Resilience is the ability to let the challenges and negativity of others bounce off of you and keep going.
Dana Pharant is a no-nonsense consultant who helps driven entrepreneurs double their profits while reducing their work hours. Having built a 7-figure business, been a dominatrix, published 5 books, and won multiple awards, she can help you to pinpoint the things that are in your way to reaching your goals.
The million-dollar letdown happens to far too many entrepreneurs who can’t let go of the things that keep them busy or not profitable. It also happens when they are out of alignment with their targets.
The bigger you get in your business the less likely you are to have people to tell you the truth. Tough love that creates results is what Dana’s clients love about her. She sees things that most miss and takes the holistic perspective with you and your business to bring about sustainable changes and lasting growth that starts from the inside.
Let’s learn a little about you and really get to experience what makes us tick – starting at our beginnings. Where did your story begin?
Dana Pharant: Having grown up in a cult, I discovered early on my talent for being able to read people. The disconnect between what they said and what they meant was as clear as a neon sign. As I worked to untangle from that early programming, I discovered the world of neuroscience, psychology, and of course energy. These formed not only the foundations of my healing but also the key aspects of my work with clients now.
Along my journey to healing, I discovered the world of Kink (BDSM) and used the experiences there to re-enact abuse that I had been through while also scripting a different ending that allowed me to reclaim my personal power. This experience drew me to become a dominatrix, and although I am no longer in that world I still draw on the mindset and embodiment for business.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Dana Pharant: Sitting by the fire one August evening a friend of mine asked me a question that made me squirm in my seat as the realization hit me. “So, you are here again in your business. Not happy with the store, not happy with the income from the store. So what is it that you DO get from it?”
I wanted to scream “nothing”, but that is never the full picture so I sat for a moment and then quietly admitted that it was about status. Owning the store allowed me to feel like I was at the top of my field in my area. It was ugly, but that moment of realization made me put the store up for sale and move into the work I do now. The work is fully aligned with who I am and what my gifts are.
That week I put the store up for sale and had a buyer inside of 10 days! Confirmation for me that it was the aligned action since I have seen repeatedly in my life and with my clients that when we are moving in line with our true goals things fall into place with very little shoving.
What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make and what would you suggest they do?
Dana Pharant: When it comes to shifting from multiple 6 into 7 figures the biggest block shows up in the alignment.
The symptoms of misalignment are:
- running like the proverbial chicken
- having lots of income but little or no profits
- not enough qualified staff to delegate to
- not delegating
The secret is taking a break from the business and sitting with either a friend who will not allow you to ignore the truth of you and your business or to hire that person who can hold space for you to see what is going on at the core and get honest about what is actually in alignment.
This is not always easier, however, it is critical and will save you years of suffering and allow you to make far more profits in your business.
Resilience is critical in critical times like the ones we are going through now. How would you define resilience?
Dana Pharant: Resilience is the ability to let the challenges and negativity of others bounce off of you and keep going.
We are going to face obstacles in our life and business, some you will need to ignore and step around, and some you will need to dismantle. Knowing what action to take when is the wisdom of experience or reaching out for advice when you are not sure.
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When you think of your company, 5 years from now, what do you see?
Dana Pharant: The current vision is to create more specific programs to help CEOs and leaders to stand tall in the face of opposition. The more the world becomes divisive the more this is needed.
We also have plans for a “tough mudder” of personal development retreats. Taking people on deep transformation. Reclaiming radical honesty for themselves, their teams, and their relationships. Doing it with love and deep compassion.
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What do you consider are your strengths when dealing with staff workers, colleagues, senior management, and customers?
Dana Pharant: One of the best compliments from my staff was that I was her favorite boss she had ever had. She told me that she loved the fact that I focused on the final outcome of the role rather than the specifics of how she got there. This allowed her to be creative and show up in a way that was fun and of course, created more sales for the company.
Whenever a staff would make a mistake, I would take a deep breath and remember that I often mess up and yet we all keep going. That the important thing was to improve. Perfection was never going to be attainable but as long as everyone was keen on the company doing better and they were all working on personal improvement I could make space for the occasional misstep.
I see that this has served me well in finding great people who continue to speak well of me even after leaving to work elsewhere.
Being a CEO of the company, do you think that your personal brand reflects your company’s values?
Dana Pharant: In the beginning, it is just you – doing all the things and it is also all about your personal brand. Your values, your goals.
As you grow and take on staff if you have clarity on your brand including the things you stand for and the things you stand against they can help you to hire people who share those values. That is what I see as part of successful companies – hiring staff that share the core values while providing diversity in strengths. When you move out of running the business, your own brand and values are likely to remain with the company because that is the foundation on which it was built.
At one time CEOs of big companies were virtually unknown. Now they have become a type of celebrity, and their personalities and values are interwoven with the company image. I suspect our longing for connection has played a role in making companies into entities that we interact with and thus creating more customer loyalty in the process.
What’s your favorite leadership style and why?
Dana Pharant: Leadership for me starts by hiring people who are smarter and more trained in an area than myself, then my goal is to give them permission to take the lead.
My favorite question is “what idea did you have to solve this?” or “what did you have in mind?”
Allowing them to come up with the solutions and then rubber-stamping their genius and getting them what they need to do their job. This process creates massive buy-in to complete projects and removes me from being the problem solver (aka bottleneck).
What advice would you give to our younger readers that want to become entrepreneurs?
Dana Pharant: Running a business is not all that hard or complicated, it is not without effort, and almost every situation or challenge has a workaround. The key is staying in the mindset that allows you to remain calm and look for new ideas.
Take your time before you start and decide if what you want to dive into is worth the challenges you are going to face. If you are diving in simply because it seems like a quick way to make money – you are likely to be disappointed. However, when you think about the long term – do I want to be doing this in 5, 10, or 30 years – now you can plan for long-term sustainable success.
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What’s your favorite “life lesson” quote and how has it affected your life?
Dana Pharant: After many years of learning the hard way I came up with this saying:
“Sometimes you just need to Chuck it in the F*-it Bucket and Move on!”
This allows me to stop pouring more money and effort into things that are not worth it. The times when I have gone down a path invested however many thousands of dollars and it is clearly not going to be providing a good ROI, yet my stubborn nature wants to dig in…I remind myself of this, release the pitbull grip, and change gears.
This interview was originally published ValiantCEO.