Living Your Calling: Heather Parody on Creative Journeys

In this episode of the Happy Wealthy Show, host Neo Phalora interviews Heather Parady, a creative professional with a diverse background. Heather discusses her unconventional journey, which spans roles as a photographer, mental health professional, actress, comic, and podcast host. The conversation touches on her creative process, the importance of intuition, and the balance between discipline and creativity. Heather shares her philosophy on content creation, emphasizing conviction and authenticity over tactics and tools. She also talks about the significance of saying 'yes' to opportunities, trusting one's intuition, and the role of structure in creative work. Heather reveals her dreams of creating meaningful media, including producing feature films. The episode underscores the importance of living in the moment, embracing one's multifaceted nature, and continuously evolving as a creative. Heather offers consulting and coaching for individuals looking to articulate and share their messages effectively.

Transcript

Neal Neo Phalora: 0:36

Welcome to the Happy Wealthy Show. I'm your host, Neo phalora and today we have Heather parody. I've known Heather for a little clip. I knew her way back when she decided that people need to get together and have a Welcome to the Happy Wealthy Show. I'm your host, Neo Phalora and today we have Heather parody. I've known Heather for a little clip. I knew her way back when she decided that people need to get together and have a coffee chat. Now to say that Heather is unconventional would probably typify her, but let's just review a little bit of what Heather's multifaceted journey is. Is she a photographer? Is she a mental health professional? Is she an actress? Is she a comic? Is she somebody who is a champion for creative souls? Well, the answer to all of that would be absolutely yes. And in the story today that we're going to unravel, I've been fan, is it fan boying or fan girling? I'm not sure, but either one. I'm okay with over her journey. And could one email change your life? Possibly. If you have no experience in podcasting, then you might lean into that story of being on from that to being on the Glen Lundy show and co-hosting. That is a big leap. So there's a lot to unpack here and Heather's journey where she's gotten. Unbelievable guests on our podcast like Todd Herman, Seth Godin and Brendan Kane. So it's my absolute pleasure and you should tune in and listen to everything. This person, this creative soul, has to say. Heather parody, welcome to the show.

Heather Parody: 2:05

I'm so happy to be here. I always tell people that no matter where I go, I feel like you're always there. You're like one of the most well networked, in the workmen ever, and I'm just so happy to get to spend some time with you.

Neal Neo Phalora: 2:17

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I received that. Heather, one of the things that I. When I see you out doing your things. I think people know you as somebody who's gone viral and had those viral videos, right? Mm-hmm. And I remember when you went viral and you and I had a conversation about this, and the first thing they asked you was, what camera do you use? Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. And now why I'm leading into this is that. That is the point farthest from your approach to being a creative and how you do your process, and I think mm-hmm. That's the thing that the juice that you've laid in the hard work that you've leaned into, that most people are ignoring. Mm-hmm. That's the least that what I'd like to talk about first. Right. And so I know that was a really kind of almost asinine comment. What is your approach to being a creative person and the things that you do when you put videos out there?

Heather Parody: 3:14

My intention, it doesn't always go this way because I'm human and flawed and I have to check my ego a lot and get distracted by another bell and whistle and whatever, but. When I get still and quiet and reset my intention every single Sunday, which is what I do on my couch, is to get really, really honest with what is moving me right now. And paying really, really close attention to that. And I know that's like the most unsexy content marketing strategy ever. But my thesis as of late has been that we need to see more creators who are lit up. That to your point, we get so fixated on these tactics and strategies and tools, which are all cool. I like them too, but we think that's the meat and the potatoes of it, when really it's spirit and heart and this level of lit upness and I don't know another way to describe it. Then you know it when you see it. The conviction that someone has about whatever their topic, and we're just so drawn to that. So, you know, yes, there's the. Writing and the creativity and learning structure and storytelling and so forth. But I've really been trying to pay close, close attention to my ideation process when I go throughout my day, paying attention to when Neil said this and it moved me in some way. Why did it? And what was it about that? And just documenting it and getting more curious and whatever. I used to get so annoyed when people would say stuff like that. I'm like, oh my God, that is what, you know, that that doesn't make sense. It can't be that simple. But I've noticed over and over again, like, and I've put out a hell of a lot of content. You know this? Yes. That the stuff that is quote worked, and I don't mean necessarily from like a virality standpoint, but just resonating with my community and it was something I was proud of. Always came from a place of conviction.

Neal Neo Phalora: 5:00

That's a really good answer. And. I'd like to draw a distinction or help us draw a distinction between, I think most of us have an understanding that like when we felt in flow or we felt aligned or we had a pure intention and we put that out into the universe where it's on social media or poems or whatever you're doing, or filmmaking, it tends to resonate. Mm-hmm. But I think where people have trouble is like. Okay, well, I want to be in that place. But then they have the other experience where they're like, they worked really hard on a piece of content and it fell flat. They thought that they were doing everything right. Yeah. Yeah. And they're like, oh, this is so good. And I'm separating the lines and I'm curating the cuts in the video and all that. And then. Nothing.

Heather Parody: 5:45

Yeah. So I think it's helpful for me to not look at single pieces of content or single episodes, but look at your body of work that you're creating and look at it as a whole book with a bunch of chapters and pages in it. And I think there is something to be said that if you're looking at a body of work and you're starting to see data and signs that something is not working. There's a difference between the structure and presentation of something and the heartbeat of something, right? So you can have your message and your intention of what you wanna share. And that's unshakeable, right? Like that's the thing, but learning and structure and crafting a story and just kind of the delivery method, that's something different. And what I meant by earlier, not paying attention to tactics and all that, it's not that those don't come into play, those are second. And we make those first. We do need the strategy and understanding of story and how things are framed to be able to communicate with people. But again, that's the secondary piece. So if you're working really hard on one thing, a lot of times people stop at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Me and maybe I'm just, uh, you know, it takes me a while to learn stuff. It's taken me hundreds, thousands of pieces, thousands of pieces of content to kind of find my flow, and I'm still refining it. I mean, every morning I sit with my cup of coffee and I write and I look at scripts and what's worked and what hasn't, and how I can frame something a little bit different and so forth.

Neal Neo Phalora: 7:09

I think. It's discipline at the end of the day, even correct creatives need discipline. And I think that's a place where I got hung up because I do like drums and guitar and designing the set behind my podcast studio and writing scripts. And I think that we're all here to be multifaceted. I hear the discipline and what you're doing. I think the other thing that would be really helpful for people to hear about you is like, I think a lot of why we're here on earth is to be multifaceted, but in the marketplace, it's all about niche, niche now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What's your offer? What's your thing? The one thing, what do people know you for, right? Mm-hmm. And here you are, you've been in a movie, right? You get up on stage and it's like, Hey, I'm gonna try my hand at comedy with, and you're doing multiple things. One of the things that floored me when we got to hang out at a podcast venue together is like the way that you make money is even something that you don't even talk about a lot. This fractional position that you are in many businesses, it's like not anything that you advertise, but somehow it's also a major part of who you are. And so being a creative myself, I have poetry that comes through me. I've written children's stories, right? I don't want to be known for one thing. I think most of us feel that way. I don't wanna be pigeonholed, but how do we create a brand online but also be multifaceted, multipotential?

Heather Parody: 8:26

Yeah, that's a fantastic question. Something I'm constantly trying to figure out. If you don't mind, let me put a hold there on that and go back to something you said a minute ago, please. You said even creatives need structure. This is one of our biggest hangups is this war between feminine masculine energy of I don't need structure, I'm a creative, yada, yada. And I had this, I don't wanna say vision because it wasn't necessarily tangible like that, but there's this picture in my mind the other day when I was thinking about structure and I saw like a performer on a physical stage. And I just heard structure is the stage in which amplifies your voice.

Neal Neo Phalora: 9:06

Say it again.

Heather Parody: 9:07

Structure is the stage that amplifies your voice. It's the stage that we stand on that brings our voice to the masses. And so it's not the voice, it's not the talent, it's not the heart. We need all of that. But the stage is the physical structure that amplifies what I'm doing. And so do creatives need that? I think if you want your art and your message to be out there, I mean, not everybody does, right? So no, they're just doing it for themselves. But if you wanna make it your life. Hell yeah. As far as the multifaceted piece, this is really a difficult one for me. I don't have a pretty answer for it because it's something I wrestle with. It's something I question myself a lot. Like I could maybe run a lot faster if it was in a straight line and not all these zigzags, but man, I'm just having so much fun. And for me too, I've always been asking, well, two things. The fun piece is really important. I wanna keep my spirit. Light and happy and joyous for the spiritual reasons we know. And then two, there's so much kind of inspiration that comes from stepping outside of the box a little bit and getting new stimulus. I get up at four 30, I read, I journal, I run, I lift, I get Emerson ready for school. You know, boom, boom. My life is freaking routine and I'm very, very disciplined. I have to be. Driving to acting class two hours away, me going on Sunday and going to a comedy club and hosting something, me going into a movie, me. Doing photography, it's hard as an achiever because I'm thinking where is the direct correlation to what I'm trying to build? And this is there an ROI here, and I can't give you a good answer for it because on paper it makes no sense. But I know I get some of my greatest ideas when I'm not doing my routine.

Neal Neo Phalora: 11:03

There you go. You know, and there it is. Yeah.

Heather Parody: 11:06

Yeah.

Neal Neo Phalora: 11:06

Yeah. I like to think about that as creative disruption. Honestly, one of the best things I did for my business was take drums and guitar on Friday, and every Friday is an overachiever. I get anxiety that I haven't done enough and I need to practice more, and then when I fucking go in there, I find a point of flow and I'm like, it releases something inside of me that is so magical. I'll just have to say in our high achieving society, it's always about revenue or accolades or accomplishments. But I love Esther Hicks. I mean, I consume a lot of different things like you do. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Books and thoughts because it provides fodder for my mind. One of the things that she says, I love this piece where she's talking she's having the dialogue for herself and she's like, what are you doing these days? Having fun. For what purpose? For enjoyment. Right. And, and to what end? To have to experience pleasure on this earth. And what does that do for you? Create more happiness. And she just. And why the fuck not. Who said that the only ROI is seven figures. Right. Come

Heather Parody: 12:06

on, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach. Amen. I love her too, man. when I go down to Atlanta, I listen to a lot of Esther Hicks content and it just gets me riled.

Neal Neo Phalora: 12:15

Yeah. Yeah. One of my friends went to her live and the goal is that you get called on, and she didn't get called on, but she said that the, that Esther spoke directly to her, like what she had said just landed for her. All it was missing was her name in front of it. Mm. And she's like, that was a good enough for me. So, yeah, the woo woo experiences. One of the parts that I love about your story that I personally identify with is leaning into things with, yes. We either have this energy, I think in life we're either yes or no. And as we get older, because of our nervous system and our experiences, our brains need, our nervous system, need for safety. We're unconsciously saying no a lot. But talk to me about that moment when somebody emailed you about podcast editing. Mm-hmm. And you just went. Yes, I do. And then you're like, I'm gonna fucking figure this out and like move forward. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's something in your story that's very repeatable about this idea of saying yes to different things. Yeah. And people, like you said, it doesn't fit together, but it does. It's building a framework of who you are. It's branding yourself, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. As somebody, mm-hmm. Who embraces these kinds of unique challenges, they think most people would go, I can't do that.

Heather Parody: 13:28

Right. Yeah. Um, so, you know, rewind 10 plus years ago, I had just finished my master's in mental health and I had worked really hard on that degree. A lot of people know my story. I didn't grow up with an education. I was really behind academically. When I say I didn't grow up with education, I was homeschooled my entire life. And my mom dealt with a lot of mental health stuff and really just stopped teaching us after a certain point. And so I didn't think college was an option for me, and I just felt really stupid. Oh, wow. And going to school was, that's a long story, but I was really embarrassed and I had to go to community college and take developmental classes and I just worked my ass off really, really hard. So getting this degree, getting a master's when you didn't even have a high school diploma, um, it was huge for me. It was something that said, Hey, you have worth, you have value. You have a place here in society that you can contribute. And then when I knew in my gut, my gut that. This was not my highest calling and I can't even explain it. I just knew it and it was so frustrating. And I'm sure you've experienced this where there's nothing wrong with the thing. There's nothing wrong with it. It's good, it makes sense and you kind of want it, but there's something about it that you said, this is not what's great, you know, and that good to great thing is what's really hard. But, um, I got the job offers, I got the license. Through a series of events, just made the decision to put it all down and I didn't have anything else to fall back on. And I swear that this happened. It's the creepiest, weirdest, wildest thing. But I remember having my laptop up here at the bar in the kitchen. And I remember emailing the people back and politely declining the job, offers crying, thinking I'm an idiot. And then it wasn't 10, 15 minutes, I'm still standing there. I had an email pop up in my inbox that said, Hey, Heather, yada yada, yada. Um, I know this is a far stretch thing, but for some reason you popped into my head and I wonder, do you edit podcasts? And I'm like, hell yeah, I do. You joking. Which of course I didn't. I was doing like a podcast out of my closet and not editing it at all, and just throwing it up on iTunes. But I took the job and I freaking figured it out, and I started editing podcasts for people. Got into a podcasting agency, started freelancing, and then, you know how it goes from there. Then you're doing social, then you're doing websites, then you're doing funnels. And after a while, you know, and, um. So that's the kind of the saying yes thing is, I feel like sometimes God source, whatever, it's, you know, that Indiana Jones thing where he steps out and then something appears. I feel like anytime I'm believing for something in my life, for me, it's required me to kind of step off the cliff and trust something was gonna come there before it actually appeared. It's like, if you want new clothes, give your clothes away. If you need more food, feed your neighbor, right?

Neal Neo Phalora: 16:38

No, that's awesome. And. I think the thing that we as human beings, you know, spiritual beings in a meat suit really crave is we are addicted to what we can predict, right? Mm-hmm. And that comes from, I need a plan. Tell me about the plan. What is the plan? But the plan is not about getting you there. The plan is about preparing you here for the destination. Yeah. Yes. And ultimately, the plan is only executed where you can just put full faith into the plan. Yes. You don't know at the base of the mountain how, what's on the other side. Right. And while that might sound like cliche, it's so true because nobody leads from complete transparency. They have to lead from faith. Mm-hmm. Amen. They have to lead from faith. The other thing that I really liked in what you said was, how so often what I hear reflected in what you said is we choose fear thinly guise as practicality. I got this from Jim Carey in a commencement address. Yeah. You know, gave so good, so good. I, I rewatch that every so often'cause it keeps teaching me over and over again and I love that choice.'cause Heather, when you choose you and the face of extreme opportunity costs, you understand your value. The thing that I'd like to ask you about is gut instinct, and I'll just tell you somebody who used to be in boardrooms all across the US and all these. We're gonna use our rubric and SWOT analysis, and then three fourths of every meeting were, how's the customer gonna feel? How's the marketing gonna feel? And I'm like, can we just stop pretending that we make that we are logical beings, right? Yeah. We're emotional beings. And even Gary V said he uses gut. I was at a dinner and there were five women up there worth a couple billion total, and they all said gut was the most important part of who they are. I love that answer. And there was very little feedback.'cause people didn't want that answer. They wanted the tackle. So when you say gut, what does that mean to you?

Heather Parody: 18:33

Um, still small voice that knowing you, it's the thing like kinda like the aftertaste of something. You know that you can and can't get rid of, and it's kind of poking at you. The interesting thing about it though, is in my experience, it does go away if you don't, I. Hone it, you know? Mm-hmm. Yes. And I, I love the way Elizabeth Gilbert explains it in Big Magic. And her, you know, analogy is kinda like ideas, inspiration, muse of like, it wants to be taken care of and nurtured, and if it isn't taken care of and nurtured, it will go find another host. And I know our intuition doesn't necessarily leave us, but if you think about. A dog that you never pay any attention to, or a child or something you're supposed to be nurturing. Eventually they'll stop crying and asking for you. And so sometimes people are like, Hey, I don't have intuition or whatever, and I'm like, we all have it. It's just something that needs to be nurtured. Now granted, there are some people with spiritual gifts who have highly attuned, and that's what they're put on this earth to do. We all have it, and it's just a matter of making space for it. And that for me, I don't know what your experience, it's come through things that have been very illogical in the sense of going to Atlanta and getting involved in the community there and driving, spending a lot of time alone. A lot of quiet time, a lot, a lot of quiet time, and a lot of, unproductivity.

Neal Neo Phalora: 19:53

So I have this thing that I'd love your feedback on. In the traditional sort of alpha male energy, it's all about like how much you do. How much you're hustling. Mm-hmm. How much you're grinding. Mm-hmm. I'm a very spiritual person, but I'm not one of these people that think that you can just sit in a corner and go, mm. Success. And the success is gonna come down from someplace. I do think it's part of the equation. For me I think that everything in the biological world is a spiritual mirror. If we are supposed to come to rest every day, if in our, even in our breathing, we inspire and respire to come to rest. Mm-hmm. Rest is something that's super important. It should be done as fiercely as we expand. We should contract as fiercely as expand. I'm very much trying to disrupt the narrative of, of traditional hustle by, by practicing action and alignment, action alignment, letting that. Hmm. Elevate your intuition, but acting from alignment. So, how do you see this particular concept? Or, how do you rejuvenate? How do you rest because you output a lot of stuff. You're doing a lot of things, but you've gotta rest.

Heather Parody: 20:55

I'm not the best at this. I'm working on it. If you look at my human design, I have really strong starter vision, uh, visionary integrator energy, and I put it on this earth to connect visionaries, people with ideas to action. So I have a very strong energy towards action, so I can hold a lot without needing as much rest as people. That doesn't mean I don't need rest. Okay. So for me, with that in mind, again, my mornings are just non-negotiable and I normally have a few hours on the weekend that are unplugged, and then sometimes we'll take like full days. I recently started two weeks off at the end of every year. Where it's just completely unplugged, which is challenging for me'cause I have a lot of ideas and I like working. I enjoy working. But again, I just have to I don't wanna say force myself, but very intentionally take the time and realize that the work is never going to be done. I put out a lot. I put a lot because I always think about the controllables like if my goal is X, cool, what's the controllables to get there and what actions is it gonna take for me to do it? And so constantly getting data back and having to adjust, I'm obsessed with it. So I'm with you. There's a balance and there's a yes. And I'm like the most spiritual talker with stuff, but I'll tell you what, I'm a freaking doer and I have to go back to the, everything that I say and make sure that I'm actually doing what I say when it comes to rest.

Neal Neo Phalora: 22:16

It's hard for all of us as high achievers or people to find rest. I preach this too, and I have to keep coming back to it over and over and over. I often reflect on is like you 10 years ago were at one place and you couldn't see what's here in front of you now. And that's part of being a human being. I think actually that's a part of magic, of being a human being. I don't fundamentally believe that if we were handed a book of life and it had the 683,242 pages and we read it, what would we do after that? Nothing. Yeah.

Heather Parody: 22:47

Yeah,

Neal Neo Phalora: 22:47

nothing. We'd just sit on the couch and go, okay. I don't know what comes next. I don't mean this like in the traditional, like where do you see yourself in three to five years? I often really am fascinated about. What people dream about. And I love to dream, I love to envision like Todd Herman's stuff, I was doing that as a kid. Fantasizing about stuff and envisioning it. And Heather, it's worked so much when I was chronically ill for 12 years and I rewired my health and my body. I had a vision where I'd finally get to run and work out again and be on a beach. Mm-hmm. And it happened. With an alarming level of detail. The real world version that happened in real life. Yes. Yes. Over and over again. And Jim Carrey talks about sitting on the side of the highway in front of the Hollywood sign and so I know this as an activator. I think it would be really fascinating from somebody like you who has done so many things from barely being educated to where you are now. Like what do you dream about

Heather Parody: 23:43

I love the entrepreneurial space, but I'm not an entrepreneur. I like making money and I wanna make money because it means freedom. And it means I can do whatever I want and that's the most important thing to me. I don't wake up thinking about numbers and scalability and selling something. I'm a communicator. I love media, I love stories. But then I have my foot over in kind of the entertainment space and I've been learning a lot about that and have a lot of friends who are full-time in that space. And there's a lot of entrepreneurial stuff that's missing over there. So when you talk about my dream, I just kind of see myself with a foot in both worlds, and I wanna be an entrepreneurial storyteller in a sense. I wanna make films and media and things that make people think a little bit deeper. Ultimately I'd love to have my own feature film one day that I write produce direct, let's go. I'm working on shorts right now, that I'm gonna be filming this year, just on my own dollar, and I wanna go more and more into that space. Media changed my life, listening to podcasts, YouTube videos, all that stuff. And we're just getting started in that space. People are like, oh, you know, AI's taking over, and I'm like, yo, you don't even know what's coming. And it's getting put in the hands more for creators and less out of industries, and there's less gatekeepers. And I'm so excited to be alive during this time.

Neal Neo Phalora: 24:59

Yeah, I agree. And I always lean into how many people have gotten their start later in life. And I think that's a big misnomer that happens on media because we still are seeing most of it's fake. Actually, I recently interviewed a high fashion model who put out a video that went pretty viral and she talked about wealth faking. Hmm. And all these people that verifiably managers are telling them, go to this place and you can use this mansion to film, stand outside these shops and you can pick up a Gucci bag to pose, here's airplanes on the runway, and they're available to rent. We all know this is going on, but, but we still buy into the narrative that Yeah. That this is going on. For me it's like, how do I lean in greater to my own authentic message in a way that just, that authenticity just trumps everything. I think that people bastardize that word. Mm-hmm. It's overused, but I think the thing is that people don't realize how to lean into it in a way. Mm-hmm. Because it's so freaking artificial in our world.

Heather Parody: 26:03

Well, that, and also we're evolving and we're changing, and so it's like this weird pace and think about this. There's never really been a time throughout history where we have had to figure ourselves out and express ourselves in mass mediums at such a quick rate. Think about it like when I would communicate hundreds of years ago, it would be poured over and thought through and incent and then consumed versus me instantly thinking something, creating something and immediately being able to share it. There's no gap there. And so I think we need to give ourselves a lot of grace too, as creators when it comes to the authenticity piece, because we're evolving beings, we're trying to figure things out, and then there's an added pressure to constantly express it. And there's not a lot of simmer time. And so it's like I'm still trying to freaking figure out who I am at 38. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And. We have a pressure and it's wrong that we need to present ourselves. Like we freaking know when it's a part of the human experience to not.

Neal Neo Phalora: 27:08

That's really good. I got sidetracked on my own point earlier, but really was headed with that is we have these 22 year olds that supposedly are making it and I have a client right now that I'm coaching and I just told'em like, dude, the first 40 years of research, man, I just gotta tell you, they really are. Everybody in their brother is telling you you're gonna be rich in Lamborghinis and bottle service by 27. The average age, if your metric is this, which it doesn't need to be, the average age of a millionaire is still 57 in this country.

Heather Parody: 27:36

Yeah, totally.

Neal Neo Phalora: 27:37

Yeah. And so don't have it that like you are lost because you haven't gotten there. If I had to place my finger both on the creative space and the entrepreneur space, which I am not, is equally divided. But I closet want to be, I mean, my acting trophy is still sitting over here from high school, college. Because I see it every day because I'm like, Neil this is what you've always wanted. It's just my dad was, oh gosh, my dad was very physically and emotionally abusive and he told me no so much that got stuck in my head. But what the thing that people would need to understand is it takes time to get where you're going. And I say this, Heather, is that if your last breath were envied around. What you actually wanted in life. That moment would be enough. Mm-hmm. When you get to where you're going, everything that you've been through, is worth it. Amen. Yeah. Everything you've been through is worth it. It's being on these artificial timetables all the time. This idea that all these entrepreneurs in the creative space, all they say is, I'm not where I need to be. Yeah, that's it. I hear that the most common complaint when I coach, when I'm in masterminds, when I talk to people like I should be farther along and social media and the comparison that we get to other people's lives, artificially just fuels the hell out of that.

Heather Parody: 28:52

I had a coach I was working with a few years ago, it was actually a hypnotherapist and I was complaining. I was like, I'm not where I wanna be. What am I doing wrong? I'm doing what Gary V says. I'm posting all the time. I'm very consistent, yada yada, yada. And he was like, okay, explain to me where you wanna be in five years. And I was like, I wanna be speaking. I wanna have clients coming in. I wanna be able to have like my dream guests on my podcast and blah, blah, blah. And he is like, all right, explain to me this past week. And I was like. Well, I got to go to this one event in my community with blah, blah, blah, and I spoke to a group of people in there. There's about 10 people in there. And then I got to interview this one person who was really, really cool. Oh, Anna just signed a new client or whatever, and he was like, you're living in an illusion. Everything that you want is already here and now, and you're living this life, but you're living in an illusion and you just don't see it. And I was like. Damn. He's right. Yeah.

Neal Neo Phalora: 29:54

It's one of those moments where they either cry or you just sit down in a chair and you just say nothing. Because you're less like, damn,

Heather Parody: 30:00

I was thinking about that this morning. I was out running and I'm just really trying to tap back into gratitude and just be like, God, thank you so much for all that I do have. I get to live this life and I get to create and I get to make my own schedule and I get to connect with people I love, and I love my clients and I love the content I make and does it always perform great or whatever. But man, I would not do anything else and I'm so grateful. I have to remind myself of that constantly.'cause to your point, we're always comparing, right? But damn, what a good life.

Neal Neo Phalora: 30:31

Man, this is so important. If nothing else, I'm hoping you guys are listening to this podcast and hearing some of these nuggets from somebody who's truly done it and come from a place that really as at a serious disadvantage from not even being educated enough to move forward. This is why I really hope the next season of humanity, we get back into tribe so that we can be there for each other in a way that we haven't. But I'll just tell you, this might sound boring as hell, but we bought a couple of green bookshelves. We have the home, right? We have the nice home in the nice neighborhood. Yeah. We put up a couple green bookshelves and arranged, some art, we got some things we want. And the sunlight was shining through and I walked out of my studio into the living room and Heather as God is my witness, it took my breath away. I remember walking into other people's homes that I thought were affluent or doing better than me about 10 or so years ago. And I was like, man, if I could just live, if I could somehow aim my life towards that, I would've made it right. And I sat down in a chair and there was a day that I would've prayed for a day like this. There were days, 10 years ago, I would've prayed for a day like this just to have this thing in a feel thing. This concept of more, is a really, really challenging concept for human beings. The best way that I have found to actually embrace that is to say, I have enough. And I can create more. Come on. I say that all the time to myself because I'm like, I need the gratitude. But somebody like me who came from an Indian household where it was just all about achieving, getting a's, getting the degrees, all this stuff, right? You always do the best. You always top notch. I'm like, but I can't live my whole life from behind and I'm not enough. So I do this, like I'll be at breakfast and the pour the, there'll be a coffee cup in front of me and I'll look inside of it. I'll be like, I have enough. And I'll pour the coffee. I'll say I create more. I go into my closet, I have a dirty shirt off, and I take it off. I say, I have enough. And I put on a new shirt and I say, I create more. I'm, that's powerful. I change my bias of everything in the world, like pam Grout from e-cubed. She's running those experiments out in the real world, and I'm like, I'm getting goosebumps right now because I'm remembering what the fuck I've created. Right? Yeah.

Heather Parody: 32:42

Damn, this is like a freaking church podcast. This is,

Neal Neo Phalora: 32:48

Just like you, this is a thing that I love to do day in and day out. And while I'm so passionate about putting my message out in the world is'cause just like you, it's unconventional thinking. People aren't talking about bringing their neuroscience into spirituality together. People aren't talking about doing grief work, but learning how to sell better. People aren't talking about if I can only create net worth from self-worth, but not in the reverse direction. And then I have to have a relationship with myself.'cause as Tom Bill says the most important thing is how you feel about yourself when you're by yourself. And if you don't have that, you won't implode.

Heather Parody: 33:19

Yeah. What an interesting time to be alive.

Neal Neo Phalora: 33:27

Yeah.

Heather Parody: 33:28

Period. Full stop. We were talking before. You know, people kind of argue with me about this and I don't have a logical reason to believe this. I just do

Neal Neo Phalora: 33:41

okay.

Heather Parody: 33:43

But I believe in calling. I just do, and I can't explain it. It doesn't make sense. And I don't know if I even agree with it, you know what I mean? Um, what does that word

Neal Neo Phalora: 33:54

mean?

Heather Parody: 33:55

Yeah. So I think our tendencies, when we think of calling, we think of it from like a hierarchy sense, you know what I mean? Like, some people are called to do great things in this world, or you're called to be, you know, the leader when other people are the followers and all this stuff. For me, it's just been this acknowledgement of my bent towards things like you saying earlier your acting trophy or whatever that's on your shelf. I just don't believe that you have that desire for kicks and giggles. It's like for why was it placed in you specifically, and why is it still sitting there, and why are you still thinking about it? And why do I sit here and think about the films I wanna make when I have all the tools at my hand and clients and stuff? I could build some agency and go a completely different direction, but I keep getting bent towards. This little old lady in a coffee shop and her grandson and this narrative that I'm building with them. And so when I say calling, it's less about like forever calling. It's more like curiosity, seasonal calling of like, why is this thing nudging me so much? And this is a heavy word, I need a better word for it. Not responsibility, but like where's the opportunity there for me to grab a hold of it and take it seriously?

Neal Neo Phalora: 35:16

Oh man, you get me all emotional now. Wow. If you guys will just listen back to what Heather said there. That was that. There were a couple moments. There was one earlier, but this is the one to let sink in this podcast what she just said here.'cause guys, if you don't have that meat, the rest of the stuff isn't gonna be worth it. I have coach people that have exploded at nine months and in the 10th month, they were the edge on their balcony. Yeah, they had all the things because it just, it didn't make a difference. Let me share a distinction with you that was given to me by my friend Lindsay, that I, it reverberate deeply for me. She goes, you'll have many purposes in this life, but you'll only have one real calling.

Heather Parody: 35:54

Interesting. Um,

Neal Neo Phalora: 35:54

and the way that I teach this, it is that I say to people your impact is always vectored in the direction of whatever you're healing. Whatever you're healing for yourself. I was just on a mastermind call today. People were like, how do I find direction? I was just like, puts you across from you, you know, and whatever you need to hear, that's what you speak out in your social media, whatever you need to hear, that's what you speak out to your clients or to your avatar, the people that you want. I think for me the purpose in calling is like. I've done a lot of things. I had a IV therapeutic spa, I had social media apps. We had a six figure e-commerce business until covid happened.'cause nobody was buying high-end cappuccino, espresso machines. I've done a lot of different things. I'm gonna list them all here. I'll just tell you, those were many purposes, but my calling was still the same. And every one of those businesses, I was a spiritual mentor. Mm-hmm. I was the people who was asking people like, alright guys, why are we here? and we can change the lens and we can turn this into a different narrative. We're willing to lead. I was the one who's disrupting culture in a sales organization that was so narcissistic and go this is torturous. Why are we doing this? Right? Mm-hmm. But that's always been me, but I've done multiple purposes. My calling has been the same.

Heather Parody: 37:07

And I wonder with acting like how that's expressed through acting too. Yeah. Because I think this is what I love about the whole kind of creative space and the storytelling space is it kinda yields to our chronologic side of the brain and just talks about something completely different, but spiritually gets us back to the same place. You know what I mean? So it tells story and paints colors and you don't even know you're learning and you're getting touched, and then it's like, bam, there you are. And so it's just like this really interesting backdoor, Rob Bell mentioned that it's a backdoor into like healing. And I think it's so cool when healers go into that place of creativity because you're not talking anymore to the logic brain or you know, wrestling with something. You're taking a back door that anybody can take that spoonful of sugar.

Neal Neo Phalora: 37:58

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it leans into the fact that we're never just one thing, that we're multitudes. Mm-hmm. And some people have experienced me and said, wow, he's gifted. And some people experienced me and probably went, what an asshole. And all of those things could be true in any one moment. And I think the thing that for me. Like acting does, is it gives us one of the big things that we all need is the need to be seen. To be witnessed. To have that self-expression that need to be expressed is really qualified and need to be seen. And the other thing I think I love about acting is that I look at my whole life as method acting. I have a backstory. I have an avatar. I create a character. And, you know, you interviewed Todd Herman. One of his early mentees. I used to speak in his mastermind, and he told me a lot about Todd's teachings. That's how I learned about it. This is several years ago. Acting is really that avatar process. It's the Sasha Fierce and the Black Mamba. It's like, can I create a new experience. And for me, I think the wonderful thing is yes, you are you. You come to who you are through experience. But what if you could, and I don't like this word'cause it's overused, but hack the system and in your mind, start to create that in advance of its arrival, who you really are. We already know this, Leonardo DiCaprio when he played Howard Hughes. He had months of rewiring therapy because he started taking on the symptoms. He went so deep into character. I didn't know that.

Heather Parody: 39:16

Really? Wow. He went

Neal Neo Phalora: 39:17

so deep into character that he started having issues.

Heather Parody: 39:21

I didn't know that. I'm gonna have to look that up later, but that's what I'm fascinated by, is just that other self and stepping into something that's just so spiritual and beautiful and man, I've been reading a lot of acting books over the past few years and I tell people, I'm like, this is some of the. Most badass personal development I've ever done. Oh, wow. It's just learning, acting because it's literally this separating factor of like self and something else and getting very tangible with the interaction of those two worlds. Damn. It's deep.

Neal Neo Phalora: 39:51

Wow. I'm gonna have to ask for a few book recommendations outside of this. Sure. So Heather, like we've talked about a lot of things. I knew that this conversation was gonna be like that, and I welcome it, right? Because it just speaks to the diversity of who you are and what you bring to the table, and that you are very aligned and you're very willing to experience and show up in multipurposes, multifaceted of yourself. Just like you said to me one time, there's a difference between message and delivery. Mm-hmm. I think your message is very the same. You just focus on multiple deliveries. Right. Amen. And how Heather parody shows up. I think one of the things that we'd be remiss in asking you, do you work with people? And, and if so, how do people find you and what does that work mean? Because we've talked about a lot of things here. So let's speak to a little bit about that as we wrap up.

Heather Parody: 40:37

Yeah. So for the past few years, we've had an agency where we've done fractional COO work, which essentially is just the operational side, the businesses. So I worked with a lot of therapists and healers and coaches and people who were doing like one-on-one work, but just didn't wanna handle the digital side. So we would go in and just. Set up slash run the digital side to their businesses and it's doing really good. And last year I had that gut check again, man. It was strong of go heavy into the creative space and start working with creatives. And so the people I was working with were really great. But they just weren't in the industry that I'm feeling really called to. So I re-listened to, I think I messaged you my hours with our human design coach and I re-listened to it and it's so wild when you go back and you re-listen to stuff and you're like,

Neal Neo Phalora: 41:27

yes.

Heather Parody: 41:28

Damn, I missed it. Yes, I missed it because there was one connection that he made that was fractional, COO work. That made a lot of sense. But the overall thing that he told me over and over again was messaging, translation, and marketing. And so that I'm put here to help folks who have a message be able to articulate that and share it. And so that's what I've been doing over the past six, I guess it's been not something six months yet. Or just do whiteboard sessions, strategy sessions, coaching, consulting with folks who know that they have something to share but need some support sharing it.

Neal Neo Phalora: 42:04

Yeah, that's really good. You have, along with other people I've met this sort of slum dog millionaire effect. I very much identify with that movie. I don't know if you've seen it or not. Mm-hmm. But it basically is a story about an Indian kid that grows up and as he's on the show who wants to be a millionaire everything that he's been through becomes an answer to get him to the million dollars. Absolutely right. So it all matriculates and that's the thing that I see reflected and I think a lot of people's story I identify with, and I think why I identify with you as well is like. All these things may seem unrelated. But what I can get on the phone with a semi-pro golfer and give him a business called Reading the Green and completely put him into a world he's never been before. That's only because I've done so much diverse shit. Yes. And I keep myself fed with stuff that I can ideate and see patterns and things that people don't see. Yes. And that's where. I think it becomes hard for somebody like a Heather parody to go this is exactly what I do. How do you quantify it and say what it is on a day by day basis? But if you were to start to do that, I think that would take away the magic that's you, Heather. You don't wanna do that.

Heather Parody: 43:07

Well, at the end of the day, I know who I'm here to help, and I know why I'm helping them, and it's just the avenues of how I'm helping them change. I started off helping communicators, creatives, visionaries edit their podcast'cause that's where my skillset was at. Mm. And then it's evolved from website building to course creation to COO stuff now into branding and messaging and content creation. It's been the same person and it's been the same type of thing of I want you to be lit up and doing your thing and do it on a high level. How can I help you? And of course, skillsets change and all. That's almost every entrepreneur story. You just don't hear about that.

Neal Neo Phalora: 43:43

So if people wanna reach out to you, how do they find you?

Heather Parody: 43:46

Heather parody. Google Me. You can find me in wherever you're at except Snapchat.'cause. I'm too old for that.

Neal Neo Phalora: 43:51

Yeah, you and me both. Well thank you Heather, so much for being here. So much fun. Reach out. Yeah, this is really good for me. This is Nutritive. I always judge a podcast by also how much I feel like I embodied and moved forward during the podcast. If you want, please reach out to Heather it, go look at her stuff. It's a great template if you're trying to figure out how to express yourself in the world. Trust me, I followed her work for a long time. She is the og. She's done it, she's still in it. She's not a fronter. Definitely look her up. I just wanna remind the listeners as always that the best part of being wealthy is being happy.