal gigs. I mean, there’s so many ways you can earn a little bit of money for gas to get from here to there. Right? And so I would say be open minded, manage your expectations. Don’t be afraid.
ROSE: Good for you. Yeah. And to add to that, I think also defining your purpose right before you kind of get into that for sure.
HOLLY: Yeah. Yeah. Keep in mind why it is you’re doing what you’re doing.
ROSE: Your why? Yeah. So another real quick thing. So for my husband and I, we, you know, we’re in a phase right now. We’ve got a lot going on. Our boys are home schooling. We have multiple income streams that we’re trying to figure out what is going to work for us best. And so it’s really hard to stay focused and it’s exhausting sometimes. So how do you stay focused on a task when you have so much on your plate? Oh, man.
HOLLY: Sometimes I don’t. Um, okay, good.
ROSE: Good to know we’re not alone. Yeah, you’re.
HOLLY: Definitely not alone. Sometimes I don’t. I have a bunch of different tools in my mental tool bag to try and stay focused. Sometimes I’ll set a timer on my phone and be like, All right, just do a little sprint. You have to work on this thing for 20 minutes and then after that, reassess. See where you’re at. I like to have a lot of different projects going at once that have varying deadlines so that, you know, if one day I’m just not feeling the work that I thought I was going to do, I can still work on something else. And feel like I’m making progress. I do find that even if I don’t have a specific deadline, giving myself a deadline helps me actually continue to make progress and work on things. And then again, tapping into the community of freelancer, friends, entrepreneurial friends. Sometimes my friends and I will hop on a zoom and we’ll all put ourselves on mute and we are just there and we are all working. We’ll do the timer together, we’ll do the sprints together and having that camaraderie when you’re all in different parts of the country in different vans or different homes or different whatever, can be really, really helpful.
ROSE: Yeah, you said it. The community, the friends that just keeps coming up. So it definitely is a big, important thing. Yeah.
HOLLY: Community is everything.
ROSE: It is. It is. So what are your goals or your vision for this year or what are some things that you’re currently working on to grow your business?
HOLLY: I recently redid my website so that it was more clear the services that I offer and how I formulate my coaching. I’m growing the group program every time I launch it. It is new and updated. More things are coming along there. I’m very excited about that. I’m also working on creating some guides, some like ebooks that include scripts and templates and spreadsheets and all the things that I used at the beginning of my freelancing to help me get more consistent with my activities so that I could get more consistent with my income. I’m working on creating those sorts of things for beginner freelancers and really just trying to give more direction, I think, you know, because when I was starting, it was it was very fumbling around in the dark, like trying to like grab.
HOLLY: I understand. Yeah.
HOLLY: So just trying to, like, make that process a little easier for my clients.
HOLLY: Yeah, that’s.
ROSE: Good. That seems like a good direction. Let’s see, what is the favorite thing? Ng or favorite part about what you do as a mindset coach.
HOLLY: Oh my goodness.
ROSE: I know. Loaded question, but.
HOLLY: Well, I mean.
HOLLY: There’s just my favorite thing just makes me so, so, so, so happy and I know exactly what it is. Every time I get off a call with my clients, almost every time we got off a call, they will have had some kind of light bulb moment. Something will click and I can see it happen. And it’s amazing every single time it happens, what I can do. And it’s a gift and a curse. But I see the potential that people have more than I see the reality sometimes. And I think as a coach that it can be very beneficial because I can see where you can take it. I can see what you can do, I can see what you can accomplish. And so if I can work with my clients in such a way that they can in pieces, if not all at once, if they can in pieces start to see what I see, if they can see themselves the way that I see them, it’s gold. It is. My favorite part about what I do is helping people realize how capable they are and realize how much power they have over their own lives. Like that’s my favorite thing in the world.
HOLLY: Wow.
ROSE: Okay, so that’s cool. We have some kind of similarity here. I was a competitive figure skating coach for a long time, many years. And like you said, seeing the potential, seeing the kids work towards these goals that they had and then, you know, trying really hard with their mind to like kind of get them going in the right mindset, you know, like you do, you know, we had to be everything that mind coach, the physical, everything. And to see them succeed was just, oh, goosebumps.
HOLLY: It’s the best feeling in the world. I did it. I helped them. Yeah, it’s the best.
ROSE: My baby.
HOLLY: Yeah.
ROSE: That was awesome. So warm and fuzzies on this podcast today. Uh, so is there anything else you want to tell us or anything we didn’t talk about today? You want to share.
HOLLY: One of the biggest things about living on the road that I have always said is that it eliminates the complicated parts of life, but it complicates the simple parts of life. So you no longer have to deal with, you know, cleaning out your gutters or whatever. Like you don’t have to deal with some of the more complicated things of of being stationary. But you all of a sudden have to worry about where is your water coming from, How much power do you have? Yeah, you know, all of the things that we kind of take for granted in, you know, traditional stationary living. And I think that that is a very beautiful side effect of living the lifestyle because it you cannot help but get more in touch with who you are and who you want to be. And I think that, you know, sometimes people get into this lifestyle thinking it’s going to solve all their problems and I’m just going to be traveling all the time and like living in beautiful. Places and I can work from anywhere. And sometimes you’re working from a Walmart. Walmart parking lot. And that is just the reality of it. I think it forces you to come face to face with who you are, and sometimes that can be incredibly challenging, but ultimately it is so beautiful and so worth it. So if it’s something that you’re thinking about, something that you’re currently dealing with and feeling a little stressed or a little unsure or not, you know, not sure if it’s the right path for you. Just keep going. Stick with it. The answer will become clearer. The more action you take, the more you do it. And same thing with entrepreneurship. It is a it’s kind of the same thing. You have to you have to be face to face with who you are. And it’s beautiful and hard.
HOLLY: Yeah. It’s so.
ROSE: Beautiful. It’s raw, it’s beautiful. You just become this who you really wanted to be, you know, be more in touch with nature. Everything are so good. Where can our audience find you, Holly, and connect with you online?
HOLLY: I am. I think all of my handles everywhere are Holly C, Priestley. Holly C Priestley. My website is Holly C priestley.com. And I have a podcast that I haven’t updated in a few months, but it’s called Deliberate Living because that is the ethos of everything that I do and come connect with me anywhere. I would love to see y’all and see what you’re doing, see what businesses you’re growing, see what rigs you’re living out of. And if you have pets, I want to see those.
HOLLY: Oh, awesome.
ROSE: Yes, We traveled with a bearded dragon.
HOLLY: Dang. Yeah, he’s awesome. Aquarium setup.
ROSE: We did. We did. We? I know. I wish we had been able to find, like, one that was more plastic, like PVC, kind of acrylic based, not glass. But we did. We had it. It was a 40, 50 gallon vivarium, whatever you want to call it. And we actually we were in a small like, what, 28 foot travel trailer. And the four of us and we had his aquarium on the floor in front of the dinette. And every time we’d move, we’d pick him up, put it, put the aquarium on the bed, strap it down with tie downs. Didn’t go anywhere, thank goodness. Didn’t break the whole two years. And we took him. He is he is such a good travel buddy. So we took him in the truck with us. Oh, my gosh. He loved.
HOLLY: To travel.
ROSE: And the sun. And then, you know, he loved it. We gave him little snacks, beardy snacks, little dried, you know, worms. And he loved it. And then when we got to our destination, we set everything up and put them on the floor, and he’d run and he would jump up on the dinette couch and run up to the window. And he would look out and he was like, I’m home. This is great. And he just absolutely loved it. He absolutely loved Arizona because, you know, the heat.
HOLLY: The sun.
ROSE: Yeah.
HOLLY: But oh, my God, that’s so cute.
HOLLY: I don’t think I’ve had anybody traveling with a bearded dragon yet.
ROSE: Yeah.
HOLLY: Dogs.
HOLLY: Cats, birds.
HOLLY: He is cool. Yeah, sure.
ROSE: Yeah, We’re gonna. We did a video on it, too. The. The Rode.
HOLLY: Dragon. Check it out. Check it out.
ROSE: Reset your journey right there. So, yeah. Fun. This has been great. Perfect. Thank you. Holly, I am so glad you came today and shared all of your knowledge and encouragement with us. It’s just wonderful what you do for entrepreneurs, reminding us that we are worthy and to keep going and just guiding us to success. And I really think our listeners will benefit from it. So thank you again for your time and I’ll put all your links in the show notes.
HOLLY: Awesome.
HOLLY: Thank you so much. Rose This has been amazing.
ROSE: Wow, that was awesome. Holly has such a great vibe and speaking with her felt so good. Did you guys feel that too? It just gave me all the warm fuzzies and I just wanted to keep chatting with her. She totally gets it. So I highly encourage all of you to find a mindset coach that works for you, or maybe just reach out to other entrepreneurs in the community and just chat with each other. Pick your brains. We all need someone in our corner that understands what we’re going through in business and to bounce ideas off of and help combat our inner critic. And in this life, it really helps when that person has been nomadic and understands those challenges as well. So if you’re looking for help with changing your mindset about how you think about yourself and your business, please reach out to Holly at Holly C priestley.com and I’ll put all her info in the show notes. If you guys want to talk more about entrepreneurship or just connect with us, head on over to the Entrepreneur Facebook group. We love chatting with you. Also, Please let us know what you want to hear more about on this podcast. All right. Thanks again for taking the time to listen today. Until next time.
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