Why Success Starts with Owning Your Worth w/ Stefanie Dingbaum

The life you're meant to build often begins when you finally believe you're worthy of it.

Before Stefanie Dingbaum became a hypnotherapist, entrepreneur, and intuitive therapist, she was a burned out social worker quietly questioning whether the life she'd built was the one she was meant to live. Through her own healing journey, she discovered hypnotherapy, found the courage to leave the security of her school social worker career and eventually build a business of her own, and learned that true transformation begins by owning your worth instead of waiting for permission to change.

In this episode, Stefanie shares how entrepreneurship challenged her confidence, why healing the wounds beneath the surface changed the way she leads her business, and how embracing every part of who she is, from therapist to entrepreneur to spiritual practitioner, allowed her to build a business that finally felt aligned. She also opens up about burnout, visibility, receiving support, and why taking the leap toward the life you want is often the first step toward becoming the person you're meant to be.

If you've been questioning your next step, feeling stuck where you are, or wondering whether you're capable of something more, this conversation will remind you that the life you're meant to build begins with believing you're worthy of it. 

Connect with Stefanie:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefanie.dingbaum/

Email: hello@stefaniedingbaum.com

Website: https://www.stefaniedingbaum.com/

Website: https://www.waveshealingtherapy.com/

Chapters:

00:40 Meet Stefanie Dingbaum

02:15 From Burnout to Healing

05:10 Discovering Hypnotherapy

10:20 Why Fast Healing Changed Everything

14:00 Learning to Slow Down

19:00 Taking the Leap into Business

24:00 Finding Alignment as an Entrepreneur

26:30 Blending Therapy and Spirituality

33:10 Learning to Receive

37:10 How Self Worth Shapes Success 

41:20 Why Visibility Matters

43:10 The Best Advice for Big Life Changes

This podcast is brought to you in partnership with Liz Chapman & CO

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hey there, and welcome to Business Over Cocktails. I'm Laura Najar, your host and hype woman, bringing you real talk about entrepreneurship. This is the podcast where we dive into the bold whys, the messy middles, and the game-changing aha moments that lead to success. You'll hear unfiltered stories from entrepreneurs plus bite-sized solo episodes inside the Business Chaser series, where we cut through the noise and get straight to what actually drives sales, visibility, and growth. So whether you're here to get fired up or finally feel seen in your business journey, pull up a seat, pour your favorite drink, and let's have a real conversation. Hi everyone. Welcome back to Business Over Cocktails. I'm Lauren Najar, and today I have Stephanie Dingbaum here. She's a hypnotherapist. And we connected maybe over a year ago now. And I was on her podcast last year. I cannot believe it's been a year. Like really crazy. I got to meet you in person this past April at Stephanie Ross's Small Business Sister Circle Summit, which was super cool. I love meeting connections in person. Right. But I'm super excited to talk to you and get to know you just a little bit more. And I have a list of questions. So Stephanie doesn't know the questions. I don't usually send questions to my guests. We just, this is meant to be just like a cool conversation, getting to know you kind of thing. So thank you so much, Stephanie, for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Yeah. Yeah. In full like circle. Your episode with me on my podcast actually, I mean, at the time we're recording this, it's the end of July, but your episode with me and my podcast is going to be live in August. So this is like perfect timing. Yeah, that's so awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Okay. So before we talk about like what you do and business stuff, I want to know the journey of like who you were before you became this. Like it's not every day someone decides to be a hypnotherapist and do this kind of work. It's a very deep work. Yeah. So who were you before and how did you arrive here?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, before even well, I mean, I just became a hypnotherapist as of 2026. So it's like a brand new hat that I'm wearing. Prior to that, I marketed myself as an intuitive therapist. Prior to that, just a local therapist, mental health therapist. But even prior to becoming a therapist in general, if I had to like put myself in a box and explain to you who I was before I got to the version that I am today, I would say I was a social worker working for a nonprofit in our area doing in-home behavioral health counseling, crisis counseling, things like that, and was extremely burnt out, was dealing with health issues, battling pretty severe gut health issues at that point in my life that was probably, I would say, probably caused by the stress and burnout of the job that I was doing. And I was somebody who also just didn't fully own and see my worth and my value, and somebody who often made myself small in rooms, and somebody who questioned my abilities, who questioned whether or not I could be somebody and was going to therapy regularly, was really trying to heal things, generational trauma issues, relationship dynamics in my family, was just in the beginning stages of my own healing journey.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

When you were in the stages of your healing journey, though, did you find like when did you find hypnotherapy?

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Yeah. So I got married in 2018 and started grad school that same year. And, or no, I actually had been in grad school for a year. Then I got married because I was doing grad school across three years, so I could work full-time at the same time. It was in that second year of grad school that one of my friends that was going through the program with me, we had become friends through the master's program. And I had told her, like, I have this therapist that I'm seeing. She was very much a spiritual therapist, loved the gal. She was great for me. I mean, I kind of dabbled in some EMDR with her, but primarily was just like talk therapy. We did a lot of Brene Brown work, like working through shame and vulnerability and that kind of stuff with her. And it was all really valuable for being my first experience with therapy, you know. But then I was kind of telling this friend, you know, we both kind of thought at some point in our careers we'd probably end up in private practice. I had told her, like, oh, I'll probably like end my career in private practice. Like, I'll probably work for, you know, somebody else, and then maybe I'll end my career with it. And she was like, oh, not me. I'm probably gonna start my career in it. And I was like, dang, you know, good for you. And I was like, you know, I'm kinda at that same time, I was telling her, I'm kind of burnt out with my therapist. It's not really doing it for me. I feel like I've outgrown her in some ways. And she was like, Well, the private practice that I plan to take over and make my career is actually my mom's private practice. And you should actually, if you're wanting a new therapist, you should consider seeing her. And I was like, would that be weird for you? Like, we've become good friends. And she was like, No, I don't care. Like, I don't talk to my mom about her clients. And I was like, okay. And so yeah, I set up an intake with her mom and found out she was a hypnotherapist and was like, I kind of am curious about that. Like, I'd love to give it a try. I don't know anything about it. And that next session was like, we dove in, like, we didn't waste any time. We did hypnotherapy, and I was hooked, and I had I was doing it from that point forward. Damn near every session we did was a hypnotherapy session. And I was more spiritual hypnotherapy, a little less clinical and more on the spiritual side. And the progress I was seeing from that, how fast I was able to heal things, I was hooked. And I remember like walking out of one of those early sessions, feeling like, why isn't everybody doing this? Like, this is so easy and so fun. Like, why isn't everybody doing this level of healing? I mean, if I had found out about that, I think I was with my previous therapist for like five years. If I had found out about that earlier, I would have just gone straight to it, probably. And so, yeah, I was hooked and just seeing how fast I was making progress in it, I knew like, well, when that time comes to eventually start my own private practice, I'm definitely gonna get certified in hypnotherapy. Like, I want to heal people like my therapist did for me. And so I just always knew like that was gonna be at some point what I specialized in. And now here we are. Or I didn't anticipate it being this early in my career, but like it feels so totally aligned for me.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

I love that, you know, I think there's a lot of businesses that are created and careers that are created based on our own individual journeys, you know, kind of like wishing for what we had, so we're just gonna create it ourselves. And I yeah, I'm familiar with hypnotherapy. I did feel like I did like a speech in high school or college around hypnotherapy, and I don't know why. And I think it might have had to be like I had to pick something, and that seemed very interesting to me. And honestly, I'm just being reminded of it now. Yeah, I don't trust it. So, like maybe more will come to me, but I remember that. And then I've definitely done like sessions here and there, hypnotherapy sessions. So I am familiar with it. I've had a handful of clients who have actually been hypnotherapists, and so I think that it is such a great thing, just like any kind of that side of work, right? It's not just therapy, but it's like hypnotherapy and inner child healing, and yeah, all of those things are so beneficial. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah. And the thing about it is like there's so many different like modalities, there's so many different avenues that you can go down with it. I mean, I love first and foremost that we can totally rewrite some of these limiting beliefs that you've been carrying for years. That's cool. But I also love that like we can break bad habits through hypnotherapy. And I also love that we can do past life regression with hypnotherapy, and we can do, I mean, just like across the board, there's so many parts of your life that can benefit from doing hypnotherapy. And because it's such fast-paced healing, I also love that like you don't have to go weekly, even if you're just doing like my recommendation is either bi-weekly or monthly sessions, just so you're continuing to like, I look at it like it's a highway. And if we build these new neural pathways through hypnotherapy, which that's exactly what happens when you are in a session, is we're building that new neuropathway. So it's like we're building a new highway. And eventually that old programming that you used to run off of, that old highway is getting used less and less and less because with consistent hypnotherapy sessions, we are enforcing that new highway, that new story and that new narrative. And the more that gets used, the more that gets strengthened, and then that becomes your new programming, your new way of thinking. But that reinforced like monthly session is what I feel is needed to keep enforcing that new narrative so that you don't regress back to that old programming that you used to know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, it's like almost like maintenance. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Yeah. But it's faster. And like with talk therapy, I feel like if we're doing some really deep stuff, like working through deep trauma or grief, like I need to be seeing you weekly, or you're not gonna make progress. And and that's just not the case with hypnotherapy. Like you're guaranteed you will make progress, and you don't necessarily need to be doing those weekly sessions to see it either. I just think that's so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

This work though, like you are like really pouring into people.

unknown 10:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Like it takes a lot of you. And I I could be wrong. I'm just like thinking. Like, I know that with my coaching, and especially on a day specifically like today, I had four coaching calls earlier today. And I know that on days like this, like I definitely need to pour into myself. But that is a learned behavior where I never really had that before, and maybe hit burnout. And I'm like, okay, no, I really need to take care of myself on these days. But when your identity is built around like helping people and your career is built around helping people, do you still struggle with also pouring into yourself a little bit? Or how have you kind of coached yourself through that?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's a skill that I just am trying to get better at. I mean, even something as simple as like letting myself rest, I find I struggle with that. I mean, I feel a lot of high-achieving women say this, but like, for instance, I had strep last week, and I feel like a normal person would just let themselves have a day on the couch resting, recouping, whatever you need to do. But even for me, it was like, yeah, I'll take a few days and just like sit on the couch and relax. But while I do, I'm gonna listen to this evergreen course while I'm doing this. Like, I still sometimes struggle with like, oh, but I want to feel productive. And it's hard to turn that off. Like it's it's something I'm actually working on actively in my own hypnotherapy sessions is being okay, resting, being okay slowing down, being like comfortable with that, this being a new normal for me. Because it's it's something that I struggle to really, yeah. I I feel like do good at like pouring into myself. I do good about being consistent with self-care routines and those types of things. I do my own regular therapy sessions, but I would say I just struggle with the slowing down. I struggle with just being okay slowing down.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yeah, I mean, I resonate with that a lot. And, you know, and even in those moments where we don't slow down and we're like, okay, no, I'm like, I'm okay. I I feel good, like this is fine. And but then I realize that there's been moments, at least for me, like there's moments where it builds up and then all of a sudden I hit this block and I'm like, well, I don't want to really show up to work right now.

unknown 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

And nothing really dramatic happened, but it's because of those little moments. And I I literally had this recently in my brain. I'm like, the reason why I'm feeling like this is because I'm always so go, go, go. And even though, like, I'm definitely someone who I don't really work on the weekends. Like if especially like in the winter, I might work more weekends just because there's we live in the Midwest. There's really not much to do other than like holiday season. But if it's like a rainy weekend, we don't have anything going on. Usually summers, we always have something going on. But I don't really go on like my business Instagram. Like I have a personal Instagram. I'm not really posting, I'm not really doing much. And to me, like that's a nice break. But I don't think it's I'm not intentionally taking time out of my daily routines ever during the week, you know, and I'm always adding stuff during the week. So then I'm really just like, you know, there's moments where I just get to the weekend and I'm exhausted. And yes, I'm taking a break, but it's necessary versus like there are moments where you should be taking a break or resting just because that also is productive. Yeah. And what you mentioned about like you want to be productive, like I'm also in that boat of like rest is actually productive.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

And I was working with like a fitness coach this year. And one of my goals, one of my wins, one of the weeks was like I rested. I didn't work out seven days a week. I didn't go for a run seven days a week. My body was like saying, Hey, slow down. And now I'm intentionally adding in a day where I don't work out.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And even like my VA, she's my VA and my social media manager both. But the week I was sick, I had told her, like, you know what, though, this is gonna be so good for me because anytime I slow down and I rest, it seems like that's when these big downloads come to me. So this will be really good for me. Like I guarantee there's gonna be some kind of a personal ROI that comes out of being sick. Like it'll be good. And she even challenged me and she was like, but why does there need to be any ROI from resting, Stephanie? Like, why does resting, why does that need to be productive for you? Like it doesn't need to be. You can simply rest because rest is good for the body and the mind. And I'm like, yeah, but there will be an ROI. Like I'm, you know, and it's too it's so ingrained in us, you know, and it's hard to turn that off. It's such a I think any high achieving women listening to this can relate to that because I think we all probably struggle with that. It's hard to turn that off. That programming.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah, it totally, yeah. I definitely struggle with that on a daily basis for sure. But I mean, also like I think, yeah, like we're both working towards that and understanding that. And I think it's also important to take it from your real life too, of examples and having that awareness. Like I had that awareness around like, why am I feeling this way? Oh, because I don't actually take a vacation or I don't like take time off outside of then the time that I can't work because I'm with my daughter. Yep. Same. So for a lot of women too, and so like talking about burnout and stress and productivity, like there's a moment where we come like there's like this gap about, you know, I don't want to live life like this anymore. Yeah. Right? I want to change it, and then finding the courage to actually leave that life. Have you ever experienced that? And how did you navigate that?

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah, like taking that big leap or pivoting. Yeah, so to speak. I mean, for me, it was there was this big pivot when I finally got licensed as an independent social worker, which meant I could practice as a therapist. I could have stayed with my school social worker job. I mean, I had it made, I had great benefits, I had my summers off, the pay was great. I mean, I feel like I had the ideal situation. That was also like in grad school, my career goal was I wanted to be a school social worker because I knew I wanted my summers off. And I just thought like when we start a family, that would be the ideal job to have. But then once I got my independent license, I mean, I was so that was year four in my school social worker job, and I just was so burnt out and just over the education arena, and it just wasn't feeling aligned for me anymore. I mean, I just knew I needed a change, but I went back to like, yeah, but you aren't supposed to start your private practice till the end of your career, so that's not an option. But I don't know, I sat with it more and more and was like, well, that's the rule that I myself made, so I can break my own rules, you know. So I talked to my husband one night and was like, Do you he had a really good gig going? He was carrying our insurance, making six figures. I literally was like, Are you cool if I quit my job and like go all in on starting a private practice, knowing that I might not make money for six months to a year? And he was like, Yeah, I can swing it. We'll be fine for a year. You know, it was just the two of us at that point in time. So yeah, I took that leap and was like, I'm gonna go all in on this. And I wanna call myself a therapist, I want to call myself a business owner, like I want to wear all these hats and I want to go all in on these titles, you know. And so I did, and it was scary. I I had this vision of like, I'm in this really small rural town. Like the town I live in is I don't even know what our population is now. It's not very much. Maybe a couple thousand. It's a super small town. And so there's definitely a need for more private practices in our area. But what I felt there was a need for even more than that was like we deserve and need like a wellness facility, like kind of like a mall where you just go and you can do acupuncture and you can do red light therapy, and you can do IV therapy, and you can do hypno or not hypnotherapy at that time, but mental health therapy and all the things. And I was like, how cool would it be if we had like one of those here in our county? So that was initially what I thought I wanted to build was like this wellness facility. And in my mind, it was like crystal clear. I could picture like what it would look like when you walked in the front doors and all these vivid details. And in my last couple of months at the school, I ran into a nurse practitioner in our area who also had that same vision of bringing that to our county. And so yeah, I paired up with her, and that's initially where I put all my eggs in that basket of like, well, I'm gonna start my LLC. That's gonna be my private practice, but I wanted to be housed in this wellness facility. And so yeah, just kind of like ran with that and went all in on that and just completely pivoted professionally, and it was scary AF, but it also was like the one of the biggest personal development opportunities I think I've ever experienced was like going all in on that new identity. Because I thought I was gonna be a school social worker for like a big part of my career, but that pivot, even though it was very scary, was yeah, really good for my girls' journey. And I mean, I only stayed in that location for six months. I ended up leaving and then truly going out on my own and not being under anyone else's like title. And that was like scary on a different level. At least I felt like I had that protection at the wellness facility of like, okay, if this doesn't work out for me, it's fine because I'm technically housed under this facility. But then going out fully on my own from there, where I didn't have anybody protecting me, and it was truly like my ass. On the line, if things didn't work out, it was just an even bigger confidence boost for me. And it was then that I was like, I'm gonna really own this title as CEO and therapist, and like I'm gonna really run with this. And I went all in and business like exponentially grew at that point. I mean, I had a quantum leap and everything changed, but like in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, that's that's awesome. Like when you have that fear to pivot or you have that fear to make the leap, but it's like the fear isn't that big because you know just in your bones, it's gonna be so good and big. Like I've definitely had a couple moments like that where I'm like, I don't know what I'm building, but I know it's going to be good. And the first time I felt that way, as someone who loves analytics and numbers and spreadsheets and KPIs, like that just seemed so not counterintuitive because I was definitely intuitive to that feeling, but it just seemed so not like me. And I was actually really frustrated for a really long time because I couldn't comprehend what was happening. And for me, I'm like, well, how do I repeat this? And I want to make sense of it. And what I was experiencing, I think, for the first time ever in my business was alignment and how it just seems like you get into those modes of no matter what you do, it works because it just feels good. And yeah, yeah, old me, old me would be like, what are you even talking about? Like that sounds like so fluffy and so unreal. But that's when you know that the leap or the pivot's gonna be good, even though it is scary. Yeah, I completely agree. All right. So you work in like, so with therapy, right? That is a lot of psychology, and that is a lot of like science and backing of you know, school and all the things. But where you, and you mentioned this already in this episode, is you meet where there's psychology and spirituality. Did those two worlds, did they always seem very compatible to you? Or was there a way you had to think about bringing them together somehow in your own unique way?

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Well, I like that question. I mean, I feel like when I started my private practice, I very much wanted to be seen as this like very, I don't want to say like unique, but like this elite therapist, like things have to be clinical and treatment plans and insurance credentialing and you know, doing everything like by the book. And it really, it when I officially went out on my own, you know, I've always been a really spiritual person. I mean, that's just like who I am at my core. But I felt like there was no room for that in the clinical private practice world. But I don't know, like I had that quantum leap, and then it was like there was a part of me that I feel like I just kind of like found myself. Like, I feel like the word authenticity is thrown around a lot these days, but I felt like I could finally start showing up as my authentic self and I wasn't hiding anymore, and I wasn't trying to be someone I wasn't. It was like finding the CEO title and really like going all in on calling myself an entrepreneur, which is a title like I never thought I would wear. Although looking back at my life, it's like, oh, but the breadcrumbs were there, Stephanie. So I don't know why I didn't think that. But like I never took a business course or anything. Like I didn't definitely did not think I'd ever be like a business owner, but the breadcrumbs were there, so whatever. But it was like once I took those identities and ran with them, it was like I found myself. And there was a part of me that was like, even though spirituality is maybe not as accepted in the clinical space, this is who you are. And if you are truly showing up as your authentic self, both on social media and behind closed doors, then you gotta own like that. People have to see that side of you, both in the therapy room and not. So it was going into 2026 when I like I'm not saying I came up with this, but I started telling myself and everyone in my circle, like, I'm coming out of the spiritual closet in 2026. So I'm now an intuitive therapist because I had known for like since about 2024, I had known that I have the ability to channel, but I don't advertise it. I don't like call myself a medium or anything like that. But I definitely have that ability. And on top of that, I'm just like deeply intuitive. So I just decided like this needs to be a part of my business. Like, I am not just a mental health therapist, I'm an intuitive therapist. Like, there will be things that come up during a session that I'm like, I'm supposed to tell you this, and I don't know why. Like, this is what feels aligned for you right now, and you need to know this. And so people are getting more than just therapy, and so it was time to like really start calling myself that and owning that and bringing spirituality into the clinical world. And even though it's not like widely accepted, it really falls in line with me as a hypnotherapist, though. I mean, bringing the spirituality into my hypnotherapy sessions, it's something I'm really honing in on more and more. I actually just reached out to a spiritual hypnotherapist to like have as a mentor, and so I'm getting mentoring on the side now to just hone in on this more and feel more confident in blending the two. But it's just who I am, and you can't turn that part of yourself off when this is who you know you are at your core. And so, again, if I'm trying to show up as my authentic self, both behind the computer screen on social media and everywhere. Like, I don't want to be one version of Stephanie in the therapy room, one version of Stephanie on Instagram, and one version of myself on my podcast. Like, I want to be my true authentic self in all of those spaces and all of those rooms. And so that meant like really learning how to blend spirituality into my practice and not just like making it a part of my practice, but making being transparent about like this is who I am. I'm a channeler, I'm an intuitive, I'm a therapist, I'm a hypnotherapist, all the things, you know, it can all come together and blend.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Yeah, I have a friend who I don't, I mean, yoga has always existed, but I feel like when we were kind of getting into yoga more, I'm trying to think of the year. My friend is a deeply religious person. And I grew up Catholic. I grew up very religious, and I went to church almost every Sunday until my mom passed away when I was 21. And yes, I know I could have continued to go to church, but I just really haven't. And I still feel I'm a religious person. You know, if I ever were to go back, it's it's, you know, probably the Catholic faith I would go back to. But for me, I never really like when I practiced yoga, I never really saw those as being competing ideologies. I know that now. And I think something happened during a yoga class where, like, I don't know, for me, yoga was just like working out, like and like saying random stuff. But when I started to go more regularly, I kind of started to realize what that was. And so I have a friend who really is deeply religious in the Catholic faith, and in some of the practices, and just depending on the teacher you go to, that is competing faiths. And we had a conversation around this. This was a long time ago, so don't really remember it, but she like incorporated for herself of like there's themes that are the same. And that is like honoring yourself, like taking care of yourself, or you know, there's just certain things that she took from that. It's like she never thinks about like it's not a bad thing to go to yoga. It's like you're not worshiping anyone else, like you're just there's different meanings to different things. And so I like how you kind of, you know, those things can be polar opposites between intuitive and clinical. And I think that's what we're kind of seeing in the world now is that we have a lot of Western medicine, we have a lot of like functional medicine, eastern medicine, and yeah, we're seeing people kind of come in the middle now. It's not one way or another, it's both. And yeah, I like how you kind of married those two. Yeah, yeah. It felt aligned. Yeah. When you have a business that you are always giving, right? You're helping people, you give, give, give. We've already kind of touched on that. And I know I struggle with this, that you are uncomfortable with receiving. And I I struggle with this. I'm curious if you struggle with that. And how did that feel around then building a business and like receiving payment and money and wanting to scale your business as well?

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Yeah, I mean, I did a lot of work early on around my money mindset and to be more open to receiving. I mean, specifically when I broke my neck back in 2016, it was like I had to be okay receiving help. So when I think of receiving, I think, oh, there's many ways you can receive. But in general, the art of receiving, you have to be open to it in any form to be able to even receive money. So I had to be okay with receiving help because to leave the hospital after breaking my neck, they would only release me if I could promise that somebody was gonna be there because I couldn't walk by myself. Like I couldn't, there was a lot of things I had to like relearn, like walking and going to the bathroom, I couldn't do by myself. And just like everyday tasks, like I had to guarantee somebody was gonna be there. And so I had to be okay receiving help for like nine months after that. And I think that made it just the act of receiving support and help through that journey. I think that's where all of the started. And then I got really big. That was the same time as going back to grad school, but I got really big into professional development during that time. Like I was always reading some kind of a self-help book. That's when I then got into more of the money mindset work and like being open to receiving financially and just always being a social worker. You know, you are always putting other people first, but between breaking my neck and my like gut health issues, I very much realized like I have to be able to receive help mentally for my own healing journey to be able to pour into other people. So I feel like that was just something that I was always working on behind the scenes. But in a big way, the money piece of it became huge once I officially started my private practice. It was like, okay, if I want to truly be able to make this a six-figure business, which that was my goal day one, like I need to be a clear channel for receiving. I need to make sure that I'm not blocking receiving of any kind. It was the first year of the podcast, I brought a gal on my podcast who talked about like how receiving is much more of a like feminine action, feminine art and how women in general really struggle with that. We struggle receiving compliments, we struggle receiving help, we struggle like all across the board, money, financially, things like that. And we tend to like deflect things instead of actually being an open channel to receiving them. So once I learned about that, I really started to be more intentional. Like now, whenever someone compliments me, I say, thank you. I received that, which is so weird because nobody says that, but I do now. And my friends will like laugh at me, like, yeah, we know what you're doing. And I'm like, Good. Good, it helps me. Yeah. I just need to say it so you know I'm not deflecting it. If you don't say anything, you're coming off like you're like rude, like I don't know, it comes off cocky, I feel like. So you have to say something, you know. But yeah, it's just something I feel I've been working on is just receiving more in all ways. It's not as easy as one would think because we are taught socially and societally, we are taught to not accept, to deflect, to, you know, I mean, I was raised by a very independent single mom. And so I'm a very independent woman. Like, I don't need the help. Like, I struggle to receive the help from my husband when it comes to household chores. Like we just we struggle with that. And so, yeah, it's just something I feel like I've consistently been working on, and I'm still working on it in my own therapy journey, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

How do you think entrepreneurship has healed your relationship with yourself? You mentioned like personal development a little bit, and it's fascinating because a lot of the work you do and have previously done even before your business, like obviously, a lot of those wounds that people realize they have when they start a business, a lot of them are not in the therapy industry or mental health industry. So, are there any other parts of you that were healed or that you noticed about yourself, maybe some old wounds that entrepreneurship specifically brought up for you?

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Yeah. I mean, I thought going into this that I was a really confident person, but it really like opened up this part of me that was still afraid of being seen and afraid of being heard. And oh, my left ear just started ringing. I don't know what that means, but I'm sure there was a message there that was loud. Yeah, so my healing journey that cracked open in many ways. Like I was in a really good place. I mean, when I met my husband, I was at my peak as far as my confidence goes. I had finally worked on me in therapy. I'd finally focused on my own confidence, my own self-worth, and finally got to a place where I didn't need a man to complete me. Like it was more of an added bonus if I did find him. And so I didn't think I needed to work on that part of myself. But yeah, then I started the private practice, and it was like, I don't, I know I'm worthy. I don't, I'm not questioning that. And it was that first year at Powerhouse Women when Jamie Kern Lima, she was the keynote speaker that year. She came on stage and she talked about her book, Worthy. And it really made me question. I read it after the conference, and it really made me question like, do I own my worth? Like, am I doing this to prove myself? Oh, yeah, there is a part of me, yeah. You know, so then I had to be really honest with myself about like maybe you're not fully owning your worth, Stephanie. And so I did a lot of work that I thought I had previously done to because the thing is, if you're building a business on a cracked foundation, and I believe our foundation is strongest when you own yourself, your worth, and you know your worth, and you can truly own that, regardless of whether you're alone or surrounded by people, it's not ever being questioned, then that's a really solid foundation, and then your business can thrive on that foundation. But if that foundation is lacking or cracked or not solidified yet, that will really hurt your business. I mean, I don't truly believe you can have a thriving business if you are not fully owning your worth. I mean, confidence is one thing, but worth is not the same thing. Like self-worth is the foundation that confidence sits on top of. So, and I I learned that through my own journey, but I also was seeing a lot of other entrepreneurs, like as I was in the very beginning stages of building my private practice, I was seeing a lot of entrepreneurs and a couple of them with just some really deep wounds. It was like so apparent to me, like that's really hurting their business, which again, they were probably mirroring to me in some ways. But all of it comes down to the same thing. Like, if you have a really big part of yourself that's not yet healed or that you have not faced or come to terms with, it's going to get in the way of your business. It's gonna hurt you showing up in some way, shape, or form. It's gonna hurt you owning your prices. It's gonna, in some way, that wound, whether it be self-worth or grief or loss or whatever, it's gonna get in the way of your business thriving. I do, truly believe that. So if I had not faced that that first year, it would have come up for me at some point in time.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

You know?

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Do you feel like there's anything that does not need to be fully resolved in order to lead others?

SPEAKER_00 40:28

I think the visibility wound, like being comfortable being seen, being comfortable being heard, I think that's the big one. Because in today's world, marketing, you can do the old-fashioned marketing. You can put an ad in your local radio station, you can, you know, word of mouth is big, all of that's great. But in today's world, you have to show up on social media to market yourself. And if that scares you or intimidates you in any way, like that visibility wound needs to be addressed and needs to be faced head on, because I just think that is gonna get in your way. You know, historically, before social media really became a thing, you could, you know, put an ad in the paper or have an ad on the local radio station. I mean, like yellow pages back in the day, like all of that was fine, but your face could hide behind all of those things. But now your face has to be put out there and it's people have to hear from you, and that's how you push out your business in today's world. And if that scares you, if that gives you the ick, if that makes you uncomfortable, that wound has to be addressed. And addressing it, I think, is the best thing you can do because you're likely there's likely some old pattern, old narrative from probably when you were under seven years old that you're running from that needs to be rewritten.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

So yes, I think yeah, there's a lot to unpack there too. I feel like the visibility wound itself could be its own episode. Like there's years and years of client calls and client history that yeah, that like I can just dive into. Oh, yeah. Okay, so I have a few more questions for you, almost like rapid fire questions that I would love for you to answer as we wrap up here. Love it. What are you proud of that has nothing to do with your business?

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Oh, I would say, I mean, I would say my family, my husband and my child, I'm just I'm so proud of becoming a mom and how that all manifested and came to fruition. And I'm really proud of my marriage because it was just us for seven years prior to becoming parents. And I just like really cherished that relationship, and he's one of my best friends. And as a child of divorce, I really wanted a marriage that would not ever turn into my parents' marriage that they had. And I'm proud to say I did not continue that for my generation, anyways. I I found somebody that I feel like we both we both will fight for this, and we both don't take each other for granted. And I mean, he almost lost me, and I think that helps. So, but yeah, we just we put the work in and we do what we have to to make sure we make this marriage work. And he's now an entrepreneur too, and so it that helps too. But yeah, I'm just really proud of the marriage that I have, and I'm really proud of the family that we have now. I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

I don't know if I want to ask you another question that was like so beautiful. Like I wasn't expecting that question, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

So it was totally off the top.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Well, I do I do have one final question. And so this is for the woman who's listening who no longer is living the life that fits and is afraid to make a change and maybe a really drastic change at that, what would you want to leave her with?

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Take the leap. I mean, it's scary AF, but the ROI that comes from it is so totally worth it. So just take the leap, but you have to carry the faith through that leap. I mean, if you don't have that belief in a higher power, that belief that this is there's a bigger picture here that we're not seeing, like take the leap and just believe that this is gonna work out for you, that this is meant for you, that this desire wouldn't be on my heart if it wasn't meant for me, and carry that faith through that entire leap. And I'm telling you, if it's something that is so heavy on your heart, then the leap will be completely worth it because there's a version of you that who's already doing what it is you're desiring. So if that is heavy on your heart, then she already exists out there somewhere, which means it's aligned, it's so aligned and you're meant to do it. And so carry that faith through, but take the leap. I love that. Thank you. Yeah, that was so awesome.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

Let us know how we can connect with you.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Yeah, ideally through DMs on Instagram, or you can email me, hello at stephaniedingbomb.com. But I do check DMs pretty regularly, so just DM me through Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

And these will be, of course, in the show notes on how to connect with Stephanie. And Stephanie will be back with us later this week with a business tracer episode. Well, she'll take us on a deep dive of a topic of her choice. Thank you so much, Stephanie. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it, Lauren. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Business Over Cocktails, where real stories and bold business moves come to life. If this episode lit something up in you, share it with a friend, tag me at Lauren Najar or the podcast page at Business Over Cocktails. Make sure to leave a quick review as well. It helps more than you know. Until next time, keep chasing what matters and building the business that feels like you. Cheers.