The art of holistic business expansion with Darlene Cordero

Ever wondered how to fuse the realms of healing and business? Join us as we welcome Darlene Cordero, affectionately known as the Wellness Connector, who after a decade in finance on Park Avenue transitioned to media and event creation, eventually joining Chopra Global in 2019.  She is the founder of WellnessCulture.co and the author of The Healers' Playbook - supporting wellness professionals by making the business acumen of healing arts accessible to all.  This conversation promises to equip healers with the confidence to carve out their unique paths to success, illustrating that business and spirituality can indeed go hand in hand.

We tackle the art of overcoming fear and finding authenticity, highlighting the importance of knowing one's value and setting the right value for services offered. Listen to personal stories, including overcoming the fear of public speaking, that underline the role of mentorship and supportive relationships in personal growth. By weaving elements like astrology and human design into the narrative, we open up new avenues for understanding oneself, pushing boundaries, and embracing the authentic self, while emphasizing the delicate balance between personal practice and community service.

Check out Heallist.com for digital tools created just for holistic healers.

Chapters

• 0:04 Healers' Business Acumen and Growth
• 9:56 Overcoming Fear and Finding Authenticity
• 21:09 Embracing Expansion and Vulnerability in Healing
• 33:11 Healer Support and Community Unity
• 41:03 Collective Support and Collaboration

Transcript

Yuli: 0:04

Welcome to the Healist Podcast, where we inspire and guide healers through business expansion. We give voice to incredibly abundant healers to share their stories. We dive into the quantum field to unlock the energies of conscious creation. We also develop digital tools to help you grow, which you can find on HealLesscom. I'm your host, Yuli, and I'm grateful you chose to join this space. Now let's go deep.

Yuli: 0:36

Hello, my dear friends, another super exciting episode of the Healers Podcast, and today we have Darlene Cordero with us, who is known as the wellness connector. She worked with leading wellness brands, teachers and practitioners. After a decade in finance and Park Avenue, she transitioned to media and event creation, eventually joining Chopra Global in 2019. With a BA in arts management, darlene brings her business expertise and experience with high net worth clients to the wellness industry, excelling in community building and impactful events. She also created the Healers Playbook to support wellness professionals by making the business acumen of healing arts accessible to all. Darlene, you're right at home. This is where we talk healing and business, and it seems like you're one of the very rare people that I feel in this phase that managed to combine both, so I'm just thrilled to talk to you and explore more of your book. And, you know, welcome to the podcast.

Darlene: 1:46

Thank you so much for having me. I think that, like finding people that are in alignment like this, it's there's so much to do and so I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Yuli: 1:57

Oh yeah, we have a lot of work to do and we're gonna get right right into it, because that's what we do here. We don't have time to waste. We're all busy. Everyone who's listening to us probably is having an amazing practice and clients to take care of and business to take care of. So really, our job here is how can we bring the tools, how can we inspire people and you wrote a whole playbook on that, so I think we're just going to dive into that and see how did you choose the subjects Like? What did you decide to focus on? What is the story behind the book?

Darlene: 2:34

Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm so excited to be connected to the healer, the practitioner, the educator. I like to say all of those words because many people connect to these words in a different way. I want to go back to like how it started. I think you know.

Darlene: 2:49

You mentioned in my bio that I have a BA in arts management and at the time I didn't even know what that meant. I knew I loved business because that was my background. I always knew that I grew up with entrepreneur parents and I, but I love the arts and I love beauty and I loved the expression of being around people that were artists and who knew that years later I would be managing talent at Chopra Global, which led you know in this, you think about this space. Deepak really is the pioneer of this work and the faces and voices that our company would want to showcase leaving banking and moving into media and working in that talent piece of connecting the right talent to the right events with the right red carpet working. You know that whole piece and then when I got to Chopra, we really wanted to create. You know what is the evolution of a brand like Chopra at the time was called the Chopra Center and Deepak's work and what were the faces and voices and collaborations that we wanted to bring forth, and I had the privilege and honor to be able to do that. And so what I saw was that there was so much and this is before the pandemic there were a lot of voices and younger conversations and people and diversity that I wanted to bring to Chopra, and all of these people became friends and became people that they trusted me and they would come to me a lot of them and say what do I charge? I don't know what to do with this partnership. This person is asking for this, like how do I structure my partnerships, my conversations, the emails, like just that back and forth, that business acumen that we talk about here, that you mentioned in my bio. It's like how do I do that? And what I realized was that there wasn't anyone really or an organization, people really focused on that piece of the healing arts, of the business.

Darlene: 5:07

Then now, 2023, what year are we in? 2024, is now this, like you know, billion dollar business? Right, and, in a sense, is it's. How do we get this for this information out to every yoga teacher, every meditation teacher that's out there as a solopreneur, because that is usually what's happening. It's usually one person that is managing their calendar, managing their social media marketing. They're also doing the work of the healer, which is so profound. And so, when I left, chopra and Deepak sold the company. He sold it to amazing partners about a year and a half ago. Actually, next month is going to be two years.

Darlene: 5:52

Time flies when you're having fun, and I started a wellness culture really with that intention. How do we give this information, provide service and support to the healer, the practitioner information, provide service and support to the healer, the practitioner, and so I started with a mentorship program. It was 14 weeks. We went through mission, vision, values, everything from how to determine pricing, how to market yourself in an authentic way, not the way everybody else is doing right, everybody has their unique ability and ways in which they show up for the clients, but also how they show up in our best showcase.

Darlene: 6:28

Some people are amazing on stage.

Darlene: 6:30

Some people are amazing writers.

Darlene: 6:32

Other people do best one-on-one with, like connections with, by just connecting by text with their clients, like, and all of that is okay, like there's no right or wrong, and all of that is okay, like there's no right or wrong.

Darlene: 6:44

And I wanted to give the practitioner, the healer, the license to be like I'm going to do it my way. And I wanted to be like look the best, do it their way, and so you should do it your way. And like Deepak didn't do things like anybody right, like he had taken his degrees and being a doctor and then, you know, immersed it in this ancient wisdom of Ayurveda with his teacher. So like, do it your way. And having that confidence to know that you can do it your way, I think it's in that that yes, like you can do it that support and I really wanted to do that. And so, with with the heal Playbook, it's the idea of like taking that mentorship and making it accessible to everyone. So maybe not everyone could do 14 weeks or they want to be able to have it as a companion when one day I'll do it again, the mentorship, but it is something that could be part of your business and evolution of how you show up to the world and that you know that you're not alone.

Yuli: 7:57

That's what I want people to continue to know is that there are resources and people and community out there as they build their businesses. Absolutely, and such an important work that you do, and I love all this experience that you're bringing and sharing with this amazing audience, and I'm curious, as someone who also worked a lot with healers personally what are some of the themes and threads that you saw that you really felt like, okay, we really have to work through this block and this is how we're going to work and what advice to do over yeah, I think one of the biggest themes for us all because we all are our own healers, right, and figuring ways that we show up in the world some of them end up being in the practice of supporting others, right, in this way is the fear of being.

Darlene: 8:44

I think it's two things. It's the fear of being. I think it's two things. It's the fear of being seen right and it's the fear of, of of understanding your value, and I think they're very connected, right, like what you think about yourself and how you value yourself and your expertise, and then how people perceive you and how you're perceived is like very connected.

Darlene: 9:07

And if you don't have a grounded because of your background, because of past lives, because of whatever you're here to do in this life and you have any, which, by the way, the wounded healer, I mean this is what you're here to do, right, you're here to heal that piece of you, to then support others, and I think that that's the unlike any other industry. It is not the same as, like you know, opening up and I wanted to say barbershop, but like I don't know why I said that, but like it's not like just doing that, because that could be very therapeutic, right, all of these things that we do. But when you're in the healing arts and you're here to support others, there is a piece for the practitioner, the healer, to do some of that work on themselves and be okay with that process, right. And I think that that's where a lot of them that like understanding, like what to charge, how to really focus on themselves and their own practice and understand the connection between their own practice and how they're consistently working on you know, the thing that they're here to do and then how that's connected to the community that they serve. And there is a through line, because you'll see that a lot of you know this because of the work you do. A lot of the work is that wounding is what they're here to do and how they show up for their client and if they're not working consistently on that and facing it and seeing it and focused so much on the other person and not on themselves, then you know that's when that connection of like how you know how do I, what do I charge and do people really value me? And then all of those insecurities start creeping up because the focus is not on themselves and more on, like, the business side of all of it and they're not in that flow. Right, that flow is the goal.

Darlene: 11:01

The goal for all of us is and I haven't figured it out completely, no one has and this idea that everybody has, that all these people that we see and I put I'm making quotations of, like these, like you know, aspirational people that we see on social media that are making you know six figures, when I see that, that like I cringe.

Darlene: 11:24

That's not my way of working. I'm not here to give you a quick fix become a millionaire. I think that you become rich and you become abundant and you become whatever it is you want when you really are in that flow, and we all, you really are in that flow and we all, that's what we're striving for, right, every day we wake up, we do the work on ourselves, we show up for ourselves and then we can support others from that place and then, authentically and genuinely, people then connect to us, right? So I think that that's the goal. It's like being seen from that perspective and then being, you know, really conscious of what is it that I am putting out, that then I'm receiving, and how do I value my work and how I'm showing up for others and what does that mean for me on pricing or being having opportunities come my way? It's so connected all of that. I hope that answered your question.

Yuli: 12:26

Oh, yes, and I have so many things to unpack there.

Yuli: 12:32

And let's start with being seen, because I agree with you, it's like a root of a lot of the other issues that kind of sprout from there. How did you, and by mentoring so many people in your career, what are some of the things that you found work for your clients or the people you worked with that helped them to overcome that challenge? Because it's such a big one and I feel like we can have like 10 episodes of that and never like finish exploring it fully. But give me some, you know something, maybe quick and easy, that people can feel like, okay, I can't, I don't have to unblock this whole giant being seen, piece right. What did I do today? That will bring me just a little closer.

Darlene: 13:19

I know this sounds like more complex than it is, but I think that understanding your astrology and understanding your chart and understanding your human design gives you an insight a bit about, first, what is happening in the transits of like, why you haven't wanted to be seen so you have like that information. I love like data and information to be able to be like okay, this is why this is happening. Data and information to be able to be like okay, this is why this is happening. And understanding that we all. This is why it doesn't. This is why we could spend 10 episodes on this, because not everybody, everyone's path is so different and it happens in different times, based on their chart and based on what they're here to do right, they're North and South Node and understanding those pieces. I think one of the biggest pieces that I think that I tell people when they've done my mentorship and when I work with people is I get them connected to my astrologer and my human design practitioner. Why? Because I want to know what I'm working with right and I want them to know what they're working with, and I think that I I'm going to give you the example for myself. I had a massive fear. I know this sounds weird because I talk so much, but I had a massive fear of public speaking. So until about two years ago I never did face video. I never kind of like shared myself. I didn't think I had anything to be like shared, and it's funny because I am outgoing and I love people. I didn't think I had anything to be like shared, and it's funny because I am outgoing and I love people, I love connection, I love meeting new people. But the public speaking was very much connected to a wound in my childhood, right, and when I started doing that one thing, that a friend, my friend Avery Whitmore he's an amazing sound healer, sound bowl healer and practitioner he was. I had brought him into Chopra to do sound healing for our retreats and he was. He's been just such a support for me as a friend of like pushing me and being like wait, basically we need somebody that pushes us, you know, and says, hey, I see that in you and acknowledge it, right, and hey, how can you show up Because I already see that you can do this. So like, let's do one thing. And I remember I did my first audio, like real, and he stuck me in like a closet. We were in Hawaii, we had just done a retreat with Deepak and we were just spending a few days with some friends a group of us in Maui or something. No, we went to Kauai and after the Maui event and I'm like, okay, I'm going to do it. I'm in this beautiful place Avery's outside the closet I think you could do this and I did my first audio where I mean you could hear my voice crack, like it was. I was so nervous, but I did that one thing that pushed me out of my comfort zone. I was supported. I had somebody that said, just do that one thing. And then that one thing, people were like, oh, my God, I love hearing your voice. And then I started hearing the feedback and people were like, oh, you should do more of those.

Darlene: 16:21

And then the next time I did a face of you. Know, I did a face of you. Know, I did the face of video kind of thing on Instagram, and then I just started pushing myself to, okay, what do I have to say? And that was so uncomfortable for me and it was.

Darlene: 16:35

And I've had moments and I have to tell you like I had an interview maybe 10 years ago on TV and I completely went blank. The interview never went out. I'm not just saying this to say this. Like it's happened to me. I was on stage. It's happened to me. On stage I could not speak, and now I do and I don't.

Darlene: 16:54

And what I do believe that it had to do is me pushing myself and and taking away a little bit of like. Um, I think the Virgo in me is very perfectionist and I that I wasn't going to say the right thing, so I don't practice or get ready. So I realized that when I get too much in my head about the thing because I want it to be perfect, I don't show up authentically and then it doesn't come from my heart. And if I talk from my heart, then it's in service to someone else and I think the practitioner. When you understand that what you're sharing is going to help someone else and it's going to potentially change their perspective on one thing or shift them in a huge way, that then your voice matters and that you have something to share and so it's a disservice to someone else to not share yourself. I tell that to my clients all the time. Like you not showing up and like saying the thing, or come on, like you. What do you have to lose, like, what do we all have to lose? Right Then then, pushing ourselves with the right support, the right timing.

Darlene: 18:01

Again, remember, like thinking about okay, what are the things that are happening in your transit, what are the you know, what are the seasons that you're going through? Well, right now in my chart I'm supposed to be going out there. I'm supportive, I'm supported. If I do that, I'm supported and I've done that. And it's brought me to this point where I wrote my own book, like I would have never thought about doing this, like I grew up in Queens, new York, with an immigrant family. I never knew an author, I never knew anyone that had graduated from college. I didn't have those examples, and I hear this from a lot of people in you know, from different communities that haven't had those examples. Be the example, be the example you never saw. So then you can, you know, support and like, inspire someone else.

Darlene: 18:53

The work that I do I try to include diversity of opinion, diversity of voice, diversity of like. You know who people are and the circumstances, because that representation really makes a difference for a brand, for a community, and being intentional about that and specifically in the wellness space. That can be very one-sided. When I remember I went to the first, I went to Kripalu, I don't know, a decade ago. I was the only Latina. I was the only person that was as young.

Darlene: 19:29

I remember everybody was like in their maybe 60s and then I was like I don't know, I know I'm supposed to be here, I don't know why, but I'm here. I was like I don't know, I know I'm supposed to be here, I don't know why, but I'm here. And or my first yoga class, you know. And not everybody has that push to say I don't know why. I'm going to follow my intuition to do these things, but I think, the more and more we're seeing it much more after the pandemic, which is amazing A lot of people in different communities are showing up for these practices, which are so life-changing. But, yeah, representation matters and yeah, I could go on a tangent on all of this and talk, talk, talk, talk.

Yuli: 20:07

I can listen to you forever because you say some really important things that people do need to listen and share your personal example. It's just so powerful. And sharing your personal example, it's just so powerful. I really everything you said pretty much resonates and I have so many follow-up questions. And also I love that you use, like analytics Like I'm with you astrology and human design. I mean also like just from my experience, you know, being a mental projector, you realize that's why I do podcasts, because I love talking to people and bounce. This is how I get sometimes my deepest thoughts. That means it's good, good stuff.

Darlene: 20:44

Oh, it's so beautiful and this is the flow. Right, I put this out there. We connected, we're in flow, right, we're creating because it's coming from that place. Imagine if I would have said, oh, no one has anything to. And, by the way, I thought it and like this is the whole other thing. Like I published this book and then I went into a deep depression, like two weeks ago.

Darlene: 21:09

I think we all think that once the day we get there, we do the thing we like get the book out, we get that partnership, we get that client that then we're going to be filled with this euphoria that it's like oh, I got there, by the way, never, you'll always doubt yourself. I've heard this from many people and I've seen it because I've prepared people to get on stage and worked with big partners and brands and artists and all of that. Every time someone gets off that stage, I'll look at them and say how did I do? Can I do? Okay, everyone does that because everyone has that insecurity. They want to know that what they did mattered or that it made some, because we are human, no matter who they are, no matter if they've had they filled up stadiums with, you know thousands, of thousands of people. They're always going to have that feeling and so I like to share that because I want people and I have other friends. I remember telling my birthday was a few weeks ago that's when I published the book and I told my friend that's published a few books and I said I just feel so like empty. I don't know what this is. And she goes, oh no, it happened to me. I'm like, okay, good, I'm not alone. You know what I mean. Like cause, you don't know. I know next time I publish a book I'm going to like Bali or something after to like, you know, vacation and get my mind out of the thing.

Darlene: 22:31

Because I think that we assume right, we assume that we do this thing, we create something, and then all those insecurities creep in and they're still there and all the wounding is still there, and now we have more out there that we're just like, oh, you're so vulnerable, right? I think that ultimately, that's what holds us back, right, that vulnerability of being seen in such a raw way. Right, when we start speaking, we start showing our faces, when we start writing, when we start sharing our personal stories it's not easy, but the freedom of that and then when you get that feedback in return of like, wow, that really helped me or that's inspiring, then you go okay, it's worth it. It's worth being uncomfortable, it's worth kind of putting myself out there.

Darlene: 23:21

And I think for the practitioner healer, educator the thing to focus on is that it's like how can I share myself, push myself right, do that one thing that's going to push me out of my comfort zone, knowing the data, knowing what I can do and what I'm going to be supported from. And then what's that one step? I always because, like you mentioned, like we're not going to solve that today. Right, we're not going to solve, like, how do you become, you know, the top 10 speaker of the world on mindfulness? But what we can do is like one thing, one thing today that's going to push us closer to that.

Darlene: 23:57

And even in the book I start with, you know, many of us know what a SMART goal is. Right, we, okay, start with a SMART goal, one thing that's tangible, that you can do, not like the whole plan of like you know, you know conquering the world, but what's that? One small step, and sometimes it's just making a connection with a new person. It might be like oh, I'm going to, you know, make a video today. I'm going to send an article, you know, newsletter, which I just I can't tell people enough how important like connecting with their audience in that way is, and how important that building that community of people that already know you is versus like focus so much on the external, like social media world, and how my best connections and my best referrals have been from people that I know, not from an Instagram reel.

Yuli: 24:52

So yeah, absolutely. I think you mentioned, I mean, so many great points, but this power of like. Don't underestimate your community, like, even if you have just I don't know five, 10 clients, this is your community and they are your. You know vessels of expansion because each of them holds a community of their own and I think what you touched upon here and you brought up with this beautiful story of overcoming your own block of being seen, is when we are going through expansion, and you know a lot of like. I thrive in my expansion mode, but it also terrifies the heck out of me.

Darlene: 25:34

I'm just uncomfortable, ever uncomfortable, ever.

Yuli: 25:37

Like I'm, in this constant process of you know expansion. Then we have a little break OK, let's settle in and let's expand again in that constant rate. But it can be very uncomfortable for many people because expansion mode is not always natural for everyone. So I think, by normalizing it and saying like, yes, even people that you see that are in that expansion process, they still go through some of the down. You know aspects of it, because once you expand you, you have to create like new space, you have to find yourself again, you have to ground yourself again. That process is not always easy, even if outside looks like a huge success, you know you still have to get comfortable with that new frequency that you just reached and that's not easy.

Darlene: 26:25

I love that. Yeah, I love that that. That new frequency, like you're expanding and you're then kind of grounded integrating use that word right Like integration, and integrating in that way is it feels really much more uncomfortable because it's new. Like you said, it's a new, a new version of ourselves that we don't even recognize.

Yuli: 26:48

Right, but I think the reward is just so much greater. I mean, when we expand, we just have the opportunity in this lifetime to like. I feel like sometimes I live multiple lifetimes because I'm constantly pushing myself to expand.

Darlene: 27:00

I'm so old.

Yuli: 27:02

Which is like this is like the productive overachiever in me. Yeah, I love that, but it helps in this case. But I think again, just normalizing that integration time, and it's not easy. And you know, I wish more people talked about it publicly too, because we still, you know, even the people in this healing space I find sometimes we follow the rules from other industries and I don't know if we talked about it, but actually, and we have so much to unpack there but I, my background is an influencer marketing industry. That was my first company, so so I'm very familiar with that culture.

Yuli: 27:38

So you know what I'm talking about.

Yuli: 27:40

The content creator culture and you know, the perfect, and I started before Instagram, right Before we had the Instagram influencers. So it was really interesting to watch people get caught up in that like always perfect image and I think it's becoming a little more raw now. Thankfully, some of the new formats that were introduced. You know, you get stories, you get more like behind the scenes, more stuff, but it's still pretty much a polished image and I think we're just so caught up in that as a society and for healers, people that need to resonate with people. It's their like natural need to resonate because otherwise they're as empaths, they a lot, they take on a lot, right. So I think it's really hard to just have that pressure that it has to be that perfect and we don't have the normalized, you know integration or the sometimes like the raw emotions that come with it. So I wish more people talked about that emotions that come with it.

Darlene: 28:39

So I wish more people talked about that. Yeah, I think we show it sometimes could feel performative, you know it does. I mean, we all are healers and sometimes we can perform, you know, in the healing arts. Right, it could be performative, but I think the more that we. I think one of the things that I think about when I'm processing something and then bringing it to my community is have I processed it? Have I kind of integrated how I'm not dumping? Right, a lot of the dumping of like how we do with our friends and family, right, I'm not dumping, I've processed it, I'm not dumping, I've processed it. And now let me show and share that lesson with my community from that grounded place of integration, of understanding the lesson and of understanding, like, how can inspire other people to continue to share in that way, to say, hey, like this is really.

Darlene: 29:30

Yeah, I got massively depressed after I shared my book and published my book. Why? Because I felt really vulnerable. Is anybody going to buy it? Does it matter?

Darlene: 29:54

Then I had to remember, right, I created a SMART goal from the beginning like for myself, like I do, take that the things I teach and share, I do, you know, use them for myself. And I was like why do I want to create this book? Right? And I think, going back to that, it's always going back in this. The book really talks the Healers, for the Book really talks about going back to, like, what's the intention, what's the mission, what is what is it why? Why am I doing things right? Remembering that always.

Darlene: 30:22

And I remember that what I wanted was to publish it. The goal was that it was published, and if I published it, then I had I had reached the goal. The thing is, that thing, things change, you know. And then, after you've done it, then you're like, oh no, but now I want this, right, we're humans If only we were, you know, other creatures that don't feel this need to constantly shift, which is so beautiful. But then I was like, well, I want to be able to reach this goal and that goal. And then I had to remind myself I'm constantly reminding myself with this book and that goal. And then I had to remind myself, I'm constantly reminding myself with this book and this project. It's like why did I create this? I created it to publish it for myself. I wanted to do something like this to be able to support the healer, the teacher, but I also, ultimately my goal and this is why I'm going to do every podcast I want to do. I want to connect with every organization that has healers and practitioners that are working with them.

Yuli: 31:21

I want to go to everything right now.

Darlene: 31:23

You do exactly this is what I want to do, because I want every practitioner to have this book, every yoga teacher, meditation, breath work, all of it, because I know it's going to be supportive to them. And if I could do that, in whatever form, then you know, then it's, and however long it takes, right, this is like a project. This is a lifelong project for me.

Yuli: 31:44

Amazing, such a good reminder. Well, we could end on this beautiful note, but I just cannot leave you without touching on the very important, the second subject that you mentioned early on, about a subject of putting worth on your services, because then this is something again. Another one we can talk forever, yeah, but I always love to bring it up in this podcast because I feel like we cannot emphasize enough that, you know, all of this is great and a great service to the humanity, but if you don't personally connect with the flow of abundance and you constantly live in lack, then why are we doing to ourselves, right? So what is your, you know, maybe experience or something that you can share on that subject that can be really powerful for our listeners?

Darlene: 32:34

I think that the most important thing with the connection of offerings and understanding what to charge and I do a practice in the book where I kind of outline what it takes for people to kind of bring their services to life what are the tangible things that they invest in and the products or things that they are spending on, right, so like those tangible things, and you know the preparation for seeing the client if they're traveling to see someone. So I really do make it very grounded. The kapha in me like wants to ground that, that practice of like the reality, right, like what are your expenses? How do you show up Then? What's the time that you're then integrating after you've seen a client that you need?

Darlene: 33:26

Right, because I think when people start there, oh well, if I have five clients a day, I'm like you can't have five. I mean, it depends on what you're doing, right, like if you're doing energy work, that's like a lot of work, but like what is it that you can reasonably do without, like burning yourself out, right, and taking care of yourself and having that honest conversation with yourself, what are, and then what are my expenses? And so therefore, coming from that place and we could go into like the energy of abundance and the energy of money, and I, I'm not. I'm like let's just get to the grounded understanding, because that's, we don't need another book on that.

Yuli: 34:09

I love that so much. Yes, please bring the practical.

Darlene: 34:13

Like I just feel like there's so many books about that and we come, our community comes from that place, right, the energy and someone else could do. I mean, marianne Williamson has an amazing book about that. Like I agree, like I, I would recommend a client you know, go read that book and you will reconnect in a way. But what I, what I did with this book, is really focused on what are the tangible things and don't compare, don't compare yourself to somebody else. I mean I've had conversations where people will say I found out how much this person makes and I'm going to charge them. I'm like what, how do you like? I mean, and this is when you know it's like we haven't done the work to understand who you are to then compare yourself to others. I think people really have to understand that the years of experience, the acc creditations that people have, the education, I think it does matter. I am not going to knock anybody that's done a weekend certification, but a weekend certification does not equal years of you know, working with clients and at the same time, there's people that are gifted, that don't even need a certification or don't even need anything right, that they're just. They are born and put on this earth to heal. So it's a really interesting thing to keep all of those things in mind and then understand, like that you're not practicing on somebody else and you're really doing it from a place. Practicing on somebody else and you're really doing it from a place. So then that exchange is right and that connection between the healer and the practitioner the one being healed and the practitioner is connected. And I think that where you live has a lot to do with it.

Darlene: 36:00

The pricing around. You know understanding competitive the market is really important. You know understanding competitive the market is really important. But just because a practitioner charged $5,000 for something doesn't mean that that's you, because is that going to feel an alignment for you to do that? And also energetically, it's all about energy, right, like, okay, let's get a little woo-woo, it's all energy. Like, if you charge that amount of money, are you giving that value in return? Or does that person have something else that could be of value to you to support you that you need, because I also think that that's really important as well.

Darlene: 36:44

So I think that when you do my practices in the book, you get really real about the numbers. You can understand what is your minimum and I like putting them in tiers. It's like what's the minimum that I would do this for and what is my rate and what's that middle ground right, Like kind of putting it in tiers of like what it feels like, and of course you're going to always want to go for the top tier, but why am I going to get on this call or get out of bed? What is it worth? Because, if not, then that's when that like self-worth, that understanding well, people don't want my services or that instability that starts creeping up on a lot of practitioners is because of that, because they haven't done that initial work and they're comparing themselves to other people. And the reality is that there's no one else to compare to you. You are uniquely positioned. Each person, each practitioner, has been put on this earth to do very different work, and so that comparison is really detriment to the healer.

Yuli: 37:52

Absolutely.

Darlene: 37:53

I can't agree more and I think what helps me in those situations it's also learning to separate when it's ego talking Right, and I think this is the comparison Right and I think this is theive with Dar, which I'll you know it's I'm recording more, more, more seasons and more I'm sorry more episodes soon is that I realized that during the different methods of like how I'm supporting the healer.

Darlene: 38:41

What I really want to do next, as a continuation of this book, is to have a membership model for the community, because it's an ongoing process. There's questions that happen every day, every week, and so I'm launching in October, a membership model is going to be called Wellness Spotlight, and so we'll have weekly calls for the practitioner where they can have forum, where they can ask questions directly to me or to the other healers and practitioners and also be showcased on my newsletter and also on our social media and also on the show, so like kind of giving them more visibility, which is I love that you're doing that as well, because I think that that's what we need and we need to unite more. Like you are doing such important work, I can't say, well, she's doing that work, well, I can't do no. We need to come together and I think one of the things that are so important is that we do unite on those fronts. When we have the same mission, how can we support each other, because we're not in competition. This is not finance.

Darlene: 39:53

This is not finance and we're not in media, you know, we're not in that place, we're not in the sales, we are in the healing arts, and so let's act like that, let's support each other. There's no competition here and there's no gatekeeping, and so I think, being able to support each other and guide each other, you know, to that abundance and community and support, I think it's really important, because I do want to have the ability for practitioners that say, you know, anonymously or you know kind of one-on-one with me, to say, hey, I have this, I have this opportunity. What do you really think I should do? And just like being able to, like just support them in that that day-to-day process, cause I just there isn't enough resources for the practitioner, there just isn't. And there's so much for the practitioner they just isn't.

Darlene: 40:45

And there's so much for the consumer. There's so many apps, there's so many different, you know studios, but where is the practitioner being supported in their business? Who's healing the healer? Like that is the question that I keep asking, and so we're just going to keep knocking on doors until people listen to that. We're here and I love that you're here and I can't wait to share with other people that your work and the work you're doing, because I think that the more we cross-pollinate and kind of support each other, that's that's when the magic happens.

Yuli: 41:17

I love it, darlene. You're speaking my language, you're living my mission, so we're definitely, we're definitely joining forces yes, please thank you, thank you for sharing your wisdom and definitely we're going to link to your beautiful book in the show notes. So please go and buy the Healers Playbook and please check out Darlene's community. And yeah, I just love this spirit and energy of collective support and I really can thank you now for thank us for finding each other.

Darlene: 41:51

Yes, you see, the universe just works out works. You know beautiful ways and you know putting myself out there is, and you putting yourself out there, that's how we make it happen. So exactly.

Yuli: 42:05

I love that we came full circle. If we didn't work through our being seen or, like he's being heard, not seen yet, but we're going to be here?

Darlene: 42:17

Yes, we wouldn't be. Exactly, it's one step, it's going back to that. It's one step and that's more than enough.

Yuli: 42:26

Amazing. Well, thank you so much again. Such a pleasure.