From Powerless to Powerful - A Journey of Resilience, Authenticity & Breaking Barriers - Chelsea Husum : 156

Meet Chelsea, a remarkable entrepreneur who transitioned from teaching high school Spanish to owning a successful construction company in Denver, exemplifying the power of authenticity and resilience. Her story encourages listeners to embrace their narratives, seek healing, and recognize that imperfections are what make us relatable and human.

Chelsea Husum: Bestselling Author, Speaker & Construction Trailblazer

Chelsea is breaking barriers in the male-dominated construction world with her award-winning company in Denver, CO. A bestselling author and bold speaker; she shares raw insights on resilience, success, and overcoming adversity—empowering women to rise stronger and own their stories.

We spoke about:

• The importance of sharing stories for healing

• Transitioning from teaching to the construction industry

• Finding a unique niche in concrete scanning

• Overcoming challenges in a male-dominated field

• The journey of writing a book and its significance "Real Vibes Only"

• Empowering women through authenticity and vulnerability

• The launch of a podcast focused on real-life conversations

• Balancing motherhood, business, and self-care

• Building meaningful relationships in business

• Understanding that trauma can influence growth and strength

Let's enjoy her story!

To connect with Chelsea and get her awesome book; https://chelseahusum.com/book

Her podcast Lip Services & Lashes: https://chelseahusum.com/podcast

Chapters

• 8:04 Balancing Work, Wellness, and Boundaries
• 15:46 Building a Successful Entrepreneurial Venture
• 26:15 Podcast for Real Life Stories
• 33:03 Empowerment and Resilience After Adversity

Transcript

Daniela SM: 0:01

Hi, I'm Daniela. Welcome to my podcast, because Everyone has a Story, the place to give ordinary people's stories the chance to be shared and preserved. Our stories become the language of connections. Let's enjoy it. Connect and relate, because everyone has a story. Welcome. My guest is Chelsea Husem and she's here to share her bold and unfiltered journey. Chelsea is a total force, a powerhouse entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker and a badass bathing her way in the male-dominated construction industry. She lives by one rule trust your intuitions. Forget the typical business playbook. Chelsea does things her way and it works wonders. She's sassy, strong and all about living life on her own terms. She shares powerful insights on managing time, setting boundaries and staying healthy while juggling entrepreneurship and motherhood. Oh, and her book Real Vibe Only it is like a shot of espresso for your soul and her new podcast, lip Service and Lashes. Chelsea proved that there is no mountain too tall to climb and she's here to share her amazing story with us. Let's enjoy. Welcome, chelsea to the show.

Chelsea Husum: 1:23

Thank you, I'm so excited to be here.

Daniela SM: 1:25

Yes, me too, and I am so excited that you have a story. So why do you want to share your story?

Chelsea Husum: 1:30

Yeah, I think it's so important to fully, authentically step into your life and who you are is to finally share your story and or at least make peace with parts of your story that maybe you haven't. It's been a really powerful year for me, finally looking at pieces that I kind of had hidden or hadn't really healed from, or it has allowed me to really step into who I truly am.

Daniela SM: 1:54

Wonderful, wonderful. And so when does your story start?

Chelsea Husum: 1:57

Well gosh, I have so many stories and twists and turns, but my story now? I was a high school Spanish teacher for 10 years. Now I own a construction company in Denver totally different things. My story has just kind of been going with the twists and turns of life, like I never would have thought I would be here and owning my own company working in construction ever. But I love it and that's what my story was meant to be right. But I'm a mom, active, you know, just love living life and I feel more fulfilled now than I ever have and throughout my story and throughout my life I've learned a lot of things. I've gone through some really hard things, as we all have, but now I know I use that to make me stronger and to kind of share my message with others and hope and give them hope, maybe if they're going through tough times.

Daniela SM: 2:46

All right, okay, so tell us your story.

Chelsea Husum: 2:48

So I'm from a small town in South Dakota. I had a great upbringing. My parents got divorced when I was three, so my parents lived apart and I'm super close to my dad Still am to this day. He's one of my best friends. And then my mom and stepdad got married when I was six. So he's been in the picture forever too. So I I honestly wouldn't change it. I love I have more parents that love me, which is really cool.

Chelsea Husum: 3:11

But I moved out to Denver to do an internship for my broadcasting degree, um, and then didn't leave, uh, got a job here and then ended up meeting my now husband here, um, and stayed. So I, you know, like I said I well, I worked in experiential marketing and trade shows for probably five or six years after college but then kind of was feeling that I really I didn't feel like I was doing anything worthwhile in the world like with my life, and so I did some soul searching, realized, hey, I want to be a teacher. I had the Spanish degree but I had zero experience, you know, I didn't know how to be a teacher. So I quit that job, got my master's in education and became a high school Spanish teacher middle and high school for 10 years.

Daniela SM: 3:56

Sorry, how do you learn Spanish?

Chelsea Husum: 3:58

So I studied in Ecuador for quite a few months and then I got a degree, in college too. So it was funny, though in high school I took Spanish and I don't remember one word. I took it for two years, remember nothing. And then I apparently was in college and I'm like, oh, I kind of like this, I'm kind of good at it, so yeah, then I decided I have a broadcast journalism degree and a Spanish degree. So I decided to double major.

Daniela SM: 4:24

And how do you decide to go to Ecuador?

Chelsea Husum: 4:27

I first went because my college professor, Richard he had been in the Peace Corps in Ecuador way back when and so he always loved it, and so he took a group of us students for a month to study there and then I fell in love with it and then I went back by myself the following year for three months. So, yeah, I and then actually 10 years after that, I took a group of my students there, which was a full circle moment. It was pretty cool. So I've been there three times and I just I love it. Had some trauma there as well, but but overall I love the country and the people and I had really just amazing experiences there overall.

Daniela SM: 5:06

So then you decided to be a teacher, and you loved it. What happened?

Chelsea Husum: 5:10

I loved it till the last year. I did not love it and it was a pretty rough year and I just it's with me. If I don't love something, I'm miserable and I have to like I know it affects just my well-being and my happiness. So it's like, okay, I have to like I know it affects just my wellbeing and my happiness. So it's like, okay, I have to move on. But this time I was really like, okay, well, I just spent all this money for a master's degree, you know, I made it 10 years. But I just was like, what am I going to do now, you know? And I applied for just a bunch of random jobs. No one called me. It was really discouraging, honestly, and, um, the only job I got offered was as an office manager in a different construction company.

Chelsea Husum: 5:52

So that actually got me into commercial construction, really kind of got thrown in. I did not get trained. Well, I cried a lot, it was hard, because there's a lot of really specific things in construction that are very odd, and reports and all these, all these weird things, and so finally kind of figured those out the hard way and then, in March of 2020, I started my construction company. I worked both jobs until April of 22, when I was like I physically can't do this anymore. It's way too much, obviously, working two full-time jobs, trying to be a mom, trying to just do normal things in life too. So then I stepped into just running my company.

Daniela SM: 6:31

But how you decided that you wanted to run your own company from something that you didn't know before.

Chelsea Husum: 6:36

Yeah, yeah. So I had had some conversations and kind of since I was in construction, felt like I had a pretty good handle on on that in commercial construction, and then had some conversations, um, with some vendors in town and saw a niche with I just started a company with concrete scanning. So, um, it's, it's like if you're on a high rise building, let's say it, um, this little expensive machine scans the concrete, the floor of the wall, more or less, to tell you that there's something in there so you're not cutting into it. And then you know people could get killed, there's really dangerous things, so it's more of a safety thing. So I started with that and just saw a niche in the market where there's a lot of there's some not a lot, but there's some bigger companies doing it.

Chelsea Husum: 7:27

I heard they are not doing it very well, or they were three weeks out, you know, and people wanted somebody. Hey, I need you in two days or I need somebody who is doing this well, because obviously people can get hurt or die if you don't do it well. So started with that and then, due to client demand, I ended up doing core drilling, which is it's the circular cutting and floor wall on these buildings. And then I work mainly with electrical and mechanical companies and they come in and fill up all these holes that we cut with their stuff, kind of saw you know where, where we were needed. And now we do tons of core drilling and, which is funny that I never would have even done it. But they were like hey, can you do this? And I'm like, okay, well, let's see.

Daniela SM: 8:04

I find fascinating is what kind of personality you have to to have found a niche that you could. You know you're having your job. People usually just have their job and do their job, but you were thinking more, so that's that's what I'm interested to know.

Chelsea Husum: 8:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's. I kind of just have the personality that you could throw me in anything and I'm a really hard worker and I'm like I'll figure it out, like I don't. I don't have business training, I don't have a business degree, but as I've gone through life, I work really hard to try to excel at whatever I'm doing, whether it was teaching or you know the company before that. So it's like I'm just really tenacious and I'm like I got this. I can figure it out, even though I have so much learning to do. Right, but I learned the hard way. I ask a lot of questions.

Chelsea Husum: 8:49

Early on, I found women in Denver who owned larger companies in construction that were doing like they're doing multi-millions a year and I became their friend and I I learned from them and I asked them for advice and I asked them who do you use for insurance? Who you know? Do you have a recommendation for this? They became mentors to me and I really learned a lot from them. Or you know, even today, if something happens and I just want feedback or their thoughts, like I could call them and say, hey, what are your thoughts on this?

Chelsea Husum: 9:18

I learned a lot from that first office manager job. I got after teaching like really just learned the hard way, learned all the pieces and also learned like what not to do, because it it was a pretty poorly run company, so and I'm really organized, and so it was like, okay, now stepping into my company, this is what I'm going to do, this is what I'm not going to do. Right, it's going to be really organized really by the book. Learn from so many different pieces, like now being a few years in and my confidence and everything, versus when I just started. I mean, I'd get so nervous when clients would call and I'd be like, let me check on that, I'll get back to you, you know. And I'd have to call my employees and be like, hey, they're asking this, you know, and now I can talk about it forever.

Daniela SM: 10:10

But it's just yeah, it was tenacious and I can get thrown in and I'll figure it out and what about.

Chelsea Husum: 10:12

You know you're in a business where there's mainly men running it. What are the challenges that were presented to you? Overall, I haven't really encountered a lot of like people that are rude to me or treat me badly because I'm a woman. Potentially it's because I'm confident, I know who I am as a person. I go out there, I'm genuine, I'm honest and what you see is what you get. So it's like I don't even really I mean I don't even really open the door for to be treated poorly and I'm not going to work with people who treat me poorly or be around those people. I get to actually choose as the owner, who to work with and who not to. I've been supported very well and by men and women alike, and I think it's just you know, like I said, because I'm genuine, I'm confident, I know who I am and that's kind of how I step out and into the world and into my business and I think people just appreciate that. You know that they, they know they can trust me, they know who I am as a person.

Daniela SM: 11:03

So you have this business, you're a mom and also you wrote a book. What else do you have?

Chelsea Husum: 11:08

My first book came out this year. I'm also a speaker in Colorado and nationally also, and then I'm working on starting my own podcast as well. So that's really close. It's been really. It's been being worked on for a while, but it's really really close finally. So I'm excited to step into that too.

Chelsea Husum: 11:27

I am doing a lot, but it's all stuff that fills me up and excites me. I get energized from it. It's I'm. Anything I'm doing is not because I am pressured to do it or feel obligated, it's just purely out of passion. So it's like when you're, when you're doing things like that that you love, it's like bring it on, but how do you do it? How do you? Can you manage all these tasks one day in a week? Yeah, I mean, I'm really organized, I'm really efficient.

Chelsea Husum: 11:56

I have learned to set boundaries with my time. I, you know I don't go to every meeting or I get all kinds of requests from, like, banks and insurance companies like, hey, you want to? I'd love to get you coffee and chat, see how I can support you, and while that's great, it's a waste of my time and it's a waste of their time, cause I'm not switching banks, I'm not switching insurance. You know things like that. It's like made it okay to nicely say no to things that I think are not a good use of my time, to grow my business or to connect with a new client or whatever. Right, I wake up really early. I go to the gym first thing, cause in construction my phone starts ringing, sometimes at six and by for sure by seven everyone's on job sites like you're getting emails, calls. So it's like that is my time before my family's awake. I go to the gym because if I say I'm going to work out later, that never happened I get.

Chelsea Husum: 12:50

I will make a million excuses, I will get lazy, I will. I will be like, oh yeah, work, it's just too busy, right? So it's like, if I do it first thing, I can't make the excuses that I know I'm going to make, and then I go to bed really early because sleep's really important to me and I have to get decent sleep. For me, it's looking at the habits. Okay, what are you doing day to day?

Chelsea Husum: 13:05

Are some of these things draining you, draining your energy, right, and making you feel just bad? Then get rid of them. And then what things that you do make you feel really good and energized and healthy? Then you need to put those in and no one's going to be like oh yeah, I'll give you a whole day to just relax and have some me time. You have to build it in if you want it, otherwise you're on a runaway train. That is your life and you're at the mercy of everyone else. But it's like, ultimately, it's your responsibility to make your life what you want it to. Have learned boundaries, what am I doing, what are my habits and things like that, and what's important to me?

Daniela SM: 13:41

Yes, and so what time is early? Like what time you wake up for the gym?

Chelsea Husum: 13:50

I get up at 530 and then I go to bed by like by nine at the latest. Some days I'm exhausted and I'm like it's 830 kids, we're going to bed, but yeah, nine. Usually. So important though, because if you don't feel good, you can't perform. I have so much going on. You do, you can't perform, I have so much going on. You do, we all do. But if you don't feel like, if you're coming home and you're like, well, I'm gonna drink a bottle of wine, you know, or two, every night, and then you skip the gym because you have a headache, you're hungover, you feel horrible, you snap at your kids, you go eat a bunch of stuff because you're hungover. I mean, it's just, there's certain things that flow in and wreck all of your healthy habits, right? So it's really you need to take a look and say what am I filling my days with? Is it helping me be better and get, have more energy and feel good, or is it making me feel bad? And you have to kind of assess that way.

Daniela SM: 14:39

Yes, you're right. Well, I also wake up early, not early these days. Yeah, what time. I usually wake up about 5.30. Okay, I'm not going to bed at nine, yeah, and I do go to the gym, but I spend kind of time before I leave, you know, before I go to the gym. So I go like around seven, nice, but that's because I have more time now. You know, before, when the kids were little, yes, I had to be there at six o'clock, that's when they open, otherwise we would never make it so the same with the excuses. And you know, you build a habit that, of course, is very easy to break. So that's why you have to no excuses, you have to go, otherwise you don't go Because you do yeah, yeah, life will come in and it will change your plans.

Daniela SM: 15:19

Sometimes I wish I didn't need too many hours of sleep because I would like to have the days longer and do more things, and lately I've been going to bed a bit later and I know that that's not so good. Let's talk about your book. When did you decide to write a book? What happened?

Chelsea Husum: 15:39

First of all I will say I never wanted to write a book ever. That was not at all on my goals or bucket list whatsoever. It was two years ago now, I think. I joined a women's entrepreneur group in Denver and they were having a brunch and I was like, oh great, but I love brunch. And then I almost didn't go because I was like, well, the keynote speaker is a woman who owns a publishing company and I thought I don't want to be a writer. So I almost didn't go. But I was like, well, it's brunch, let's I'll just still go and, you know, hang out with some of these women. And I went and I listened to this woman speak, um, and I was like I really like her and her energy. So afterwards I went up and talked to her and randomly was like maybe I could do this and at that point still wouldn't had no clue maybe what I would even write about. She and I started chatting. We had like a phone call and then I was like, yeah, I'm going to do it.

Chelsea Husum: 16:29

And I again really didn't know what I was going to write about. I kind of just sat down and started writing things that popped into my head of stories from my life. So the book is just a bunch of short stories from my life a lot about motherhood, a lot about being an entrepreneur, a lot about trying to find your tribe, going through hard things, going through traumatic experiences how did I dig out? How did it affect me? The whole goal I guess behind it is I want to inspire people to not feel the need to be perfect, because so many of us, especially women, look around and we're like, well, she looks perfect, she seems perfect. You know they all have it all together. In reality, they don't. It just appears that way, right. So I want people to like, embrace their actual, authentic, vulnerable self, be who you're meant to be flaws and all you know and just and just own your story and you know, live, live an actually authentic, fulfilled life.

Daniela SM: 17:27

But you look like you do everything perfectly, You're organized, you wake up early, you go to bed late, you have, you have everything under control. So how can you say that? Oh?

Chelsea Husum: 17:38

I don't. I do not at all. I try to go on on like Instagram and cry a lot and say, oh my gosh, this happened. Or if you're like the book, you'd be like, wow, she's, she's a hot mess, but I own it. I definitely do not. I try to go on like social media, especially, and be like here's what happened today, here's something stupid I did. Here's like you know I made this mistake or whatever and how I learned from it, just because, yeah, I am really organized. I'm just a crazy person like that, like that's just who I am. I can't help it, but yeah, I, I try my hardest to share those stories about silly things I've done or crazy experiences I've had, so people don't look at me and think, oh, she's perfect. You know what I mean.

Daniela SM: 18:24

But does it help you being on social media?

Chelsea Husum: 18:26

Um, sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. Honestly, I try to just put like good things out into the world. You know so much. You go on there and you see people ranting and raving and especially like election years during COVID, it's like, oh for God's sake, I just can't like I am an empath and I can't see. I don't read the news, I don't watch the news. I literally just can't. So me, I'm trying to put silly things out there and just show my real life, but also show me authentically, like who I am and you know the struggles I've had and social media my head can be used for good or bad, but I try to to be authentic and real and put good things out in the world, more or less.

Daniela SM: 19:08

Does your husband also works with you?

Chelsea Husum: 19:10

No, he is also in construction. He does business development for a large general contractors. He's not involved in my business at all.

Daniela SM: 19:19

Well, like, like you know, he he's working in construction too, so perhaps some of his learnings can help you as well. You have conversations about it, or Possibly.

Chelsea Husum: 19:28

I mean, we probably talk about construction more than most households. You know it's like pillow talk. It's a little ridiculous, um, but not not a lot, like I'll go to him if I just want to run something by him. But honestly I've I found the best. I kind of just I do whatever I want because I go with what my gut tells me and I feel intuitively that's how I make decisions. So really I do whatever I want. I go with, like I said, my intuition, how I believe things should be run and happen, and it's been working great so far.

Chelsea Husum: 20:02

I always say entrepreneurs are kind of the special, kind of crazy, because who, like, willingly steps over that threshold and it's terrifying in a way because you could lose everything. But it's also so amazing and I love being my own boss. Like I told my husband I could never work for anyone else Again. I'm ruined forever. I would get fired on the first day and I'd be like this is horrible, I can't do it. You know, because I now know what it's like to own my time and make the decisions and, you know, be the boss.

Daniela SM: 20:34

That's what everybody says that it's an entrepreneur, that is just wonderful, but you have to be the boss. That's what everybody says that it's an entrepreneur, that is just wonderful, but you have to be a special person. Not everybody can take that risk. Yeah, yes, but I feel that being in construction is like a good business they're never going to be out of business.

Chelsea Husum: 20:48

Yeah, it's been booming. I mean some. There are some times where it kind of slows down or you know where jobs for funding, you know with interest rates and or fund bank funding, they've tightened things up a lot the last few years. You know, overall we have over doubled each year. As a small business, we're growing. But there are times when it's a slower month. But I have to say, tell myself, instead of freaking out like it's just the ebbs and flows, because next month will be really busy. So I don't like overthink it and start panicking, because I know all my, all my businesses about making relationships and and getting those relationships with our customers, so that I am the one they call every time. While maybe they have a slower month for them, I have other people calling me or you know, and they always come back to me when, when they have something else come up. So it's it's definitely interesting and you have to have grit. Like it's. You're not going to profit. Probably in the first few years you might.

Chelsea Husum: 21:47

I didn't pay myself for years. I literally started paying myself this year and I started it in March of 2020. I worked for free. It's not about the money. I don't care about the money. It was about me building something and I know I have done it. I've done all of the building of the company and my employees are amazing. They're on the job sites. I'm running everything else, but I know exactly what I did to get here and how we have grown and built this company. It's more about like building something you're proud of yes, of course, like your own baby. This company.

Daniela SM: 22:16

It's more about like building something you're proud of. Yes, of course, Like your own baby. Yep, it is. You said that you were working in the other job at the meantime as you were building this, which is the wise thing to do, because you said you didn't get paid for so long.

Chelsea Husum: 22:27

Yeah.

Daniela SM: 22:28

You couldn't have done it.

Chelsea Husum: 22:37

No, probably not, Probably not or our revenue was so little and really, again, I just made the choice not to pay myself, because I really preferred to pay my employees more and I also that was more important to me to have really good people that are experts at what they do, because if they aren't good, the company will not succeed, no matter how much I do Like for me. I pay my employees for 40 hours a week, whether they're working or not, because I need good people and I don't want them having to quit because they just need money. They have to put food on the table, right. I pay more in payroll each week than I need to technically, but for me it's worth it. I pay them a lot more than they used to make at their old companies and they only work 40 hours max a week. They're not working nights and weekends like they used to work 40 hours max a week. They're not working nights and weekends like they used to.

Daniela SM: 23:20

You know so that's important to me, that they're taken care of and they, they know they're good here. You saw that in other places that people didn't get paid as much and then they will leave and then you know it's a training and get to know the person again. Yeah, that's a cost.

Chelsea Husum: 23:33

Yeah, if it's a slow time. They're working 20 hours a week and they have to look elsewhere, so they're kind of job hopping sometimes, sometimes because they need money, which you can't blame them, right, but you can't for me. Being such a small company, you can't offer consistency or have good people with that. You know you have to do better. So you have people that want to stay with you.

Daniela SM: 23:54

And you learned this how you have people that want to stay with you.

Chelsea Husum: 23:57

And you learned this how? I just did it. I no one, no one that I know, does it honestly, and I just thinking of the kind of people I wanted, how they have to be experts. I needed to hire people that had been doing this a long time. I knew I had to pay them more and pay them well, and then I just I don't know like, no one told me to do it, it's just in my gut. I knew that that's what I needed to do to make sure that they would stay.

Daniela SM: 24:20

Wow, yeah, well, congratulations. I feel like that is actually a secret. That is not a secret, but that is the key of success knowing that you can keep your people happy. Of course, everybody's always thinking about money and that's why they don't actually do that, but at the end, it costs more to train, to hire, to get the connection to.

Chelsea Husum: 24:47

Yeah, it is time consuming, which is way more expensive than any money that you can have For sure. Yeah, keep your people happy. If you have good people, yes, it's so much easier to keep them happy instead of constantly looking for other people, because a lot of people are flaky. I over the years, had hired somebody like, ok, I got all your stuff, you're going to start tomorrow, and then they don't show up. I mean, I don't need that. Then it comes back on me and I look bad. You know the company looks bad. So it's like if I know I have good people, I will do whatever it takes to keep them.

Daniela SM: 25:15

That's good, and so you haven't had a tight turnover.

Chelsea Husum: 25:19

No, I really haven't. Yeah, I mean they, it's funny. My employees will get calls from other, just from people, or they'll have people on a job site like come up to them and be like are you guys hiring? We've heard like good things about you and it's funny. So I have people calling my employees asking if we're hiring because they hear about you know that we kind of we just get to, we do our own thing and I've this company has been able to be successful doing it our own way. I don't, I just do literally whatever I want, whatever I feel is right, and we've been thriving doing that. You know, it's not like it doesn't have to be this cookie cutter way or you don't have to do it like everyone else does to be successful. I'm proving you can do your own way and be successful.

Daniela SM: 26:03

Obviously, the smart way, of course, is the smart way. Thank you, yeah, that's wonderful. And so the book is done, is ready and is distributing already. What about the podcast? Why a podcast? Why do you want to?

Chelsea Husum: 26:27

have a podcast now. Yeah, I feel like, upon writing the book, it took me like there was a story in there from 20 years ago, a very traumatic event that had happened that I didn't tell anyone about for 20 years. And so, writing this book, I was like I had all these different things that I'd gone through that I just needed to get out into the world really, because I needed to heal myself and move through it and, you know, get healing through writing. So it was like put that out in the world Ultimately, like this is what I'm meant to do Now. I feel like I do have a story.

Chelsea Husum: 26:58

So with the podcast it's, I've had so many women come up to me and say, hey, I, you know this story really touched me. Thank you for saying what I'm thinking. Thank you for not me. I'm over here feeling alone or I'm going through a hard time, but you made me feel supported and seen Right. So I just want to. I want to have real conversations. I want to talk about real life, not the perfect, you know this, perfect, you know part of life. Talk about real life to inspire other people, because we all need to hear. Like I know when I listen to that kind of stuff I I get energized and I feel inspired, and you know to hear what everyone in the world has been through. We've all been through some stuff. It's you know what I mean. It's pretty intense and it's I love hearing people's stories of how they have overcome whatever adversity they've had in life. So I just want to share, you know, things from my life and then have other people sharing as well, exactly, exactly what you're doing.

Daniela SM: 27:56

You know there's scenarios that are not. They're not going to happen. In my life, learning your story and other people's short story I mean yours, seems is a happy story. You're not saying anything traumatic here, but when you hear other people's issues for me have grown a lot the compassion and understanding of other humans and I keep learning. More than when we are judgmental or we don't have room for being open, it's because ignorance, because we don't know, and so, whilst the more that we, you talk to people which you know, you usually tend to be in the circle of similar people like you, but with the podcast you are gonna have more people that um you, they reach out without you even thinking about it, and that's how you know your brain, just like opens, opens.

Chelsea Husum: 28:42

Yeah, well, I totally agree and like like for me. For example and I've wrote about both of these stories in my book I've been, and I've been through a lot of other things. When I was, I had mentioned, I studied in South America. The second time I was there, when I was there alone, I went back to this academia that I was studying at and I ended up being drugged and raped and left alone in an abandoned house by my professor there, and I mean so traumatic. I was alone in a foreign country, right and so that I just shoved it down, I think for self-preservation, because I didn't know what to do. You know, I didn't tell anyone. I pretended it didn't happen for 20 years and then, last December actually, I ended finally a two and a half year lawsuit that I was in. I was being sued for millions of dollars. That was by far the most horrific thing I've ever even endured, even more than the assault because I was being attacked day after day for years. My kids were like mom, when are we losing our house? Mom, here's $12. You need it more than I do. I was waking up covered in hives Like I was not okay.

Chelsea Husum: 29:48

What I learned about myself was that trauma. That happened 20 years ago and I was so young. I was so young, I didn't know myself. Now I do know myself and I've done the work and I know what I need. And I was so young, I was so young, I didn't know myself. Now I do know myself and I've done the work and I know what I need.

Chelsea Husum: 29:59

And I remember one morning walking downstairs it was a good year and a half in to this and I texted a girlfriend who's a therapist and I said I'm not okay, I need help. Like I just can't do this. I didn't want to die, but I didn't want to live anymore. Like it was so heavy and overwhelming and horrible. I couldn't wake up and run a company and be a mom and juggle all these things. I just was struggling so bad. Recently I knew I had to take steps to dig out and take care of myself or get rid of the things that are making you feel poorly. Add the things that make you take care of you a little bit. You got to be gentle on yourself when you're going through those things. It's so much more difficult to go through.

Daniela SM: 30:40

Thank you so much for sharing that part of you, the two horrible experience, because one way or another, they're both being attack your persona, right? Yeah, yeah, not everybody has the capability to actually look for help, which is also commanded that you did that, because that's the most important part.

Chelsea Husum: 30:59

Yeah, that truly, when we're all going through hard things, hopefully we have like a friend or family member, at least one that we could talk about it with. But there's something to be said about a therapist that doesn't know you, that you can say whatever you want to say and you're not worried about hurting their feelings or saying anything bad. You know what I mean. That's going to upset that person. You sometimes, when you're really in it, you just need to get it all out and not be no, you will not be judged in any way and work through it and say what you really want to say.

Daniela SM: 31:28

Yeah, I also noticed you talk to your friends is a burden because you always complain about the same thing and it's kind of annoying. And then they listen but they really don't have the expertise to to help you. So it's your your to you know it's yourself. You can keep complaining and being an annoying friend, or you can look for help, read books uh, you know research and so when you have these therapy or the counselor, I don't know. To me has been more conversations and I learn one little nugget every time and it's not like I thought that if you go to counseling or therapies you just go with a notebook and you know step one, step two to three, homework, go there, come back, you're done and it's way more than that. So I am glad that you, that you that you also sharing that part that is important to talk to some professionals, so, and so it has helped you a lot and overcome those issues that you know, those experiences that you had.

Chelsea Husum: 32:27

Yeah, I think the lawsuit ended December 28th of 23. It was, like I said, the worst experience of my life. It's called the chapter is called Hell in my book and it's by far the longest, because it went on forever and I kept writing about oh, now this happened, now this happened and the feelings. It was interesting, but I will say and I've talked to other people too that are in lawsuits you can sue someone for literally anything and just make up the most random things and have zero evidence and sue them and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars and, you know, pretty much ruin their life.

Chelsea Husum: 33:03

We were set to go to trial and I never even I had all this evidence sitting there to be like okay, well, here, here's this accusation Boom, that proves that's wrong, or that's not true. Here's this one Boom, this evidence proves that's not true. I mean, I had it all. I had witnesses, tons of evidence, but I never got to the point to even get stuff thrown out or present my evidence, because it's just not like that. Like you know, they say, oh, you're innocent until proven guilty.

Chelsea Husum: 33:29

I felt like you're just guilty, you're going to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then your lawyers are like well, but if you go to trial, you're going to pay at least 300,000 more and the jury could believe them and you know, and then you could file bankruptcy and lose literally everything. So it's like what? At what point do you say enough, like enough of me spending my energy on this, like enough of being attacked? Right, so it, it was not. It's done, thank God, but it was a horrific experience. It the court system is really messed up. In my experience, it really is.

Daniela SM: 34:07

Yeah, I can imagine, but now it's over.

Chelsea Husum: 34:10

I made it through. It was not great but I made it through and I I actually wrote about this in my book at the very end of that chapter too. Because finally, you know, for years I feel like years of my life were taken from me truly, and my patience was so thin, I was depressed, I was overwhelmed, I was cranky. My poor kids you know mom's crying, she's snapping at us. It was bad the way it affected my life, how I I just barely made it through, right. But I said in my book and I truly believe this that you know I'm done, I'm taking my power back. No, I'm not. I'm not feeling these men taking my power and making me feel powerless and victimized and attacked. I'm done, I said in the book.

Chelsea Husum: 35:00

I said I'm, I'm heading into this 2024 with a chip on my shoulder and I'm kind of pissed off and I'm using this as fuel and fire to be like. I will look back on this time as a. This was just a launching pad for me to just go out and just do what I meant to do in the world. Like it's. This is just the beginning for me and I truly feel like that. I had to go through hell to get to this point in my life and now it's like bring it. I am sharing my message, I'm sharing my story because other people need to hear it and I am not going to be held back. I'm not going to be held down anymore. I just I'm over it. It's just like enough, right Enough.

Daniela SM: 35:42

Yes, and then also it affected your kids as well.

Chelsea Husum: 35:45

Oh yeah, it affected my whole family. It was really really horrible.

Daniela SM: 35:50

Yeah, of course, of course, and so this is going to yes, this is sometimes when people have challenges is what makes them stronger and to succeed even more. So I guess this is what has happened to you you got your power back.

Chelsea Husum: 36:06

Yep, and now I'm going, and now you want to spread the story?

Daniela SM: 36:10

Yes, and nobody's going to stop you. Well, nobody was going to stop anyway before. Yes, excellent. When are you thinking to have your podcast? What is the name? Do you have an idea?

Chelsea Husum: 36:19

Well, hopefully mid-October-ish I had a name and then I'm actually meeting with a consultant to kind of just make it a little stronger, Like we're close but it's like not quite there and I have this feeling of what I want, but I'm just not creative in that way to think of names like that. I brought someone in to help me so it launch it the right way and have things set up so it can be what it's meant to be Wonderful and I think you have a lot of creativity because you have built a lot of things.

Daniela SM: 36:47

Thank you.

Chelsea Husum: 36:49

I do, but not in the way of naming things. Naming my book was so hard and I came up with this really boring title and I'm like that's it. You know, publisher, I have my title and she's like no, that is so boring, this is not you. I know you and I know what you're saying in your book. No, we have to do better. So we finally, the two of us, kind of threw ideas around and came up with it.

Daniela SM: 37:12

But other things I feel like I'm creative in, but not naming things well, I feel like when there is a lot of options, it is so hard.

Chelsea Husum: 37:18

I get overwhelmed yeah.

Daniela SM: 37:20

Yes, I don't know anything about websites, but I wanted to build my own, yeah, and I'm never happy because I'm like, okay, oh, look, you could have it this way or that way, and it never ends. The choices is the paradox of choice. So I'm, yes, exactly, exactly Wonderful. And, kay, is there anything else that you want to share or anything that my podcast can be a service to you?

Chelsea Husum: 37:42

I appreciate you having me on and you know I would love if any if anything we talked about today touched you or resonated with you. I would I love to hear people's feedback or if, if you're listening and in a tough season, I want to offer to be there for you if you need, if you don't have somebody to just say, hey, I got you. You know what I mean. It's hard sometimes and it feels lonely when you're in those tough times.

Daniela SM: 38:05

Yes, for sure, and I want people to follow you on social media, which you have Instagram. What other social platforms you have?

Chelsea Husum: 38:12

Mainly I use Instagram. I'm also on LinkedIn and on Facebook. My website is just chelseahusamcom and on there is like speaking, I'm doing books, any events, any. All my social links are on there as well, so that's probably the best thing place to find really any of this stuff.

Daniela SM: 38:28

Okay, we didn't talk about your speaking part. What? What do you get invited for usually? What kind of presentations you're giving?

Chelsea Husum: 38:36

I'm. I speak a lot on like being an entrepreneur, building a company from nothing, kind of how I did it my way and did it differently. I love to talk about being a busy woman, mom, juggling it all. How do I live my best life? And again, it's not perfect, it never will be, but how I keep trying, because I use how I feel right and I am constantly striving to just be fulfilled and happy and joyful. That's literally my goal in life. You know, I talk about things I've done that I've really learned or grown a lot from. Also, I talk about, you know, overcoming adversity and how I got through that stuff as well. Those are probably my biggest topics.

Daniela SM: 39:13

Wonderful, wonderful. All right, chelsea, thank you so much for being here. Yes, it was lovely. Thank you for the lessons and the conversations. All the best and all success. Thank you so much. Yes, I appreciate you, daniela, and if you need any help with the podcast, always happy to help.

Chelsea Husum: 39:31

Yes, I will. I will, I will let you know. I'm pretty green.

Daniela SM: 39:35

Perfect. Yes, I will, I will. I will let you know. I'm pretty green, perfect, thank you. Well, thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I am Daniela and you are listening to Because Everyone has a Story. Please take five seconds right now and think of somebody in your life that may enjoy what you just heard, or someone that has a story to be shared and preserved. When you think of that person, shoot them a text with the link of this podcast. This will allow the ordinary magic to go further. Join me next time for another story conversation. Thank you for listening. Hasta pronto.