Living Fearlessly. Lisa McDonald

Bob Wheeler: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Money You Should Ask, where everyone has something they can teach you. I’m your host, Bob Wheeler. And in this episode, we’re going to explore, question, examine, converse, dig deep, expose, laugh, and cry about the money beliefs, money blocks, and life challenges of our next guest. 

Turn up the volume, listen, learn, and laugh.

Well, our next guest, Lisa McDonald, and that’s Lisa with a McD, focuses on empowering business owners, individuals, and entrepreneurs to transform their lives, achieve their goals, and turn their dreams into realities by walking the talk and approaching life, love, and work with fearless gratitude, enthusiasm, and hope. A successful author, motivational speaker, TV and radio host, podcaster, blogger, mentor, personal development coach, and mother, Lisa inspires people to do and be their best every single day.

She empowers and reinvigorates her audiences to take daily action in their personal and professional lives. Lisa proves that by moving away from fear, anxiety, and overwhelm, even the newest online entrepreneurs can generate exciting momentum as they move closer to building a life and business they love.

I was just recently a guest on Lisa’s podcast, Living Fearlessly with Lisa, and I couldn’t wait to get her on, so Lisa, I am so excited to have you here today.

Lisa McDonald: [00:01:15] Well, thank you Bob. It’s an honor and a privilege to be here. I will go back and say, though, as far as what you indicated in your intro, I will laugh with you, I am not crying here today. I’m sick of crying. Pandemic! Pandemic!

Bob Wheeler: [00:01:31] Just tears of laughter.

Lisa McDonald: [00:01:32] Yeah.

Bob Wheeler: [00:01:33] The pandemic hasn’t been fun?

Lisa McDonald: [00:01:34] Oh, it’s been a ride. Let me tell you, that’s a show in itself. Maybe you invite me back and we talk about the highs and lows of pandemic.

Bob Wheeler: [00:01:43] We will do that.

Lisa McDonald: [00:01:44] But all in all, being the leaders and being the entrepreneurs we are, you’ve just got to adapt and pivot accordingly. So I’m here to talk about that.

Bob Wheeler: [00:01:51] Absolutely. Well, let me ask you this. When you were a kid, did you decide you wanted to be an author and a podcaster and an entrepreneur? Like what were you thinking at five years old?

Lisa McDonald: [00:02:00] At five years old? I did not even know that those things existed probably because podcasting did not exist. Radio, it did exist. At five years old, I had a little bit of a, a difficult, challenging childhood. I’m not going to go into all the details, although I’m an open book and my story is transparently out there, but that would take up again, another show segment all in itself. But I’ve been on my own since 16.

So that gives you perhaps a little bit of insight to know at what level in life, what, what age in life I had to become self-sufficient, become creative, become innovative, become all of those things. And for whatever I’ve endured in my life, I’ve always prefaced it throughout as a result of my healing journey and remaining committed to the things that really matter to me in my life in terms of integrity, authenticity, being empowered, stepping in your power.

I look upon all those things and preface those things now as a gift, because had those hardships not happened to me, I probably wouldn’t be the compassionate human being I am. I probably wouldn’t have felt a calling to have initially dedicated my first 25 years of my career to social services, so helping people who were disenfranchised, people who were abused, people who were marginalized or opressed.

And, and really understanding what it means to be a servant leader in terms of paying it forward and being of service. And so I’ve really just taken those transferable skills of what I used to do once upon a time for whatever the agency was, or the client population, or the demographic of what, what and who I was serving at the time. And now I’ve taken it to mass media, where I have more impact with more people all at once in terms of uplifting people to fear less and to live more, which I do believe, Bob, is my purpose in life.

Bob Wheeler: [00:03:46] That’s awesome. And I think that is so important for people who do have fear, who do get overwhelmed, to know that it’s possible that even if you have all that, you can still move forward fearlessly, you could still have a little bit of a, you know, nausea in the stomach initially.

Lisa McDonald: [00:04:03] Absolutely.

Bob Wheeler: [00:04:04] But to, like, move through it and move forward and it won’t kill you. And when you were 16 and self, you know, becoming self-sufficient, did you have fear about money? Did you have some of those anxieties and overwhelm? And, and how, like, what was, you had challenges, but how did you start to recognize, or did you just always feel that innate drive to, like, move it forward?

Lisa McDonald: [00:04:28] Well, that’s a great question. And I appreciate you asking that question, because it allows me, first and foremost, to make it very emphatically clear to your listening audience, Bob, just because my brand and what I believe in is all premised on living fearlessly does not mean that fear in itself is not a genuine emotion.

It’s not to say that even myself, regardless of how evolved I am in my own journey, that I don’t get afflicted by things, or I don’t come into reticence or uncertainty or things that trip me up mentally. It’s not about the absence of fear. It’s really taking those moments of fear and stepping into it regardless.

Making it work for you regardless. And trusting in the process and trusting in the universe, trusting or believing whatever people default to in terms of intrinsic strength. To know that even if you can’t believe it, in order to see it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist or that it’s not going to materialize.

Bob Wheeler: [00:05:24] And I think that’s so important for people to know, because for me, I know for a long time I had a fear of stepping up and being seen because I thought, “oh, people will judge me,” or, “oh, people, there are people that will do it better.” And I was fortunate to have a couple of people around me that said, “Yeah, there will be people that will judge you and there will be people that do it better than you. That’s, don’t let that stop you.”

Lisa McDonald: [00:05:47] Absolutely.

Bob Wheeler: [00:05:48] Oh, I didn’t know that, right? It was a piece of info, and so I think it’s important for people to know that we can have fear, but it doesn’t have to be debilitating.

Lisa McDonald: [00:05:57] Bingo. Bingo. And, and it’s just, you know, like for, for you and I, Bob, to get to this age stage in life, it, it has involved risk-taking, it has involved having that inherent intrinsic belief in yourself, not just for who we are, what we stand for,

what we represent, what we’re trying to ascend to, or to aspire or to cultivate in our lives, but to know that the proof has already been in the pudding because we’ve all had to overcome multiple hurdles or hardships in our lives to even get to this point for you and I to have a discussion about the subject matter itself. Right? I mean, nothing’s gone perfect for you in your life. Nothing’s gone perfect for me in my life.

Bob Wheeler: [00:06:42] Yeah.

Lisa McDonald: [00:06:43] The difference being is, it comes down to attitude. It comes down to conviction. It comes down to consistency. It comes down to approach. And it’s being willing to pivot. So if you try to implement various strategies to find out that it’s a dismal result, or it’s a least favorable result, then you don’t just throw everything away that you’ve already cultivated in the background to even get to that point in your juncture, you go, okay, what other resource do I need to connect with? What am I, what do I need to outsource? Who do I need to immerse myself in the presence of based on what they’ve done, what they continue to do exceptionally well, and mentor up, coach up?

So it’s really finding your tribe. It it’s really that fortitude and the resiliency, so that it’s non-negotiable within yourself that you do not quit, no matter how difficult the challenge or how arduous the process or how long beyond what you anticipated as the timeline for achieving something, you know, it doesn’t mean it’s not obtainable. It means you just got to keep sticking to it and fine tuning it and honing it.

Bob Wheeler: [00:07:53] Absolutely. And I’m curious as you’re talking about that, I’m wondering, and I’m curious how curiosity plays a part of that.

Lisa McDonald: [00:08:00] Well that, too, is an interesting question, because you know, the more you remain committed to being curious, and I, you know, with all my children’s books, I have four children’s books. And so I always end off with a disclaimer in my children’s book about “embrace your inner child,” “rediscover your inner child,” “reinvest in your inner child,” because I believe it’s from that childlike, wondrous spirit, where we have been, for the most part, our most trusting, our most wondrous, our most adventurous, we don’t have a fear of jumping into the deep end of a pool even if we can’t swim, right? Like, we just do it.

Bob Wheeler: [00:08:39] Right.

Lisa McDonald: [00:08:39] We take risks. And it’s, it’s as we get, we get through life, where we become more jaded, we become more pessimistic, we become more reticent. So for me, in order to remain curious and knowing that that’s an essential ingredient for ascending in my own growth journey and my personal growth and personal development, I always go back to, “Lisa, are you stuck?

Because you’ve abandoned that inner child spirit that you need to step back into and remain staunchly immersed in so as to plow through whatever you’re feeling encumbered by with respect to so-called fear or reservation or limitations or restrictions.” So curiosity for me is always part and parcel of embracing, re-embracing your childlike spirit.

Bob Wheeler: [00:09:26] Yeah, I think it’s, for me, it’s so important, because my curiosity then allows me to pivot when I get new information, I can then say, “oh, that’s really interesting. Let me go this way and see where that takes me.” And I’m thinking about, for me personally, socialized around money, I was taught that I am my accomplishments and that the more material things that I have, the more fulfilled I’ll be. And the more people will give me applause and accolades for doing that. And then I discovered that there’s lots of people…

Lisa McDonald: [00:09:59] Boo.

Bob Wheeler: [00:10:02] And then I discovered there’s lots of people in the world that are incredibly happy and fully abundant that aren’t about who they are. And I had to get really curious because I couldn’t, I, it didn’t make sense to me initially. And, and I was able to then see a different way of thinking.

Lisa McDonald: [00:10:17] Yes, absolutely. Well, I also look upon curiosity from a different perspective. I really feel in many instances, curiosity is also synonymous with accountability because the more you question a situation, a dynamic, a decision, people’s actions or lack there of, you know, you’re really holding the candle to people, including yourself. Right? It’s important that you be able to micromanage yourself, that you be able to challenge your own false beliefs, your own false concepts. But curiosity for, for me, isn’t just about going on, like, a magic carpet ride as a result of being curious, although it does produce that result and that’s a wonderful place to be.

Bob Wheeler: [00:11:00] Right.

Lisa McDonald: [00:11:01] But I really see it as synonymous with accountability and taking responsibility, because the more you’re apt to be a critical thinker and deduce things and question things so as to get to the heart of the matter, whether it’s for the benefit of yourself in, in unlearning or relearning new things that will equip you to arrive at those answers, to seek those answers. But it’s also, when you’re talking about working on teams, whether it’s being a parent, whether it’s being an effective community member, whatever it is we endeavor to do, curiosity is also part and parcel of accountability.

Bob Wheeler: [00:11:36] Absolutely. Absolutely. And I’m curious on your journey of, of moving through fear and, and living fearlessly, were there any fears and issues around money? As an entrepreneur, as a, as an author, all these things, they take money, they take risks. How did that relate to you financially in terms of your money journey?

Lisa McDonald: [00:11:58] I think money is one of the things that most people, whether it be consistently, incrementally, or at least at some point in people’s lives, where they have felt impeded by, where it has represented a huge level of fear. And some of that can be tied back to people’s upbringings, you know, save everything for rainy day or don’t bring out the China, unless it’s a special occasion, not recognizing that you have to live life deliberately. You have to live life in the moment, and you have to live life on purpose now.

So particularly as somebody who endeavored over seven years ago to step into the world of entrepreneurship, well there’s massive risk involved in that. There’s no steady paycheck. You’ve got to acclimate yourself to a totally new environment, a new realm of thinking and performing.

And you’ve got to create that trustworthy presence and buy-in before people will buy your products, listen to your podcast, seek you out for, for paid mentorship and, and, and to become their coach. So people need to see to what degree do you believe in yourself fundamentally before you ask people to follow you, subscribe to you, purchase from you. People want to know to what degree that you firmly and staunchly believe in yourself.

And of course when you’re starting out with a radio show or you’re belonging to various memberships in the community, so as to be in the right circles and to be associated and affiliated with the right people, you’re doling out a lot of cash before anything trickles back into your pocket.

So only to the degree that you fundamentally believe in yourself would you be willing to take those risks to begin with. And I clearly did, and it’s an investment. I’m investing back into myself. I’m investing back into my business, I’m building and investing back into the growth and the evolution of “where’s Lisa going to go so as not to remain stale or stagnant,” and acclimating to the times of what people have to do in the world of entrepreneurship, knowing that everything I do as a speaker, as a coach, as an author, as a mentor,

I’m in an oversaturated industry. So the competition is fierce. And, and yet, and when I say that, acknowledge that, and own that as truth…

Bob Wheeler: [00:14:16] Yeah.

Lisa McDonald: [00:14:16] By no means do I see myself as being in competition with other people. I’m in competition with myself. I’m, I’m always trying to outperform myself. I’m always trying to up-level myself, I’m trying to boss up for myself. So I’m too busy doing what I’m doing and wearing a myriad of hats and juggling a lot of balls. I don’t even have time to see who my so-called competition is out there in podcast land or, or whatever the case may be.

Bob Wheeler: [00:14:44] Yeah. And I, I think that’s so important that we, it’s, it’s good to be aware of your surroundings. It’s good to be aware of, that there are other people doing this, but trusting yourself is so important. I know for myself, I started a couple of businesses early on. And then I let them go because I thought, “oh, it’s not working. I’m not quite there.” And then later on found out I was so close that if I had just held on for a couple more months or six more months, that I would have turned this major corner and for me, that was a lesson to say, “hold on a little bit longer.

Don’t take yourself out so quick.” And I, you know, and I think for people out there, it’s important, like you said, to really, that you believe in yourself, that you trust yourself, because you can, you’re the one that takes, we can be the ones that take ourselves out of the game, on our own with no, with nobody else’s help.

Lisa McDonald: [00:15:33] Absolutely, very true. Very true, Bob. Good point.

Bob Wheeler: [00:15:38] And how, you know, as this journey of going through and helping people, what’s the most, what’s the most rewarding part of, of helping people to walk the talk, to believe in themselves, like for yourself? What’s, how do you get, how does that feed you?

Lisa McDonald: [00:15:56] Well, I’m all, I mean, I’ve always in my whole life as a former competitive swimmer, as somebody who’s been living on their own since 16, putting myself through school, paying my weight the whole way, college, university, no grants, no loans, I’m always about success. I’m always about being able to measure growth and understanding, what are those tools that I can use as barometers to measure my growth, therefore, measure other people’s growth, whether we’re talking about metrics, whether we’re talking about my own clients’ success.

But what I derive the most pleasure from, and when I know that I’ve done my job well, and I’ve done it well in tandem with the clients that I work with, who also hold themselves immensely accountable, and who are highly invested in whatever it is that they’re endeavoring to do so as to reach a pinnacle of success for however they choose to define success for themselves personally.

So when I start to see things pop for them and not just as a result of the feedback they’re giving me or the updates that they’re giving me, but when I can see how it’s transcending every aspect of their life, when I can see that they’re lit up, when I can see the additional buy-in that they themselves are getting from other people who would otherwise be strangers to them, but because they put themselves out there, because they stepped into their greatness, because they chose to live fearlessly.

I see ongoing results for all of my clients or anybody who I’m in the realm of serving. Where you can see how things are computing, the risks versus the reward, the outcomes, things that you can measure. And so when I, when I see the transformation of how a client has transcended, or a client population that I’ve worked with has transcended, or an audience who I’ve been invited to speak to has transcended, and they come back and in some cases, people have said, even as a result of me doing Facebook live streams, Bob. I had one person say, “had I not seen that today, I was on the cusp of committing suicide.”

Bob Wheeler: [00:18:04] Yeah.

Lisa McDonald: [00:18:05] So when you hear things like that, that are in some cases, actually life saving, that’s all I need to know that I’m, I’m living my life on purpose and I actually do have value and I do have impact and I do resonate with people.

Bob Wheeler: [00:18:22] Yeah.

Lisa McDonald: [00:18:22] It’s beautiful.

Bob Wheeler: [00:18:24] Yeah. That’s an awesome thing. And how do you, when you have somebody new, just talking about mindset, talking about intentionality and accountability. When you meet somebody for the first time that says, “hey, I want to change,” or, “I want to do it differently,” but they’re resistant to the accountability or they’re new to intentionality, how do you get, how do you motivate people, or do you try to motivate people to, like, take it to the next step? Or does it have to be an inward decision for them before you can work with them?

Lisa McDonald: [00:18:56] Well, like in the initial stages upon introduction and getting a feel for each other, because it’s not just me making the decision to sign on with them, they’re making the decision to sign on with me, because there’s a myriad of coaches and mentors out there for their choosing. I mean, it’s a consumer’s market with everything. I’m a product, you’re a product, we’re all products, we’re all brands, we’re all, whatever. But let’s say for example, I have a client who they think upon meeting me and talking to me, they think their goal is, “I want to write a book.

I know that you’ve been successful, Lisa, you’ve done it with multiple books of yourself, or you’ve done collaborative partnerships with other people and you’ve had a chapter in other people’s books, whatever the case may be. I want to write a book.” Well, we don’t just dive right in and write a book, because when I say, “How long have you wanted to write a book?”

“Oh, 10 years. 10 years.” “Oh, okay. So what happened in those 10 years that prevented you from getting to the point of writing a book?” “Oh, well, I was dealing with this. I was dealing with that. I was dealing with this. I was dealing with that.” Right? And so when I start to get a sense of how they dialogue, when I start to get a sense of, okay, to what degree does this person hold themselves accountable as a non-negotiable, you know, when I start to tap into, they are the common denominator in all of their relationships, good, bad, or indifferent. So when they’re talking about, “Oh, well I was endeavoring to write a book 10 years ago, but this person was unsupportive.

This person laughed at me. This person mocked me. This crisis was happening in someone else’s life, and I was the person who has to fly into rescue mode and all that.”

Then I’m getting a picture of this person. For the things that they have participated in allowing to become an obstacle, that they have allowed to become a block, so much so that they weren’t motivated or inspired to turn the corner, and making that an emphatic goal, because they got too distracted with everything else that was happening in their life, which essentially, not to negate the truth of that,

not to negate the human experience in that, but it was still allowed to be an excuse to not get started. And so I work on the psychology of them and getting them sorted out with what their blocks are, how they’re dialoguing with themselves, before we start talking about writing a book. That’s just an example.

Bob Wheeler: [00:21:26] Yeah, that’s, that’s awesome. And I think that is so important that even for myself, for any of us to look at, “where am I creating obstacles that I could move to the side, but I’m choosing to let that be the reason, instead of saying, oh, that’s just something I need to hop over and keep moving forward.”

Lisa McDonald: [00:21:43] Correct. Correct. Absolutely.

Bob Wheeler: [00:21:46] And in your own journey, what are, what’s one of the things that you’re proud of and not proud in an ego way, but just like, “you know what? That is really satisfying. I feel really grateful that this happened in my life.” Something like that, that like you look back and go, “wow, that one’s a win, feel really good about it.”

Lisa McDonald: [00:22:06] For me, it’s never about my own success in terms of my name being attached to being the recipient of an award. Cause I’ve, I’ve received many awards. I’ve received many accolades. I get sought out regularly to be the one interviewed. I get, I’m a 95% referral based business, so, people flock to me, PR firms flock to me in terms of getting their clients or guests on my radio show. For me, it’s not about that, because to me, that’s my level of responsibility that if I’m doing everything right, that should be the outcome for me personally, that should be the outcome for my business and the metrics to substantiate my own growth.

For me, Bob, whether we’re talking about the 25 years of my life being dedicated to servant leadership in social services, crisis management, specifically. Whether we’re talking about my mentoring clients, whether it be me being a single mom and the growth, the momentous growth I see in my own children being empathic human beings. You know, being loved and embraced by other people because their soul transcends in their relationships and dynamics with teachers and friends. Whatever it is, I’m most proud of what degree of my personal professional involvement has catapulted somebody else’s life journey in such a way that, because I’ve done my job properly, they don’t need me anymore.

I did my job properly because they don’t need me to be an indicator or contingent upon what they can do to go fly and soar themselves. So when I see somebody who’s left an abusive relationship, when I’ve seen somebody who, you know, dropped out of high school, ends up getting their university degree or their MBA or their PhD. When I see somebody who was impoverished, but now they bought their own home, or I’ve seen somebody who perhaps lost their children, but because they did all the right things through therapy and counseling and earning back the trust of their children and the care of the children’s aid society for a period of time who perhaps had custodial rights to the children.

When I see families being reunified, when I see intergenerational cycles of violence, or toxicity, or dysfunctioning. That coming to an abrupt halt with my client or somebody who I perhaps worked with and therefore the quality of their children’s lives, it’s going to be a totally different story. They’re not gonna, like, have broken children who have to use their adult life to repair or restore what fell apart in their childhood. That’s success for me. That’s when I know again, that I’m aligned with my life purpose.

That’s when I know that I’ve made a pivotal, profound impact. It’s when I see the decision-making that people are now willing to take responsibility for, for the trajectory of their own future, their own goals, their own lives so as to be healthy, be solid, and be on point, and be integral with self in terms of walking their own talk. That’s when I know that this is all aligned.

Bob Wheeler: [00:25:15] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And as you were sharing that, the one question that, it feels important, and we talked a little bit about it earlier, you were talking about finding your tribe or finding your people. And I want, I want, the question that I just want to ask is, is community important?

Lisa McDonald: [00:25:32] Absolutely. I mean, none of us can do or accomplish anything or be the people that we are today without the help, the support, the assistance of other people. And we all come with different levels of self-awareness. We come with different skill sets. We come with different passions. We come with different purposes. We’re not all one-stop shop. Like, we all know you don’t know what you don’t know. So if you know that you’re deficient in a particular area, that’s going to totally transcend your business or your relationship or your life or your goals, then you have to put yourself out there to find people who have, who are again, doing what it is you want to do and who are doing it successfully.

People who are going to inspire you, people who are going to hold you accountable, people who are going to mentor you, people who are going to coach you, people who are going to extend your bandwidth of resource space, networking, marketing, contacts, whatever the case may be, which then accentuates and opens up more additional opportunities that you otherwise would never have been privy to.

You never would have been exposed to. They never would have been extended to you. And none of us gets anything done working in a vacuum of isolation. And yes, as an entrepreneur, I have to spend an exorbitant amount of time on my own so as to stay focused in meeting my stringent timelines and holding myself responsible that if I say I’m going to do something on a particular date, whether it’s to meet a book launch or to you know, have somebody on radio and make sure that I’m doing all the professional deliverables that I’ve guaranteed on my end,

I’m going to uphold so as to make this a wonderful experience for them and my listening audience and the podcast subscribers, then, you know, you, you, it does, you do have to be receptive and open to accepting other people’s experiences, other people’s wisdom, other people’s leadership. So community is key. Absolutely key.

Bob Wheeler: [00:27:35] Yeah. I couldn’t agree more. And I think sometimes in the US specifically, we don’t always realize the value and importance of community and it’s, to me incredibly important.

Lisa McDonald: [00:27:47] It’s vital.

Bob Wheeler: [00:27:48] It is.

Lisa McDonald: [00:27:49] It’s absolutely vital to everybody’s existence because we have, we have to, we’re all interconnected. We all have to co-exist with one another. Outside of people’s goals, their, their mission statement, their brand, their whatever, in terms of just being able to cohesively harmoniously co-exist as, as a species, we need to understand what it is to do our role, to integrate ourselves into finding the solution within our neighbors. And I’m talking about collective humanity here. I’m not talking about my fellow, my fellow Canadians or you talking about your fellow Americans, it’s more broad-based widespread than that, and it goes much deeper than that.

Bob Wheeler: [00:28:31] Absolutely. Absolutely. Collective humanity is incredibly important for all of us. So we’re at the Fast Five, so I’m, we’re, we’re coming towards the end. We’re coming to the end, and I’ve got my fast five that I told you, I was going to throw at you. Off the top, cuff answers.

How would your friends describe you?

Lisa McDonald: [00:28:50] That’s tough, because I’ve got friends from all walks of life. I’ve got people who, depending on the situation, because I’m big on accountability. Some people would think I’m a tough cookie. Some people might think I’m not approachable. Some people would think I’m very approachable. It, it depends on the specific, is it, the specificity of the relationship and the dynamic. I think overall, people know I’m a good person.

Bob Wheeler: [00:29:12] Yeah, I think they know that. Who would you want to be stranded on, on, with on a desert island?

Lisa McDonald: [00:29:18] Oprah Winfrey. She’s my number one and tangible mentor. I’ve been trying to get her on radio, and I’m in quarterly contact with her PR people, but she’s just so overextended. But it’s always been my goal to get her on radio, get her on my podcast. So that’s why I want to be stranded with her because then she could teach me.

Bob Wheeler: [00:29:39] I love it. And what three items would you take? So I actually think I know what your three items you would take with you on that deserted island. You’d probably have a camera and a mic.

Lisa McDonald: [00:29:47] Absolutely. I would need, I need water or Chapstick. Chapstick and water.

Bob Wheeler: [00:29:54] What other item would you have?

Lisa McDonald: [00:29:55] And maybe somebody on my team to help me facilitate all the things.

Bob Wheeler: [00:30:00] I just want a big palm tree to make sure I’ve got some shade.

Lisa McDonald: [00:30:03] Absolutely.

Bob Wheeler: [00:30:04] If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?

Lisa McDonald: [00:30:08] Coming out of the womb.

Bob Wheeler: [00:30:12] Fresh start.

Lisa McDonald: [00:30:13] Let’s do a complete do over. That’s my answer. Let’s do a complete do over.

Bob Wheeler: [00:30:19] Complete do over. Would you want to come back at that rebirth with some of the knowledge that you already have, or do you want to start fresh?

Lisa McDonald: [00:30:26] No, I would need to have the knowledge, otherwise I don’t want to come out of the birth canal again. I don’t want to put myself through that unless it’s with, how, the knowledge that would help me make different decisions in my life. Absolutely.

Bob Wheeler: [00:30:37] Yeah. That’s great. Where are you fearless in your life?

Lisa McDonald: [00:30:41] That’s a great question. Just taking risks, you know, with every aspect, whether it’s business relationships, parenting, putting myself out there, you know, to connect with people, to resonate with people. I just think it’s my risk taking that would be applicable and interchangeable with all aspects of my life.

Bob Wheeler: [00:31:02] Awesome. So we’re at that sweet spot, M & M spot, the Money and Motivation.

Can you give listeners a practical financial tip that’s worked for you or a piece of wealth wisdom that you’ve learned along the way as an entrepreneur?

Lisa McDonald: [00:31:14] Always pay yourself first. You know, even if you’re paying out of pocket to pay yourself first, but you put it in a separate account, do it.

Bob Wheeler: [00:31:24] And what’s the biggest obstacle people say to that? Like, because I know that’s like, that’s such a great thing. Pay yourself first. And a lot of people will say but, but, but, right? They’ll put up an obstacle. What do you think is the biggest obstacle for people not paying themselves first?

Lisa McDonald: [00:31:37] Well, then they’ve got their priorities mixed up because they’re still buying their Starbucks coffee. They’re still buying their cigarettes. They can still afford to put gas in their tank. They can still afford to buy their kids clothes. Even if it’s second hand, there’s money, people. Sell your stuff on Kijiji. If you have to, I don’t care. eBay. There’s, there’s, there’s so many ways to make money, find money, get money.

Right? But people don’t want to be strategic or ego gets in the way. Well, what if I have to like, look a certain way in people’s eyes. Like I don’t have it all together. People are going to think I have it all together. If I start talking about money or making it appear, like I don’t have enough of it, people are going to think, oh, you’re not all together.

You know? It’s feast and famine for everybody in the midst of a pandemic.

Bob Wheeler: [00:32:29] Yeah, no, absolutely. And I do, I think it is all about mindset and that’s sort of what you’ve talked about. It’s about mindset. It’s about intentionality. It’s about accountability. And it’s, it really boils down to walking, walking the talk. And we may not always hit the mark a hundred percent, but it’s about getting back up, moving forward, taking risks, and, and showing up.

Lisa McDonald: [00:32:53] Absolutely. Bingo.

Bob Wheeler: [00:32:54] Yeah, that’s…

Lisa McDonald: [00:32:55] Bingo. I loved your questions, Bob. Thank you.

Bob Wheeler: [00:32:57] Absolutely. Well, where can people find you online and social media, and where can they find your books?

Lisa McDonald: [00:33:03] So I’m on Amazon. My books can be found on Amazon. You know, I was also doing for many years in a row, I was doing multiple books signings at various book locations.

That’s kind of changed right now based on the landscape of the pandemic. I’m all over social media, a lot converts for me, with people who are like-minded in the entrepreneurial world over on LinkedIn, love my friends on LinkedIn. It really converts over there because people actually respect and value what goes into what it is you do and what your specialty is, what your level of expertise is.

But I’m on Facebook. You know, you can find me at my website, lisa@livingfearlesslywithlisa.com. Or no, that’s my email. I think I’ve got too many handles.

Bob Wheeler: [00:33:43] You gotta get a handle on your handle.

Lisa McDonald: [00:33:44] Yeah, absolutely! So lisa@livingfearlessly.com is my website. lisa@livingfearlesslywithlisa.com is my email. I’m very comfortable with my phone number because I generally don’t do business with people unless I speak with them first. So my phone number is (289) 684-7707. I’m located here in Canada, Eastern standard time.

I’m accessible everywhere. And I’m all over in terms of where podcasts, podcasts get uploaded. So Apple, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Podchaser, FeedBlitz, you name it. I’m all over the place.

Bob Wheeler: [00:34:21] Stitcher.

Lisa McDonald: [00:34:22] Sure, I was just going to say C-suite Radio Network and the Contact Talk Radio Network as well. And I also, I’m a VIP contributor for Arianna Huffington site, Thrive Global, and you can find my content on Medium as well.

Bob Wheeler: [00:34:35] Awesome. Well, we’ll put all of that up in the notes. We just want to say to our listeners, please, don’t forget to share the love, follow us, and give us a like on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Search for MoneyYouShouldAsk, all one word. Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Visit Apple Podcasts and search for Money You Should Ask or click on the link below. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to YouTube and subscribe to our channel. For more tips, tools, or to learn how to have a healthier relationship with money, visit themoneynerve.com. That’s nerve, NERVE, not nerd.

Lisa. It’s been so awesome having you. I so appreciate you being on the show with us today, Lisa.

Lisa McDonald: [00:35:12] Well, it’s lovely to play with you again on your show. I really enjoyed having you on my program. And I just want to say that I appreciate your time, I appreciate what it is you’re doing for people out there in the collective, and this has been a treat, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I appreciated the questions. I appreciated the humor, and thank you for not making me cry.

Bob Wheeler: [00:35:36] Sometimes we get, we let people have a pass. You don’t have to cry.

Lisa McDonald: [00:35:39] Thank you for the pass.

Bob Wheeler: [00:35:41] Yeah. Thank you so much.