Business Coaching for Creative Entrepreneurs with Diana Davis
Hello, Martinis and Your Money Listeners! We have thousands of clients at Financial Gym with numerous life goals they want to accomplish and our number one employer represented at the Gym is self-employed and a common life goal for many clients is the desire to start their own business. So not only do we work with a number of current business owners, but we also work with a number of budding business owners so I thought I would take the month of October to talk about business ownership, highlight some client journeys and share the best tips and practices we’ve learned over the last eight years of working with current and future business owners. Joining me today is Diana Davis, a long-time Financial Gym client and founder of Diana Davis Creative. Diana joins me today to share her story of unemployment to a six-figure business career and now business coach. She shares a number of lessons she’s learned along the way and how she helps others build the businesses they dreamed of.
What are we drinking?
Paula – Matcha Tea
Shannon – Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Diana is a Financial Gym client and founder of Diana Davis Creative. She is formerly a photographer and graphic designer and is now a business coach for creative entrepreneurs, while being an entrepreneur herself.
She is from Colorado and moved to Montana for school. Without a plan or employment in place, she moved to New York and through her networking efforts landed a job at Time Inc., and later Hearst Publishing.
Her position was eliminated at Hearst (a move she was thankful for). This is when she first considered entrepreneurship, along with joining the Financial Gym and The Six Degrees Society (a networking group), both of which she is still involved with.
She considers herself a “manifesting generator”, she needs to wait until she feels good or right about an opportunity or idea, and then goes after it.
She feels when it comes to being an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep an open mind to what opportunities can flow to you when you’re not too stuck in a vision of what things should look like.
She started expanding the content of her Instagram profile from photography and graphic design tips and tricks to more of an entrepreneurial and freelance/side hustle tilt.
In the beginning of the pandemic, the photography gigs had slowed down; Diana had consulted with a business coach at this point. This dynamic had opened her eyes to the many opportunities she had at her disposal and hadn’t capitalized on yet. She eventually phased out the graphic design and photography portions of her offering and now focuses on business coaching.
Diana feels that everyone can benefit from coaching. “Even NBA players have coaches.”
She is trying to debunk the concept of “starving artist”. Diana feels you can follow your passion and not necessarily lock yourself into a traditional career path in order to achieve success.
She started her coaching one on one. “Camp Clarity”, a group coaching course Diana offers has evolved from this. “Ascend” is a more focused version of coaching for those already thriving.
Both Shannon and Diana agree that networking is an important aspect of entrepreneurship and growing a business. They equate the process to growing a garden… planting the seeds today for fruit that can present itself down the road and provide you with a contact/resource/opportunity that may have not been available otherwise.
Diana feels it’s important to implement boundaries to keep the hustle from taking over your life. While you need to be open to all the opportunities and potential, you need to give yourself the time you need as well.
She doesn’t think entrepreneurship is for everyone, it’s ok being happy with your corporate job and there are essential careers out there that do not necessarily lend themselves to entrepreneurship.
One of Diana’s biggest pieces of advice is to “show up”, authentically and being vulnerable. Be that person that can be related to. Commit to your personal development and remain connected to your “why” of starting the business originally.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is that taking leaps and taking chances is a big part of being a business owner and sometimes the biggest leap you need to take is the one to start the journey. If you are consumed with a passion for creating something of your own, that passion has a way of leading you to the finances you need to be successful.
Random Three Questions
1. What is your best form of self-care?
2. What is something you have binged during the pandemic?
3. Where is the next big trip you want to go on?
Connect with Diana
Instagram: @dianadaviscreative
Website: www.dianadaviscreative.com
If you have any topics you would like for me to cover on this podcast, I encourage you to email me to shannon@fingyms.com or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group and let me know what you want to hear.
If you’re thinking about starting a business or leveling up your current business, I highly recommend Financial Gym’s Business Owner courses that you can find on our website. If you’d like some accountability to help you achieve this goal faster than you imagined or you need a financial coach for your business, then you should head to financialgym.com and start working with one of our trainers today. And remember that Martinis and Your Money listeners get 15% off of your Financial Gym membership. We’d love to help you accomplish your dream of building a business you love sooner than later.