The Everyday Mystic

The Identity Trap: How to Dismantle Your Persona to Reveal the True Leader w/ Viveka von Rosen

• Corissa Saint Laurent • Episode 89

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To the business world, Viveka von Rosen was an institution: The LinkedIn Expert. She was the international speaker, the author, the influencer who taught millions how to network. But behind the blue logo and the business accolades, Viveka was suffocating under a mantle that no longer fit.

In this episode, Viveka pulls back the curtain on the hospital bed moment in 2023 that forced her to choose between her brand and her life. She opens up about the terrifying process of killing a persona she spent nearly two decades building: changing her handles, walking away from the money, and facing the "Silver Ceiling" that tries to render women over 50 invisible.

Corissa and Viveka explore the intersection of Strategy and Soul. They discuss why true leadership isn't about climbing the ladder, but about becoming a hollow bone: a vessel for unique divine expression. Viveka shares how she moved from suppressing her intuition in the boardroom to making it the CEO of her new venture, Beyond the Dream Board.

In this episode, we cover:

  • The Hospital Bed Epiphany: The specific moment when the universe stopped tapping on Viveka’s shoulder and shoveled her into a medical crisis to force a pivot.
  • The "Silver Ceiling": Why women over 50 are being squeezed out of corporate relevance, and why the only answer is to stop knocking on the door and build your own house.
  • The Hollow Bone Philosophy: A powerful metaphor from Native American tradition that explains why competition is an illusion and your unique "sound" is your only strategy.
  • The Driftwood Theory: Why seeing someone else doing exactly what you want to do isn't a sign to quit…it's a sign from the universe that you're on the right track.
  • Identity Alchemy: The messy, necessary process of burning away the expert persona to reveal the gold of your true legacy.

Notable Quotes:

  • "All of that good stuff was like a mantle that was really heavy and exhausting... dragging me under. I had to shed that in order to swim free." — Viveka von Rosen
  • "If I feel like I am pushing the river, that is a really clear sign... Let's go with the flow." — Viveka von Rosen
  • "Time is getting short... I feel like this metaphysical experience of the world is going into a new phase. The time is now to do the things that we need to do." — Viveka von Rosen

Resources & Links:

Connect with Viveka von Rosen: https://www.beyondthedreamboard.com/ 

Connect with Corissa:

If this conversation awoke or inspired something in you, please consider leaving us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review to help us reach more people. 

Thanks for tuning in!

Corissa Saint Laurent

What's up, beautiful souls? I'm excited to be back with you on this episode of The Everyday Mystic, where we're gonna get into a deep conversation with Vivika von Rosen. Internationally, she's known as the LinkedIn Expert, but we're not gonna be talking about LinkedIn. We will, however, talk about her transition from the persona of the LinkedIn expert as a business executive, as a C level for a software company. We'll talk about what her life looked like in that space and why she so desperately wanted to leave it and start her own thing, which she has. It's called Beyond the Dream Board. And she helps as a coach and a mentor to other women, typically 50 and over, who are looking to transition from their executive careers into entrepreneurship, into leaving a legacy. She helps those women shape that legacy, create movements with how they want to impact the world. This conversation was sparked by Vivica reaching out to me on you guessed it, LinkedIn. She and I know each other from the business world. I was in the digital marketing space forever and would speak on email marketing at conferences, and she'd be there speaking on LinkedIn marketing, and we got to know each other, but I never got to know this side of her, the mystical, spiritual side. She reached out on LinkedIn to ask if she could be on the podcast because she wanted to share all of that. And I'm so, so happy that she did. It was beautiful to sit with her and talk about all of this fun woo-woo stuff that we never got to address and discuss in our business days. However, of course, we're still in business, so we talk a lot about how to run businesses with spirituality at the forefront, or at least having a seat at the table. This conversation covers Vivica's story as well as what she's doing now in the world and leaves us all with the question of what do we want to leave as our legacy? You're listening to the Everyday Mystic, where we share advice and stories grounded in the practical and supercharged by the spiritual. I'm your host, Carissa St. Laurent, and I'm on a mission to demystify the mystical and transform your everyday life into one of greater meaning, higher purpose, and true joy. If you're ready to tap into your inner wisdom and the energy of all that is, you're in the right place, and we're so happy you're here. Let's get this party started. Hi, Vivica. It's so beautiful to see you. Thank you so much for coming on to The Everyday Mystic.

Viveka von Rosen

I am so excited to be here. I just love how things come and go and people come and go, and everything just moves like a wave.

Corissa Saint Laurent

We were talking about it before we hit record, right? Of how the universe continues to deliver you the right messages, the right people, the right mission. Gives you all the nudges, is always showing up in your life. And at these critical moments, it seems, and maybe it's at these times when it's just like, okay, we're freaking fed up with you. Let's go. And they give you a little, you know, we call it you've probably heard this before, like tap tap nudge, or like the tap slap, whack, you know, it is all these different um reminders to connect with whatever meant for you at the moment. And so you and I connected years and years ago in our business life, in our, you know, me email marketing, you LinkedIn marketing, and speaking at conferences and in a totally different space. And then recently you reached out to me to come onto the podcast, and I was like, I've never met this Vivica. Like I've never had an honor to sit with you in this kind of space and have this kind of conversation. Um, but I know that you were living that life, you were these seeds were being planted and these nudges were happening. Even when I knew you then, it just we didn't talk about it. It was a secret, you know.

Viveka von Rosen

We were in the spiritual closet. Exactly. Don't tell anyone.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yeah. And I love now that we are both still business women, we're still in the business world, but showing up in this way. Absolutely. Completely out of the back closet. Exactly. We are out and proud. Yes, yes. It's so, and it's something that whether it's we both just got those nudges and it was the right time to do it. I also firmly believe that it is an a wisdom gained thing, that it's like we've lived enough life to say fuck it, we're doing this now because we're over 50, and we're like, when then? Yeah, if not now when.

Viveka von Rosen

If not now when. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, and it's it's amazing to me because I think it's wisdom earned, but also, I mean, there are so many people, women and men, but my my community now, yay, is mostly women. There are so many women coming out of the spiritual closet right now and and bringing spirituality into their businesses. And it's it's you know, it's not something that needs to be, it's not a dirty little secret anymore. And it's really um, it's really exciting. I mean, it's it's very powerful to see.

Corissa Saint Laurent

It's who we are at the very core and foundation. So if we don't bring that to every table that we're at, it just seems kind of crazy. Yeah. Is how I yeah. Absolutely, yes. So tell us a little bit about how this happened for you because I know that you didn't necessarily grow up in a religious family and that you didn't have, you know, a spiritual foundation, but you were an early seeker, right? Your soul was seeking this. So take us back to that and what some of those nudges were that got you to now.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah. Uh, and it is, it's the cyclical nature of our experience is amazing. So, yeah, I definitely was not born into uh an immediate religious family. My mother was rebelling against religion because she was raised in in the South, in the Baptist South, and that that really wrinkled her. That kind of went against everything she believed inherently. She didn't have the words that we have today, you know, even the word agnostic. So she she was a self-proclaimed atheist, which I really don't think she was, but that's what she self-proclaimed. And like she would go out of her way to be like non-religious, especially when we were in the South visiting family. It was kind of funny. But because she was so amazing and lovable, people let her get away with it. And then my dad, who's Swedish or who was Swedish, he was not raised in any kind of religion other than holidays. But I felt from as far back as I can remember, I felt a calling, a draw to something greater than I was. But I also didn't have the words. So I knew it wasn't, you know, my grandmother's church in South Carolina. I knew that did not feel right. One of my best friends was Catholic. I went to her church. That didn't feel right. I think I visited a mosque. I mean, it was, I tried to find these traditional religious structures to serve what I was looking for, and that didn't happen. And then I was introduced to Native American practices, in particular the Anishinaabe in northern Canada, and was able to actually spend some time on the res with them. And I was like, oh, now what's interesting about that is their practices had been taken away from them too. So even their spiritual practices were kind of cobbled together a little bit because, you know, yay, white people, we just go in and we take everything. Let's take away your culture, let's take away your language. Our way is best. And so the these people who I lived with, they had to find their spirituality again. And that's a whole, that's a whole rabbit hole we can go down. But anyway, I felt really, oh, okay, this is it. And I continued to study um their cultures and in particular um some of their authors. And I didn't know what to do with that though, because you know, I got, I literally, my I got my master's in religion and culture. I like to say Native American women's autobiography. And then I started going, okay, so now what do I do? Like, do I get an English degree? No. Or do I get my PhD in English? No, because then you have to teach other stuff. And I actually went down the path of women's studies because I thought, well, what else am I gonna do? And uh interested in and you know, they accepted me into the program, my PhD program, but it was also not right. And um, I remember my advisor going, Vivika, sit down. You're not a lesbian, you don't hate men, you don't like office or or university politics, like you don't play politics. Like I really don't think this is the place for you.

Corissa Saint Laurent

It's just wrong fit. Well, I love that the self-effacing nature of that advisor to be like, this is what this is, you don't fit this.

Viveka von Rosen

You do not fit the like round, yeah, round hole square peg, or vice versa, you know. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go move in with my boyfriend in Miami then, you know. So not necessarily my best, most thoughtful reaction. But yeah, I just kind of was like, okay, bye. But that right there, right? That was probably the first time around that I could have gone down a more spiritual career path, maybe. But it didn't happen, you know, it didn't happen. And then fast forward five or six years, and I was introduced to the Centers for Spiritual Living in Sarasota, Florida, and I'm like, oh, now this feels right, you know, especially as a white person. Like this, so now I'm not culturally appropriating another people's religion. Like this, this feels right to me. And so I started um getting, you know, my designations to get my my practitionership and things like that. So again, I had another opportunity to go down this spiritual path, and I didn't take it. And then I moved to Colorado. And I uh actually a friend of mine, um, a couple of friends helped move me. And the the my one friend was psychic, and he was like, you know, I see you doing this and talking to these people and having this impact. And I even had you can see the picture. Oh, there it is, somewhere. There we go, there we go. I even had a friend of mine who is a psychic artist. She drew this picture and she's like, I see you surrounded by all this like support, and you know, here's your voice coming out, and you have such a big heart, and I really see how you can have an impact like on the world. And that was the exact same time I was introduced to LinkedIn. And to me, being not that young, but you know, in my early 30s, I was like, I'm not gonna go be a spiritual advisor. I mean, who's gonna listen to me? I'm gonna go learn about LinkedIn and teach that. And then there I go. I I get an international stage speaking on LinkedIn and become an influencer on LinkedIn. So I think I could have done that. Maybe I could have done, you know, maybe, but anyway, and then fast forward, I do that for like 10 years. And then 2017, I have the opportunity to shift in my business again because I'm like, I cannot do another minute of LinkedIn. But instead of going down the path I'm going down now, I choose to start another corporation. And then finally in 2023, the universe, to your point earlier, is like boom, like right into a hospital bed. There you go, boom. And at that point, there's nothing like lying in a hospital bed working on grants for a company you have like don't even like anymore that makes you go, okay, now maybe I do what I'm supposed to do.

Corissa Saint Laurent

I may be ready to listen now. Will you come back with those ideas and inspiration? You know, the beautiful thing is that I believe we're always on the path. Yes. Even when we get knocked off, even when we go off course, even when we're not following the guidance, we're still in those beautiful waters. And I I've recently had a shift in what I've envisioned as path. For me, that path is out in the waters because there are no boundaries to that, right? There are no there's no gutters on the side of the road, there's no side of the road. There is just there's no road. There's no road. Yeah, there is just endless, literally endless ways you could go to get to where you're going. And yes, you know, the the sometimes we stop in the middle of those waters and we're just kind of going around in in circles.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah. Yeah. But we're still in the waters. We're still in the water. And I love that you said that because I mean, I we I was just at this um extraordinary women ignite conference, like literally last week. And that was a thing that kept coming up is we're not going off path because there's no path, to your point. Whichever, or maybe you know, more like a multiverse, right? Whichever way you go, you will get the things that you need to bring you back to home. Right. And and so it's an ocean. It's to your point, it is an ocean of universal awareness. And there are eddies and there are riptides sometimes. But we're still in the ocean and we're still absorbing and we're still becoming what and who we need to be. It's just when you have to push the river. That is the one sign to me. Like if I feel like I am pushing the river, that no matter what I'm doing, it is not working. That is a really clear sign. Okay, let's go with the flow.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Exactly. Yeah, it's usually a signal to let go.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's way more fun when you let go, too.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yeah, scary and fun. Yeah, it's scary and fun. Yeah, all at the same time. So you let go into this new, I mean, and you let go. I mean, you had become the LinkedIn expert. Yeah, it was a brand, it was your persona, it was your work, and you let it go.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah. And people thought I was great for age.

Corissa Saint Laurent

What was that like for you?

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, it was it was interesting because I thought for a while there, like in 2023, I was thinking for a while, like I can, you know, maybe I can I can keep that because there are things I loved about that. There's, you know, being internationally recognized, being able to speak all over the world, um, having publishing houses come to you and say, write a book, you know. I loved all that. Oh, yeah, income. Um nice little perk. Yeah, that little little tiny perk. But what I realized as I was trying to transition out of my company and into what was next was I had to let it all go. I had to take that leap and just let it all go, which meant doing things which were, you know, both symbolic and strategic and energetically shifting, like changing all my social URLs from LinkedIn Expert, which I'd had for almost 18 years, depending on the platform, to my name, like literally claiming my name back on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on X, on Instagram. So that was big. And knowing that by doing that, LinkedIn Expert would start to fade away, would start to die, right? Which was fine because I didn't want to do that work anymore. But there was still all the good stuff that came with that brand. And what I realized though was all of that good stuff was like a mantle that was really heavy and exhausting. And to use our water metaphor, dragging me under. So I had to shed that. I had to, I had to shed it in order to swim free. I'm I love this metaphor, couldn't be using it from now on, in order to swim free, really, and break the surface of what was next. And what was interesting was there was a lot of people, to continue the metaphor, trying to drag me back down. You know, like, how can you not, you know, how can you let this go? You spent 18 years building this brand. How, how are you walking away from it? You know, my husband going, well, um, I want to retire too. Where's the money gonna come from? You know, things like that. Legit questions, legit questions. I still don't have all the answers, but realizing it was literally killing me to keep doing what I was doing. And I had to break free. And to continue with the metaphor, I love uh Gabby Bernstein and she talks about driftwood. So I started looking for driftwood. She describes driftwood as when you see something or someone that you like want, you want to be like that, you want, you know, that's an idea that's interesting to me. Don't feel like competitive, like, oh, they already did it, so I can't do it now. Like that's driftwood. That is a sign from the universe going, yes, you're on the right track, you're on the right track. I met an amazing woman the other day, Emma, Emma Widard, I think. You know, I went to her website, like she uses a Phoenix, which is in my logo as well. Her programs were exactly like my programs, except for she did it five years ago. So I could have felt threatened. Like, here is a a woman who's smarter than I am, who's been at this for longer, who has created basically my program, but she did it first. Except for no, it's it's just the universe going, look, it's time. Emma stepped on the path the first time we showed it to her, or maybe the second or third or fourth or path. Like you waited five years, girl. That's on you. And then I get to talk to Emma and she was delightful and wonderful. And I love what she said. She's like, you know what? When there are as many coaches as there are accountants, I'll get worried about it. But she said there are so many people, and I think I don't know if she works with just women, but there are so many people right now who are making this transition. From executive from corporate into entrepreneurship and they need the support. So there's no, there's no competition right now. It's all just driftwood. It's all just the universe going, yes, my child, yes.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yes, yeah. Look and see these examples, these models, this energetic vibration encapsulated in this person that you can vibe with. Get in that frequency, get in that same water with that person. And and usually when you do, they're ready, they're they're there and welcoming as well. And it's uh, and I think if we do carry that energy of competition, we'll meet those people that are the sharks that are the competitors that are right, and they're they're like ready to take you down into the city. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. The Kraken pulling you into their like a sea cave. Yeah, it's all energy, yeah, and putting out the energy of collaboration and the energy of love. Really? Yes, and that's just like Emma, I love what you're doing, right? And I'm sure you approached her in that way and felt compelled to connect to that person because you're gonna find right, there's there's probably not probably, there are hundreds of people that are doing similar work, but the ones you'll vibe with are the ones that are just at that frequency of similarity, but also, and I know your frequency is love. That picture, that painting behind you, it's so true. It's like your heart is so big, and yes, I agree with Emma. So much more work for uh to be done that there's so many more of us that need to be to be done. I mean, there's not enough of us, absolutely yeah. So you find yourself in the space now, you're doing this work, you're building these new types of programs, you're guiding people in new ways. But what's the thread that carried through from that seeker, that child seeker into now? Like, what's that person within that you've discovered?

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, and you said it, you know, it was the word love. We're in we're in a dichotomy right now. I think that's pretty clear. And it's love and growth, or it's hate and detraction and the tearing apart, you know, the center will not hold. And so for me, what has held and what's always been important to me was love. I've got lots of stories, but we only have so much time. So we'll just go with that. And what's interesting to me is the the intuition. So I was, I was, I am very intuitive. And when I was younger, it kind of got me into trouble. And so I think I started to to shut that down. And then being very intuitive and also empathic, which I think everybody on your your podcast is, and I think everybody is to some extent, that did not serve me super awesomely in the world of B2B corporate. And I I turn that shit off, right? I I shut that down. And so I love the reawakening of the intuition that I have had all along. And it's really, I mean, it's very cool to be working with a client and and something comes in, and and now I don't, I don't like, oh, should I tell her? Should I not? Oh, should I not? You know, and I'm less like, okay, so I just had this hit and let me know if this rings true for you, but and often I get one of these like, how'd you know? Wait, what? There are things happening with me, and there are things happening with my clients that you can't make that shit up. I mean, if you were to write a movie about it, people would be like, no, I'm sorry, that's not believable. Like that, that's clearly right. Yeah, the audience isn't gonna buy that. Yeah, yeah, no one is gonna buy that. And so I just love every day noticing what those things are and being like, they're gifts. You know, that's what that's the presence of the presence, right? It's it's it's the gifts that you're giving when you're in that that holy instant and you're open to receiving whatever the messages are. And I yeah, could I probably have done that in business too? Yeah, if I did on the DL, but I I'm just I'm loving to what we were saying earlier. I'm loving being out of the spiritual closet and being like, this is me, this is what I'm doing. And it's not for everybody. I have definitely not closed some clients because they're like, yeah, I don't, you're you're weird. Fine, they're not, you know, they're not my ideal clients. I I feel like this is, and I've always felt this way, but I feel like the message is coming through the the Anishinaabe, and I'm sure other native tribes as well, they call it the hollow bone. And so, you know, the energy of God, of the divine, is is going to come through us, but who we are, what we've experienced, our life path, the the rivers we've we've swum down, um, that is going to change the sound of the hollow bone. And so my sound sounds different from your sound, sounds different from my clients. And by the way, half my clients are now doing what I do, which is awesome because we need more of us. Our sound is different and we attract a different audience because the sound is different, but the message is the same. Exactly right.

Corissa Saint Laurent

You know, you get maybe bitter people who be like, oh, I had this idea 20 years ago, or I had this idea first, or this came. It's just we all are part of this collective consciousness and pulling in the energy, whether it's an idea form or or whatever it might be, and it's whether we take that inspired action or not and move it through. So that person who is, you know, feeling this embittered way could do that also. It's going to be unique, least serving because of that hollow bone metaphor, the us as unique vessels of that information. We're unique in not only the way that what we receive it, but then the way that we reflect it out. We reflect it out, yeah. Right? So it's all unique because we are unique, right? Right? The information, the energetics that are coming through are not necessarily unique, but we are.

Viveka von Rosen

We are absolutely yes, yes.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Oh, I love it so much. I love the hollow bone metaphor, it's so beautiful. I got chills. Me too.

Viveka von Rosen

I actually have one. Check it out.

Corissa Saint Laurent

And again, this is from like, look, am I thank god you remember to put pants on today? I know.

Viveka von Rosen

So this is this is a hollow bone that I made 30 years ago, right? And it was just I know, and it's just kind of like so. I was on to something 30 years ago. I just didn't follow through with it.

Corissa Saint Laurent

It's beautiful. You are, you did. It's the timing is not what you expect, right? I mean, we expect time to deliver in such a linear fashion, and it doesn't. And that's a good a good thing because we can go back and actually change things in the past or go in the future and change things because it's not linear, right? So that's exactly right. Oh my god, I love that. Yeah, yeah. So it's like, oh, we don't have to be constrained by time. Are you serious? Like that's right. Because it's an ocean.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, and we go down in the ocean, we could go up in the ocean, we could go over here, we could go over there. Yes, yeah.

Corissa Saint Laurent

I've been craving the ocean so much because of this, like the actual ocean. Yeah, like I can spend time the in the ocean of possibility, the and the energetics of the ocean. We also want to get our feet wet. Yeah, but like our our actual planetary ocean. I've been like, oh, I need to get in the ocean because I've been living internally in the the US recently.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, literally internally.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Like literally no coasts around. There's no coasts, there's barely any water, yeah, yeah. I don't and there's beautiful waters here, yeah, but it's not the same as the vastness of the ocean.

Viveka von Rosen

No, exactly.

Corissa Saint Laurent

And there is meaning to that, you know, and there's we live here on this planet, and this planet delivers so much it and we derive so much meaning from what we experience here that informs and inspires us and gives us ideas and messages. So, yeah, the ocean's been calling me. And I know you got called to the ocean because you live in you know in the center of the country. Yeah, I live in here. Exactly. But then you got called to the ocean in Cape Jureca. How long have you been going there?

Viveka von Rosen

Um, yeah, so we bought our house in 2021. Um, so yeah, we're coming up on three almost four years, and I love it. We're up on the cliff, we're in the rainforest, but we have just a view of the Pacific Ocean, and it is it's spectacular. Yeah. And then I can take our little ATV and and take the little weird, kind of scary side roads down and like be in the beach that's closest to us at low tide. There will be, you know, maybe a hundred square miles of beachfront and three other people. I mean, it is crazy. It's crazy.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yeah, it's hard to experience that in um the more crowded areas. So it sounds like we found a slice of paradise. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's incredible.

Viveka von Rosen

And we're heading there next week.

Corissa Saint Laurent

So yeah, don't you go and like you you'll spend a stretch of time?

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, so we that was the plan. My husband works for Amazon and they they just changed their work from home. Like, so for they they changed their work from home to first of all, you can work from home, but your home has to be in the United States, to you have to come back into the office. So it's okay. Alan's kind of getting ready to retire anyway. So yeah, but we when we bought the house, we were there probably twice a year for at least two months per per visit. So it was lucky.

Corissa Saint Laurent

I was just talking to somebody in the UK who's writing an article about making a case through his research for this article about remote working and how it's net beneficial for the company because of how beneficial it is for the workers, for the employees. And uh he's been doing research, and we talked about Amazon and bringing their employees back. And I live in Bentonville, Arkansas, where the home of Walmart, and they look like they're on a path to bring their employees back um full-time in-house, and seems to be a trend going on with some of the big corporations here. Yeah, you know, there comes a point and you hit it. You hit this point in your life where the freedom to live and be and create and make money, yeah, the freedom to do that in the way you want to do it, yeah, superseding the maybe some of the comforts that you had with so it had to get super uncomfortable for then for you to realize like it just like take you out of that comfort zone, maybe uncomfortable. Right, yeah, exactly.

Viveka von Rosen

Like do all those metaphors. But it's interesting because it seems to be like our generation, so ex and boomers, and we're kind of just getting forced into or volunteering to do the digital nomad way of life. But then we have our, you know, we have our millennials and our alphas who are just like, no, you're not, you're not tying me down, like forget it. So these companies are gonna have a very small subset of Gen X and millennials who are are willing to work inside them. I think it's a huge mistake. There are, you know, obviously customer service, you might need to be in-house, sales, depending on if it's a brick and mortar, you might need to be in-house. You know, marketing, maybe you need to be in-house, but there are definitely things where you're like, wait, why? There's no point. And to your point, you know, the the workers are going to be less enthusiastic, less creative, less driven if their minds are and hearts and souls are being dulled by by two-hour commutes and some of these buildings that we're forced into, like literally.

Corissa Saint Laurent

It's such a conundrum to me because I see and feel and experience the benefit of being in person with people. Yes, there's nothing like that, right? It's like we get to see each other and like house, you know, and and be together and download each other and like get into it in a different way than you can virtually and different way. Like it it burns you out. Like, if we if we spent as much time as we might in person in a virtual meeting, yeah, it would be like shorting out for four kids during COVID, exactly.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, yeah.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yeah. And so I think there's both personal benefit and team benefit in the in-person experiences, as well as just that, you know, being in each other's electromagnetic field. So it's it's a hard thing to solve because I get that, and I also really benefit from it personally, but then I also love my freedom and I want to be able to be like working on a beach in Costa Rica if I want flex.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, yeah. It's it's all about the flex. Like, okay, so if you want to come into the office, come into the office. If you are more productive at home, stay at home because some people are like I'm an introvert, so I had I loved, to your point, being three days with my people. My people, like these were my people at this conference I was at. And I came home and I was like, because I'm actually an introvert. And as much as I loved my people and was inspired by my people, by the end of each day, I was exhausted. And by the end of three days, I was non-functioning. Yeah, you know, so for me, I need I need my people, but I need them in in little tiny days.

Corissa Saint Laurent

So we all for someone else choose that, choose the rhythm that you want to be in. Yeah, yeah. If companies are cool with that, like corporations out there of the world, like be cool with flex environments, and yeah, you're gonna get the most out of your people that way, obviously, right? It's just allowing them to work in their rhythms. Yeah.

Viveka von Rosen

I mean, honestly, you could do like a I'm sure there's an introvert. Are you an introvert or extrovert test? Like, I'm sure there's like a quick test you could do online for like five minutes. Okay, you're an introvert. You probably want to stay at home or flex time for you. Oh, you're an extrovert. You definitely need to be in the business in the office. Flex time for you too, but you know, you're a two-three and you're a three-two. Yeah. Right.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Like, not too hard to figure out, just putting some time and energy into that. So now you're working with people who want to move out of that space of being an employee, being an executive in-house somewhere, and those people who want to take and create and put their dreams of a business of their own, of a some pursuit of their own, and make that their reality as an entrepreneur. And you're working with people who are at leater stage entrepreneurs that are that are kind of coming into it later in life, which is an interesting and so you really needed to walk this path. You know, you needed to go through all of this, it seems, in order to be that absolute right guide for those who are also wanting this. Um, so the people who are have hit burnout, their burnout executive, who are now ready to write the book or do can start the consulting business, do start maybe it's you know, they wanted to always sell and create a product and had always wanted to do that. So, who are you finding are most attracted to this that are are ready for this kind of phase? Or I mean, obviously, there's the typical burned out executive, but what else? What else is typical of this person, persona?

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah, and again, it's hollow bone. I think I'm attracting this subset because of who I am and what I've been through and and and the and the sound that's coming out through me. But it it is. It's it's mostly executive women, and they are, to your point, they are burned out, they're being squeezed out. Um, there's the whole invisibility over 50. You know, as women, we we we know that we have to make sometimes men think that our ideas are their ideas. We've always had to play that game, but it gets worse the older you get.

Corissa Saint Laurent

And so you mentioned and you introduced a new term to me before we hit the corner, the silver ceiling.

Viveka von Rosen

Yeah. I'm like, I'm shocked actually that it's not everywhere. And I did, I like Googled it and did a little, you know, Chat GPT research. And there's just one company in Singapore that's referencing the silver ceiling. So I'm gonna make it mine and I'm gonna share their content because I love it's just it's their videos, are Finn are fabulous. But yeah, it it is the concept of the silver ceiling. And, you know, yes, we can break through it, and yes, we should keep it from happening. And yes, there are like amazing executives 50 plus who don't want to retire, nor should they retire. And so there's a whole body of work around that. But I really do want to work with the people who are now ready to move out of that and create their own to create their own thing. So, like the glass ceiling, you know, I'm ready for women who are like glass ceiling, silver ceiling, whatever, y'all deal with that. I'm gonna go over here and do my own thing. Because, you know, not in a fatalistic way, but time is getting short, I feel like, both in years. Like, you know, we're we're getting older, but also I just feel like this experience, this metaphysical experience of the world is, you know, I think we're going into a new phase, whatever that looks like. So the time is now to do the things that we need to do in order to shift the energy to be into one of love and positivity and flowers and sunshine. I think we are all born with very specific gifts to answer a very specific calling. But especially here in Western culture, you know, mostly that's just like, oh, you can't be an artist, you know, only 10% of authors make a living wage. Oh, you can't, you know, there's there's only 2% of speakers make over $50,000. You know, you we get all those messages. And so we listen to them and then we go down the other path, like I did, like all my clients did. And now it's getting to the point like we cannot ignore those messages anymore. So my clients just have a burning need to express something differently than what they've been experiencing. They're not always sure what that is. And so a lot of the work that we do is exploring and teasing that out. So what is it? What are your gifts and what is this calling? And then I can't I get to bring in you my 20 plus years of experience and help them craft a business and even get them to the point where they can now launch it into the world. And that is exciting. I use the metaphor of alchemy because, you know, at first we have to burn away what no longer serves us, the Negreto, and then the albedo, then in these ashes, there are gifts. So like we have to go through these and like, what is it that I'm good at? And then we find those gifts and we get into the uh Rubios stage or citrus stage, which is okay, so now how do I put these gifts together to create the thing? And then there's the Rubios. How do I uh how do I move this into the world? And I probably said those wrong, but anyway, that's the gist of it. Yeah, so that's the path that I take my clients through, which is just from being stuck in what was to ful exploring and releasing what shall be. Yes, what always was always was what was always going to be, what was always going to be once we open to it. Yeah.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yeah, whether or not we decide to step into it now, this nudge, right? This nudge, this tap, this smack, or at the on, you know, there's those deathbed confessions or chronicles too who have have that realization even at that stage. You know, we all get to decide at which point we will choose to listen and take that inspired action. None of the timing is wrong, you know. I feel like like we can all just take whatever steps and and whatever make whatever moves we want at whatever time, and all of it is divine, it's all in like this beautiful, right divine timing. Absolutely. But I think the thing that a lot of people leave out or forget is that we have free will and we have we have so much power in when that timing happens. Yeah, and we have so much power and when we take that inspired action. So, can you put it off? Can you continue to say no, not that, not now, not now, spirit, not at all, not ready for this. Like, yes, you can do it, but you can also do the opposite and be like, yes, now let's open these doors, let's go through this portal, let's make this thing happen, let's like speed things up and quantum shift to like this whole nother reality. Like, we have that power. Yeah, so whenever someone chooses to take this on, whether it's the work with you, it's the work with any of my other guests, it's the work with me, it's this, it's saying yes to from wherever you are, right? It's it's not like okay, we gotta go back. Like, oh, I I started this too late, I'm too old for this. Right? But no, you're you are exactly where you're meant to be to receive this message and take this inspired action. Let's go! Like, let's go. It's so exciting, right? Like when someone says yes. Exactly.

Viveka von Rosen

If you're alive and breathing, it's not too late. Yeah. And actually, if you're not alive and not breathing, it's probably not too late either, but I don't think in that realm. Exactly. We'll let another guest of yours deal with that part.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Exactly, exactly right. So, all of the ways that people can work with you and connect with you and learn from you are gonna be linked in the show notes. What would you like to leave as a last thought, feeling, gesture, or maybe call to action for listeners today?

Viveka von Rosen

One of the things we didn't talk about, but what was transformational for me is not only intuition, but but find a way to access that intuition. So for me, it's journaling and meditation. Although I'm not good at like, I tried. Even this morning, I'm like, um, I gotta go do my laundry. Um, I gotta do get ready for that event. Oh, you know, I is so I'm not a good omer, but find some way to tap in. And, you know, maybe it's maybe you're you're you paint, maybe you sing, maybe you dance expressively. Like, I don't care, but open up the creative a little bit every day in some way, shape, or form, and then tap in to the higher presence around us, whatever that looks like for you, every single day. Make time for it. And it's amazing what those little it's funny, my friend uh she doesn't she doesn't like atomic habits, but she's like, there are rituals, they're atomic rituals. So I had to go see if the website was available. But anyway, like do those atomic, uh, do those atomic rituals. Happy digital. I know I can't help myself. But yes, do those atomic rituals every day, and it is incredible what will happen. And a year from now you'll be going and looking back, going, wow, like I could never have imagined all of this happening like it did.

Corissa Saint Laurent

It's so true. Because we don't realize until you do of how programmed we were through all of those little rituals that were being placed in us without our consent.

Viveka von Rosen

Without our consent.

Corissa Saint Laurent

Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, oh, now we get to re-ritualize ourselves. We get to reprogram ourselves in the way that we want to, but it does take some effort, it does take some focus on that daily set of practices and finding all the collection of things that work for you, right? Yeah you may not be the best omer, yeah, but you know, you can connect and tap in by listening to certain kinds of music or the journaling you mentioned, like getting to that free-flow writing. And it's so there's just countless things out there. There are go back and listen to all of my podcast episodes, and you'll hear everything that you know, so many people do that tap you into source and tap you into your higher self. And it could literally be tapping. Yeah, exactly. Let's tap your way. It's so good, it's so good. And we do have an episode on tapping back with Danny Carpio, who's a master at this, and something that's so so so beautiful. So thank you for that reminder to the audience to find your own way, find your rituals, do them daily, and then find your people, and then find your people exactly that are gonna enliven you, light you up, yeah, guide your way, and be that mentor for you wherever you are in this moment. And I'm just so happy that you've stepped into this role that you answered the calling, that you are doing it now for our 50 plus women friends and and others I'm sure that you work with as well, who are who are feeling guided and called to you. Because I also see women who are the struggling women in their like mid-30s for some reason. Like you've hit like a like you've been in your career for 10 years, but you're just like going, what the hell is this? Is this yeah what I'm supposed to be? Yeah, like I also see that inflection point being a really powerful place for you to work too. So whoever you are out there that's feeling called to work with Vivica, you've got all the ways to connect with her in the show notes. Thank you so much, my friend, for coming on and sharing your wisdom. Thank you.

Viveka von Rosen

It's been absolutely my pleasure. So happy to reconnect.