The Golden Key to a Soul Aligned Business w/ Stefanie Dingbaum

The way you build your business matters just as much as the business you build. 

After surviving a life changing accident that broke her neck, Stefanie Dingbaum promised herself she would never ignore the warning signs of burnout again. But after changing careers and finding herself right back where she started, she realized the answer wasn't another job. It was building a business that aligned with who she truly was. 

In this episode, Stefanie shares how surviving a near-death experience reshaped the way she views work, why self-worth is the foundation of every successful business, and how creating a soul-aligned business has transformed the way she makes decisions, serves clients, and protects her well-being. You'll discover why self-worth is the true foundation of a sustainable business, how making soul-aligned decisions can help prevent burnout, and why building your business with intention may be the golden key to creating work you genuinely love. 

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:

00:25 The accident that changed everything

01:25 Breaking her neck and surviving

03:25 Burnout in behavioral health

05:25 The spiritual awakening that followed

06:25 Why changing careers wasn't enough

08:25 Leaving a secure career behind

09:25 What a soul aligned business looks like 

11:25 Making business decisions differently

12:25 Self worth as your business foundation

13:25 Creating a business you love

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Business Chaser, your quick pour of strategy, clarity, and momentum. We skip the small talk and get straight to the strategy here in these bite-sized episodes. We're here to help you grow smarter, market better, and chase what matters all in 15 minutes or less. I'm your host, Lauren Najar. Tune in and let's chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Okay, I'm Stephanie Dingbaum. I am an intuitive therapist, hypnotherapist, podcast host of the Next Level U podcast, and the owner of Stephanie Dingbaum Clarity Coaching, where I primarily coach female entrepreneurs who have worked in some kind of a healthcare arena and are burnt out and starting something new, starting a new endeavor, whether it be a podcast or a business. And we do some deep level of coaching and hypnotherapy to ultimately support you in building a soul aligned business. And I'm here today to talk to you about building that soul aligned business and doing it from a place that will not get you burnt out. So it was 2016. So almost, almost 10 years to the day as we're recording this. I broke my neck on July 24th, 2016. And it was one of the scariest experiences of my life. I was part of a local waterskiing team where we put on shows throughout the summer, water ski shows. And it was my second year on the team. So I wasn't seasoned by any means, but it was my second summer with them. And I was asked early on in the summer if I would be a part of the opening act of the water ski show. And what that meant was I was going to be at the top of a pyramid. And as soon as the pyramid got in front of the crowd, I was going to be jumping off. And if you're familiar with water skiing, it's specifically the barefoot pyramid that I'm on top of. And so there's skiers under me, but they're barefoot skiing. So the boat has to get up to, I believe, 35 miles per hour for these skiers to jump out of their skis and ski barefoot on top of the water with me on top. And this particular show, we were coming around the bend to where the audience was sitting. And right before we got in front of the audience, one of the skiers under me lost his footing, which sent him down. And naturally, because I didn't have my base, it sent me down as well. And the impact of me hitting the water snapped my neck back and broke my neck. And it was a scary situation. I don't remember any of it. I mean, they say I was talking, but I don't remember any of it. I was told that I was floating lifeless on the water, that a rescue boat had to come and rescue me. They called 911, they put me on a stretcher, took me to the local hospital. And it was then that they found out that I had to be airlifted to a larger hospital because there was a chance of paralysis or death. And so I was immediately airlifted to a local university hospital where we did further MRIs and CAT scans to determine what exactly was broken in my neck. And it came to find out that I had broken my C2 vertebrae, which is the vertebrae directly above or directly below the brainstem. And so this near-death experience happened at a time professionally where I was extremely burnt out. I was working for a community nonprofit doing in-home behavioral health counseling and in-home crisis counseling. And being on call like that and supporting a population with high needs was very taxing on me. And I was still, I mean, I was only out of college for five years at this point in time. So still pretty green, still kind of learning the ins and the outs of the big girl, you know, real world and having a big girl job and all the things. But I wasn't taking care of myself. I wasn't prioritizing my self-care. I literally had a conversation with my best friend a couple weeks before breaking my neck. And I remember telling her, like, I was so burnt out that I told her, yeah, you know, and we were joking. We were totally joking. But I remember saying, like, I would just love to have like a minor accident. Like, I don't, nothing that's gonna like land me in the hospital or anything, but just like a minor accident that like requires me to be home for a couple of weeks recovering. Like something where I'm literally forced to not have to work for a couple of weeks. And then two weeks later, or approximately two weeks later, I broke my neck. So, you know, be careful what you consistently wish for. But the breaking of the neck was this wake-up call that I didn't know that I needed. And it not only cracked me open in ways spiritually that I didn't know I needed, I mean, spiritually after that, seeing all of the miracles that came out of it, all of the synchronicities that came out of it. I mean, I I was able to walk out of the hospital less than 24 hours after being airlifted there, walking on my own two feet, not well, mind you, but walking nonetheless. And even that within itself was such a miracle. I mean, I I could have died and I should have been paralyzed. And, you know, for some reason or another, I was given this second chance and I wasn't taking that lightly. And months later, looking back at that, it just made me realize like this is a deeply spiritual world, and we're just physical beings on this spiritual world. But I never wanted to end up in that place of burnout again. And so I really poured into this spiritual side of myself. I ended up deciding to go back to grad school because I was so burnt out, and I just knew that if I wanted to further myself professionally in any way, shape, or form, that I needed to have a higher degree. So I went back to grad school and I eventually decided I really wanted to be in the school district because I didn't want to experience burnout again. So I knew I needed a job where I wasn't working two to three months out of the year. So the school arena to me felt ideal. So I went all in on that and it didn't take long, about two years, and I was back in that state of burnout again, back in a place where I was like, gosh, if something minor could just happen, you know, how great would that be to have that break? The summer breaks were great, and it was definitely what I went into it wanting, but it still was not enough. And not only that, but because I had grown so much spiritually, I was still feeling like there was just this disconnect. Like I just still wasn't fully being fed and fulfilled at the level that I needed. And noticing those signs of burnout again and those same thoughts that I had had not that long before that, I had really started to question myself, like Stephanie, you told yourself you would never experience burnout again, that you would never let that happen to yourself again. I mean, I thought, I thought I was doing all the right things. I mean, I was doing regular acupuncture. I was doing consistent therapy sessions for myself. I mean, I was twice a month, I was taking off early to just for my own self-care. And it was still not enough. I still ended up feeling burnout. And so it was in well, during COVID. Yeah, it was during the COVID time when we were school was still in session, but we were all virtual, that I had finally decided. I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I knew I needed to again further myself so that I didn't have to stay at the school. So I decided I was gonna get licensed. I was gonna get my independent license so I could potentially do therapy. I didn't know where, I didn't know what it was gonna look like exactly, but I just knew like I needed to work towards getting my license. So for a year I studied for my license and in it was 2023 that I decided like I'm gonna apply for this licensure exam. And I felt ready and I took that in early 2024 and kind of on a whim, I had a conversation with my husband about like, I'm gonna start a private practice. This feels right. This feels like that next step for me. I can't go back for another year at the school. I'm not happy. This isn't where I'm meant to be. I love working with the kids, but I'm burnt out and I don't think I'm gonna be able to fix that, staying in that environment. And so I left. And again, I left telling myself, wherever I go, whatever I do, whether I build a business, whatever it is, I cannot and I will not experience burnout again. I refuse to do that. And when I officially made the decision that I was gonna start my own private practice, I told myself, I'm not gonna financially invest in this. I'm not gonna put all my energy into starting this. If there's even a slight chance that I'm gonna burn out again, I will not do that to myself, not with my own business. And so building this business looks different than what I think the average entrepreneur looks like, because I'm building it, making sure that everything is completely soul-aligned. Every aspect from how I market myself to what opportunities I say yes to, to what rooms I put myself in, every part of the business, from the podcast to the guests that I bring on, to the podcasts I go on, to the events that I attend, every part of my business, what modality I specialize in, all of it has to be soul aligned because I don't want to be burnt out. And I don't think that's gonna happen if I'm building a soul-aligned business. And on top of that, I'm preventing burnout by intentionally working in downtime where I can and learning and trying to be more comfortable with that because any corporate or traditional job, I have struggled with that, with taking time off, with vacations and still not working. And I've really struggled with that, which is why I think burnout was so easy for me. But I've really tried to be more intentional with that. And not just that, but I when I say I'm building a soul-aligned business, even the type of schedule that I carry, the days that I work, the hours that I work on these days, I try to make sure that is in line with my soul's mission. So I've really dug into human design. I've really dug into astrology more. I've really dug into like, what is truly meant for my soul in this lifetime? And making decisions from that stance has been literally the best thing I've ever done for myself. I really feel like I lean into every decision I make and I ask myself, like, is this meant for me in this lifetime? Does this feel soul aligned? And it's the best thing I could have ever done is really leaning into that soul piece of the business. Because I don't think, you know, you can have all the strategies, you can have the community, but if that soul piece is missing, I don't think you're building from a sturdy foundation. You know, I talk about how self-worth is such a big piece of your business's foundation. And I will preach on that till the cows come home. I think that is so important. Having that sturdy self-worth is huge. And building with that soul in mind, I think those two things combined can make for a really beautiful business that ideally you can't burn out from, especially if you're being intentional about incorporating rest, especially if you're being intentional about time off, especially if you're being intentional about self-care practices and rituals and whatever that looks like for you. I mean, the cool thing about building your own business is the intentionality behind it. And I am so intentional about making time for my family, making time for self-care, being intentional about what my morning and evening rituals look like, and all of those things brought together really make this a fun journey. And it makes it beautiful to be able to say, like, I'm truly building something soul-aligned. And I don't have the Sunday scaries anymore, and I don't dread going to work in the morning, and I actually struggle to be off because every aspect of my business I genuinely love. The parts of it that I don't love, I've delegated so that I can just focus on the parts that I love. And it's cool to be able to say, like, there's not a part of this that I don't genuinely look forward to. Because not everybody can say that. But I again, like, I could have died 10 years ago, and I just think life is too short to pour into something that isn't truly soul-aligned and isn't truly bringing you genuine joy and fulfillment. And if you've done that deep level of healing and you've gotten to a place where you can truly own your self-worth and then really lean into the soul of what you're meant to do in this lifetime, then you have got like the golden key to a beautiful soul aligned business. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

That's your quick hit of clarity and momentum for the week. If it sparks something, share it with a friend or tag us in your stories at Business Over Cocktails and or at Lauren Najar. We love seeing what resonates. Don't forget, Mondays are for full-length episodes with rich conversations, and Fridays are the Business Chaser episodes. These are bite sized insights pulled from our guests to keep you inspired and aligned throughout the week. Do you have a question or takeaway? DM us at Business Over Cocktails. We just might feature it in a future episode. Cheers.