Laura: There are people up here who know this subject: "I know how to run a dental office," or, "I'm sober, and I've been sober for 20 years," or, "I know AI inside and out." And then there are people down here who get the concept, like new dental office people: "I get the concept of insurance, but I don't know that I understand all the words you're using." Or people who are sober curious: "I get the concept of what it would be like not to drink, but I don't know if I can do it because of all these things." And it's the same with AI. One of the things that I found, and why I love AI right now, is that there's a bridge we need to build. How can we get people over this level they need to actually feel comfortable with it?
Anne: Hello, everyone. It's Anne Duffy, and welcome to Dental Entrepreneur Woman, the Just DeW It podcast. I'm so happy that you're with me today, and I'm so excited because I have a very dear friend with me. She's such a smart, gorgeous, fabulous woman in dentistry, and I want to tell you a little bit about her before we get started.
Laura Nelson is the VP of AI training and development at Mango Voice, founder of Front Office Rocks, co-founder of Sober Life Rocks, and author of four books, including Brush Up on AI. She helps dental teams lead with confidence, technology, and heart. One of her fun facts is that she has been alcohol-free since 2020 and owns a creative DIY studio in Coronado, California.
Please help me welcome my dear friend, Laura Nelson. Hello, Laura.
Laura: Hi. I'm so excited to be here.
Anne: I'm so glad you're here too, Laura. If you're watching this on YouTube, the plaque back there that says DeW Life is so gorgeous. Laura, you gave that to me, I think it was right after you opened your studio in Coronado.
Laura: Yes, a couple years ago. For anybody listening, it's AR Workshop, and they're a franchise, so there might be one in your area. I own one in Coronado and made that.
Anne: It's so beautiful. It's so dear. I think of you every day when I get into my office, and every Zoom meeting that I'm on like this, I can see it in the background. It's so beautiful.
And then, of course, Mango gave me this for Christmas, and I love this. I've got a DeW Yeti, but I've got a Mango HydroJug, and it keeps me hydrated because of those beautiful people at Mango. This is what we do, right? We connect people in dentistry, and we connected you with Mango. I'll never forget when Rich said, and I hope he doesn't mind this, "I don't have a woman in our company that I can send to DeW." And I remember saying, "Well, I know the perfect person for you."
And now you're leading AI as VP for Mango, and it's such a great company, as we were talking about before we started. Great culture. And here you are.
Laura: You have made so many significant, impactful things happen in my life. From the very first DeW conference, I remember walking in and thinking, "I'm not sure what I'm walking into," and it was amazing. I've been to every one, I think, ever since. Sober Life Rocks launched at DeW. My new career at Mango was because of DeW. All the good stuff comes out of DeW. I can't thank you enough.
Anne: My pleasure. Good DeWs find good DeWs, and good dudes find good DeWs, because those guys at Mango are dudes. You not only came to the first retreat, but since then, you've shown up, Laura, and that's really what it takes.
You're such a leader. I've seen you grow immensely, start businesses, sell businesses, buy them back, and start businesses again. You are the ultimate entrepreneur and now intrapreneur for the company you're working for.
Laura: Which is so funny, because people called me an entrepreneur early on. I was in dentistry because I was married to a dentist, so I thought, "I don't think of myself as an entrepreneur." But now, through all of the things I've bought, gotten involved with, and started, I do embrace that label. That's part of why I love DeW. We have these conversations where we say, "I don't feel this way, but I am doing the things." We learn a lot about ourselves at DeW and our strengths.
You keep asking me my strengths, and I'm like, "It never sticks," but it makes sense why my last 20 years have been the way they are because of my strengths and amazing people like you, who have been part of the stepping stones to where I am today.
Anne: I think we see something in you, for starters. Your number one is Activator. As an Activator, you don't think much about it; you just know you can do it. You're an Achiever as well. Your strengths are so strong. There is nothing that you can't do. When something comes to your plate or to your table, you say, "Yes, I can do it," and then you dive in with both feet.
I think that's what makes you stand out: you really give it your all, no matter what you're in, even with your office when you first became office manager. Even though it was your husband, it was still yours. It's always yours to build off of.
Laura: I think along the way, we can learn about our strengths, and we can have our careers and all this stuff, but I think there's something missing early on that I have more of now than before, based on what you're saying, and that's wisdom.
Anne: Oh, yes.
Laura: Just because I can do it all, just because I can take on things—my challenge is always if somebody says, "You can't do it," or, "You can do it," that's what I need. Game on, right? But now I'm learning more and more, and we were just talking about this before with AI, that just because I can do it doesn't mean I should do it anymore.
That's been a big difference, learning balance, because there is no such thing as life-work balance. But you can learn to say no. Even with AI, we could build 50 businesses if we wanted, but it's not my time in life to be doing that kind of stuff.
Anne: I also think, to your point, life is long. I like to think of life as long, so who knows what you'll be doing down the line?
Laura: How old were you when you started DeW?
Anne: I was 62 when I hung up the phone. Like so many other things that happen in life, I didn't set out to start DeW. I'm an Activator as well. I was mad that my friend was bullied, and darn it, I was going to do something about it. We have a lot in common. I think just about all of the DeWs have Achiever in their top three or so, because we're all doers.
Laura: I want to tell the backstory. We tell the story a lot about Sober Life Rocks. Sober Life Rocks started at DeW because you asked me to be on a panel. If you've heard anything about Sober Life Rocks, if not, look it up in a past podcast.
But it started because we were talking about people in the room, and there's a good percentage of people who don't drink or are trying not to drink. But I'm going to back it up to you and me. We were at a conference when this whole thing launched, and it was the last day. We were both leaving and passing each other, and we had a conversation about the night before. We were at this professional conference, but the amount of alcohol that was flowing and the amount of questionable conversations and decisions stood out.
As the amazing woman you are, we were talking about the younger women and how they feel like they need to do these things, network this way, and stand around the bar. You and I were like, "We wish we could show them that you don't have to do that. We don't have to do it that way." That conversation got you to invite me to DeW to be on that panel, which has changed, I hope, lots of lives and more to come.
That is what I love about you. You're always looking for ways, even if it's not your personal purpose or mission, to let us spotlight and leave the ladder down for the next generation. That's what I love about DeW. You and I have a lot of work ahead of us, but hopefully that will make a better path for those coming behind us.
Anne: Yes, leave that ladder down all the time. But as you and I both know, they're pushing us up too. I think of Brandi Marcellino. She's young, and she's pushing you up and not letting you stop.
I have goosebumps about Sober Life Rocks. Seriously, check that out because that was a total light bulb for me. I remember the retreat before that, I had a secret mimosa in front of everybody, and I thought that was so fun. Looking back on it, that was a big mistake because I know there was one beautiful young gal in the room, it was her first retreat, and she was trying to be sober. Everybody was sipping, and I didn't tell them there was champagne in it. It didn't even occur to me, Laura. That was only four years ago, I think.
Laura: Yes.
Anne: And what I've learned since. Then at the next retreat, you came, and we had that big party at the party center and the fashion show, and the only thing we had for people who weren't drinking was water.
Laura: Yes.
Anne: And the bartenders kind of made you feel like, "Well, why aren't you drinking wine?" I remember Christy Bolts immediately, when the house party was the next day, dialing up Target. They delivered cases of sparkling waters and all sorts of non-alcoholic beverages.
Laura: And you know what came from that? That night, there were so many discussions around this, which is the whole goal of Sober Life Rocks. There were so many discussions with women talking about how they're trying not to drink, or maybe they just want to limit the amount of drinking. Not that alcohol shouldn't be there, but there should be options.
I just love that there are women who are in menopause, women who are trying to get pregnant, and all these things. Why can't we also talk about options for drinking? We talk about all these other health, fitness, and wellness things. I really appreciate you giving us the platform. We didn't know where this was going to go when you gave me the platform, but it's been amazing.
Anne: It is amazing. I love hearing women talk about it. Sober curious—I love that. I think all of us since then, honestly, are evaluating how much we drink, when we drink, why we drink, and whether we have to drink. Why can't I just drink water before I go to bed? There's nothing wrong with that.
In three years, Laura, you have made such a difference because the conversation is going on and we're looking at things. Thank you. I love you so much. Again, you took that and you didn't stop.
Laura: It was me and my business partner.
Anne: And your business partner, Margie. Even Margie, and I know that you've got to listen to your podcast, because Margie never really talked about it to anybody until then.
Laura: No, and she's 30 years sober and didn't talk about it. I was newly sober, and she had been sober for a long time. We weren't really having these conversations, and we were like, "This is just not working. People should be able to talk about this."
At the second DeW after we started Sober Life Rocks, a lady came up to me after the party, the next day, and she thanked me. I didn't know her. She was part of DeW, but we had just met. She said because of what we're doing, she didn't drink the night before. I didn't meet her or talk about it with her, but because the conversation is being had, people are starting to get permission to choose not to if they don't want to.
I appreciate that, and who knows where this is going. Of course, Margie's happy. We have our second conference coming up. We'll have 200 people there. But me? I want 2,000. I want 20,000. Stadiums. I want stadiums. I want to change society. I'm like, "Oh, we're just starting," which for her is like, "Oh, boy." But why not? Why can't we change it?
Anne: I can see that happening because every conference I've been to since has had the non-alcoholic options and has been aware. But of course, you've been working it. You've been boots on the ground, calling the conferences, and they've never had anybody even ask them those questions before.
Laura: Exactly.
Anne: Which is so beautiful. I love it, especially giving permission. Back to your point, we're old enough that we can do whatever the heck we want. Well, you're not. I'm old enough that I can do whatever I want.
But the young gals are still trying to fit in. They're trying to figure out how to get a job, how to do this.
Laura: How to get promoted.
Anne: Yes, and that just seems mainstream. Even guys. Just give everybody permission that it's okay and it's cool. You're actually making it cool.
Laura: Right. Not to make this whole podcast about that, but part of the reason I didn't stop drinking earlier is because I was afraid I wouldn't have fun. Then I met a bunch of people because I started talking to people who don't drink, and a lot of people in our industry don't drink. I was like, "But you're so fun." And they're like, "You don't need to have alcohol to have fun." And I'm like, "Well, I don't know if I can do that."
I didn't know if I knew how to go to a concert without alcohol. Then I learned, and I was like, "Why can't we at least make it accessible to everybody?" I'm actually having more fun and waking up less tired the next morning, so it's a win-win. But it took me a while to learn that I could do that.
Anne: And with your stature, and of course living your strengths of Significance, this is being in the balcony of Significance: to make a change, to make a real difference. There is no wonder that you are doing this because this is the talent you've been given, on purpose for a purpose. You partnering with Margie—she has other gifts—and together you guys are making some great things happen. I'm so proud of you, and of course we back you 100%. Good luck. When is the conference coming up?
Laura: March 12 and 13, and it's in Phoenix. This year, last year it was a little bit more around the sober community. This year, it's around everybody who can see value in bringing in better options.
The biggest thing we're seeing right now is that loneliness is an epidemic.
Anne: Yes.
Laura: And you can get everything in your house. You don't have to leave. You can get food delivered, watch movies, and have all the stuff at your home. So why leave? Why go to events? It's for connection. Whether it's a conference or a girlfriend's house, a lot of it starts with alcohol. Let's go fishing and drink beer. Let's go to sports. Let's go to a concert and drink. We're not saying that alcohol shouldn't be there, but what we're saying is that we could do better about connection. We could do better about how we help people connect. After a couple drinks, connection is not the goal of alcohol, right?
Anne: Yes.
Laura: So we're trying to show the mainstream how you can do other things to help people connect and have better options, so people who don't drink don't feel the pressure to do it to fit in. That's really the goal.
We're trying to bring business owners, meeting planners, hotel CEOs, and anybody we can get. People in the sports industry—anybody who is here to say it's time to have better options for these events so that we can help people feel connected and not feel so alone.
Anne: It makes so much sense, but it's also an aha moment. You saying, "Can I really have fun?" makes me think, "Can I really not have a cocktail or two?" I like to have one, but I don't need two. I don't need three. If you've lived long enough and you've had a hangover, you don't ever want to have another one.
Laura: Right.
Anne: But it's also giving yourself permission that that's okay, and we're going to have fun anyway. You're mainstreaming sober life, and Sober Life Rocks because it does rock. Sober Life Rocks is for people all around. It's for the curious, even if you've been to Al-Anon or AA. It's for all of you because we have to understand that. It's going to be raucous, actually, and no one's going to get hurt. There's something really special about good, clean fun, right?
Laura: Yes. The conference is called Amplify Sober Choices, and that's all we're really trying to do. Everybody's been affected by an addiction of some sort, whether it's in your family or whatever. A lot of people who don't drink keep it quiet. They don't talk about it in their business life.
This is something I'm most proud of, honestly: overcoming and not feeling like, when I go to conferences, I have to drink and do all that. Why can't I be proud of that? I'm going against societal norms. That's really what we're trying to do, make it one of our superpowers. If you do drink, that's great, but you've got people in your life who don't. How do you make them feel like they're part of the connection?
Anne: The brave and courageous thing about it is that instead of keeping it to yourself and just having a wine glass with Sprite in it, you're actually proud of the fact that you're sober now, that you have a reason for it, and it's okay, and you're talking about it.
Laura: You know why? Because people who don't drink will get the little rocks glass and put a lime in it because they don't want people to ask them, "Why are you drinking?" Nobody asks you why you don't eat fish. Why are you drinking? There's pressure, right?
The thing about that is when you aren't drinking, you feel like everybody else in the room is drinking because everybody has the little rocks glass with a lime. When you feel alone, it's already hard enough to walk into a room of strangers. It's hard enough to do that first day and not know anybody when you're brand-new.
Anne: Yes.
Laura: It's hard. When you feel you're alone, that's when you start to feel like, "I need to leave early," or, "Everybody's drinking. I should drink," or whatever.
Anne: You don't belong.
Laura: You don't belong. When we're actually showing that not everybody's drinking, and there's a good percentage of women or people in here not drinking, you no longer feel alone. It's kind of like what you're doing with DeW. We go to conferences now, and there's a meetup, and we know there are other DeWs there. You could go and have imposter syndrome and feel like you're not qualified, but when you find other DeWs among thousands of people, you're like, "I'm not alone. I've got other women here to support me." That's basically what we're trying to do with this: show people they're not alone.
Anne: Yes, because you call her a wingman, right?
Laura: Yes.
Anne: We have to have a DeW wing girl also. The other thing that hit me when you were talking, Laura, is that it's not only that you feel alone, but you're hiding a secret.
Laura: Yes.
Anne: You're not authentic because you're embarrassed or afraid, or you don't want anybody to ask you.
Laura: You just get tired of it.
Anne: Yes. It's interesting that you can be so proud of it, and you should be. You don't have to make a big deal about it, but what you're doing is making it mainstream and making it normal. That's what we all want to be. Everybody wants to be in the normal group and still be able to be ourselves, but not have it be out of control and fret over it the next morning, like, "What did I say?" and all that kind of stuff.
Laura: There are a lot of people who don't want to be in the spotlight. When I first started this, somebody said, "I don't want to be the poster child for this." I said, "Don't worry, I already am."
Anne: Yes.
Laura: Then there are people like Brandi, who's very active with me in this, and she talks about it. I don't know how much she talked about it before, but now she gets the mission. She's like, "I'm just going to share this." Some of us are fine to stand up on stage and say, "This is who I am," so that the people who don't want to do that can not feel alone and feel okay with their decisions. That's ultimately what we're trying to do by bringing all different kinds of people together.
Anne: Another cool thing about it is that at the time in your life when this came to you, you already had the gravitas. It's really lovely that you had the clout and expert status in your field, so that women and men are taking notice. There's a time for everything, and sometimes we have to trust that process.
It's just beautiful. Continued success to you and Margie and Brandi and everybody who's working with you on Sober Life Rocks. I will continue to learn and be curious. I'd love to come to your conference, so we'll think about that.
Let's talk about AI. Let me ask you my first question. You've built successful communities in both dentistry and the sober movement. What have those experiences taught you about what people are really looking for when they want to connect and belong?
Laura: It's interesting taking what we just talked about and then putting it into AI. I started Front Office Rocks, the team training website with all these topics. I think there are people up here who know the subject: "I know how to run a dental office," or, "I'm sober, and I've been sober for 20 years," or, "I know AI inside and out." And then there are people down here who get the concept. New dental office people might say, "I get the concept of insurance, but I don't know that I understand all the words you're using." Or people who are sober curious might say, "I get the concept of what it would be like not to drink, but I don't know if I can do it because of all these things."
It's the same with AI. One of the things that I've found, and why I love AI right now, is that there's a bridge we need to build. I did this with Front Office Rocks. I take new people and teach them the ins and outs of dentistry so they'll love their career. Same with Sober Life Rocks. I'm trying to mainstream this so people who are curious around sobriety or sober choices can be okay to learn and see what it's like to not drink and go to events.
That's where we are with AI. That's what I'm so excited about for the next 10-plus years of my career. I really want to bridge this. There are people who use AI, but they're just chatting with ChatGPT.
Anne: Yes.
Laura: Great, but you're not really using AI. And a lot of times, when we talk to people who are really using AI—you and I have a good friend, Sarah, and she's in it. She's way ahead of me at lightning speed, but she talks at a high level, and there are a lot of people who are like, "I've heard of Claude. I understand concepts, but I don't know how to get there."
That's where I feel like I've learned there is a bridge. When things move very fast and people think they should get it, they shake their heads a lot of times and say, "Yes," and then they leave and they don't really understand.
Anne: And they don't implement.
Laura: They don't implement, and then they feel like they should. That's the biggest thing. They feel like, "I should," and "should" is an awful word. Don't should all over yourself. "I should use AI." Do you really need to use AI? You and I have talked about this. I don't know. You've got to ask the right questions. Do you really need to be sober? I don't know. That's a personal question. Here are some tips and tools, right?
That's what I've learned from building a following, helping people understand something, and having them trust me in this area. My goal right now is to get dental team members to really want to use AI, learn it enough that they start to embrace it, because our industry is going there. There's no question. AI is here. How can we get people over this level so they actually feel comfortable with it?
Anne: You're okay with the baby steps. We need people like Sarah who are ahead because we have to go for that. But you're kind of pushing, and she's kind of dragging.
Laura: I'm also okay to say, "I don't know," and I think that's key. I say all day, "I don't know. Teach me. What does this mean?" I have no problem doing that. I think like the newbie. I think like the person who says, "That's a word I've never heard. What does that mean?"
Not saying Sarah doesn't either, but she's learning. We're picking on Sarah here, and she's just amazing. So many people are really, really using this, but there are still all these people behind who are like, "I want to, but I don't understand it."
Anne: "If only I could do it." But you can. You just have to hang on. You start small. Honestly, it's kind of like a doctor who didn't want to use a computer.
Laura: Yes.
Anne: You have to stick with it. You don't have to be a Sarah, eating it and dreaming about it, but you still have to embrace it because you're going to be really left behind if you don't. I love the idea of just giving them that little taste of it.
Laura: Yes, a little curiosity there. Then some will dive in deeper, and some will just be okay with knowing a little bit.
The same with when I talk about sober choices. It's about awareness and questioning what works for you. I don't care if you drink or don't drink. I don't really care. I don't care if you use AI or don't use AI. But if you come to me and say, "I just don't have enough time," like you and I just talked about, all those Zoom meetings we're on, I'm like, "Cool. Here's an AI tool you can use to help prep you for meetings and summarize meetings. That's perfect for you. You don't need to go learn all of this Claude Code stuff. You can get just the little AI that's going to help." You have to be aware.
Anne: That's the key, and I think that's exciting because you're speaking at the retreat. By then, who knows? We've got four months to go, something like that. What's going to happen by then? But it's like strengths too. What you're good at, lean into that. What your goal is, lean into that as far as AI goes.
You went from teaching dental front office systems to becoming a leader in AI education, which is incredible, smarty-pants. Not everybody can do that. What helped you embrace change instead of learning it? What advice would you give to others navigating major shifts in their career? Since I've known you, I've seen shifts, especially from when you started off working in your family dental practice to where you are now, VP for a major company on steroids.
Laura: Yes. I think a few things. For one, trust the process. It's easy for me to say that, Anne, because I sold my business, and I sold it to a company that—I don't regret selling it, but it was a really long, tough five years. In those five years, my best friend got fired. They let my whole company go. Now I can look back and see why, because I'm where I'm supposed to be, and I'm glad I don't own that company anymore. Anybody listening, the company that owns it now is an amazing company. But the five years before that were really hard, and now I can look back and say, "I know why this was supposed to happen."
Anne: Yes.
Laura: Whatever your faith is, whatever you believe, the universe or God or whatever, just trust the process. I have a stepdaughter right now going through some tough stuff at work, and I'm like, "I remember going through that at 25, and that formed the manager I am now, the leader I am now." She has to go through it because she's going to make decisions later in life that will make a difference. So trust the process.
The second thing is to look for what's not been addressed yet. Look for the niche or what the people need, whoever you're coaching or consulting or serving in business. For example, I'm a big member of AADOM, which is the dental office manager group, and I love them for dental office managers. But I felt like there was nothing addressing the team members, the front office team members. So that's why I started Front Office Rocks.
Anne: Okay, because I love rocks the same way.
Laura: There are people who are sober and go to community and do all that, but there are a lot of people who are curious right now. It's a big conversation, and what are we doing to address them? With AI, like I said, there are people who know AI and there are people who are still struggling with it. I'm finding the niche in there. Find something where you can speak to that right person, that avatar, and really solve a problem for them. That's really been my focus. I can look back on the evolution of my career and say I'm targeting the person who really needs help in that area.
Anne: Knowing you and thinking about your career, you've always been involved in community. You were involved in AADOM. You're involved now with the community of Sober Life Rocks. You're involved in DeW. You show up to all these. It's like you say, "I don't know everything, but I can learn from the people in the room." You have to be open to that.
I guess you've always been kind of curious because you're always learning. Then again, you're executing. You just execute, so that's kind of cool too.
Laura: That's a good point. Sometimes when you're in a community, you're the leader. With Sober Life Rocks, I have to be the face. Margie is the implementer, and I'm the face. But when I first came to DeW, I walked in and thought, "I don't know what we're doing here." Because I am a get-things-done business person. What's the outcome of this? We walked in, and there were Kleenexes on the table and hugging and stuff. I was like, "This is not my thing," right? But I trusted you, and I trusted the process.
Over the last however many years I've been coming to DeW, I found a coach, Tarryn MacCarthy. I'm just going to throw it out there for her. She's been an amazing happiness coach. I realized a couple years into this, as I'm with all of these beautiful women, that I was happy from the shoulders up. I got sober and I was doing all the business things, but it was all in my brain. I wasn't happy in my heart, truly happy. I've gone through a lot of life things, and at DeW, I looked around and said, "How are some of these women so happy?" Tarryn was one of them. I thought, "I want to connect with her."
I trusted the process. Being in the room with you and with all these beautiful people you bring together, I could find where I needed help, which was coaching for myself. Not my brain, not learning more, but actually working on me.
When you're in these rooms and in community, look for why you're here. What do you need to get out of it? Where do you need to grow or learn? Who do you need to connect with? Community is the way to do it, for sure.
Anne: As we say in principle number four, the answer is in the ladies' room. You're going to find somebody there who's going to help you. Sometimes we don't even know. When you just said that, I'm thinking to myself, you were so busy doing all the work, you never even thought about from the neck down, in a sense: the heart, the soul, the mind. You had to get this done, chop-chop.
Sometimes it is a pause, and there's a little bit for everybody. I think last year, nobody really used Kleenexes, but you never know.
Laura: No, last year was a different one.
Anne: Yes. You never know what's going to happen because we have an agenda, but the aura of these women—and as we know, the women in dentistry. We can't leave dentistry. The people in dentistry are amazing. We're so lucky. Making dentistry better is part of our mission, and that trickles out not just to the patient, but to the families of the professionals and all of those things.
There really isn't anything like picking the phone up and calling a DeW because they get you. They get what you're talking about, and they know the ins and outs. But you're an icon in the industry. So many women look up to you, honestly, because we've seen your journey, and you command respect, Laura. I think it's because of the way you walk through life and the courageous moves you've made.
As we wrap this up, looking back at your journey as an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and educator, what is one lesson you wish you had learned 10 years earlier?
Laura: That's a good one. I think it would be to ask for help earlier, better, and more. You and I talked about my best friend who helped build my business, Janelle.
Anne: Love her.
Laura: We were best friends outside of dentistry. She's a hygienist, but we were friends outside of dentistry, and she forced help on me.
Anne: She's pretty bossy.
Laura: Yes, with love, but she forced help on me. Over the years, I realized I get in my own way sometimes. "I can do it. Just put my head down. Just make it happen." If I could go back and tell my younger self something, it would be, "Ask for help. Allow people to help you."
I'm an only child. I was a military kid. You just did it. You just put your head down and worked hard.
Anne: No complaining.
Laura: Right. Tarryn and I just had a coaching call last week about that. A lot of overachiever women, if you go back and look, were taught early on not to cry and not to show emotion.
Anne: Snap out of it.
Laura: Yes. Get out of it. So now, to process emotions is hard for me. A lot of the time, if you don't get it out, she describes it as pushing a beach ball underwater. I think that's part of it. Asking for help before felt like failure. It felt like I'm just not strong.
Now I can be stronger in my strengths when I have others around me who can be there for me for the help I need. The help I need might just be a hug from my husband or a nap. Like, cover me, watch the dog, or whatever. But allow people to help you.
Anne: It's the little things, isn't it? A special thing about DeW and what you're building at Sober Life Rocks is that you have confidence in the people who are in the room who are going to help you. It's sometimes letting your guard down. Especially when you're getting coached, you have to dig deep to be who you really are to get anything out of it. That's scary when you've never done that before, when you were always standing strong and being can-do.
That's all women. Women have the hardest time asking for help. I think that's something we need to learn. We have to have another talk on that. I don't know if anyone's doing a talk on that. We've had it before, but that's next year, for sure.
Laura: I want to say, for anybody listening to this, this is my thing. I told you this, so you've heard this story before, but walking into DeW, and I said the Kleenex thing, I walked in thinking, "What's the business? What's the ROI? What's the thing?" In this room, there are so many badass women. There are women I respect, young women coming up, and I'm like, "God, I wish I was like her at 20." All of the things.
But the one thing about DeW is that when you see them at other conferences, we all look the part. We're the Instagram, be-successful, whatever. But when we come into DeW, there are two things. We leave the egos at the door. You can literally turn to anybody and say, "I need help," and they will sit down and talk to you.
The second thing is that we hear the real stories behind these women. You hear about divorce. You hear about loss in their life. You hear about job issues. You hear about why you started DeW. We hear about so many real things, and some of it brings tears. Some of it gets us pumped up, like last year, and we can do better.
But when you leave that room, you not only see the badass women, but you see them as more badass now. You see them and you're like, "Wow, she's overcoming. She's got 10 kids at home, and she's doing this." That's the thing: we actually get to let the guard down and be ourselves.
Last year, a couple people mentioned to me that I told my full story on a panel of selling my business, how hard it was, going through divorce, and rebuilding my life. People have said to me this year, when they see me at conferences, that it was so impactful for them. I wouldn't tell that story at any other conference. I wouldn't stand on stage and say, "I got divorced from the dentist, and I had to stop drinking." But we can do it at DeW. We can really share our real stories, and it's immense.
Anne: The impact of that for somebody sitting in the seat is so profound because we think it was easy. We think you did it easily, and if you can get up after that, maybe I can get up too. And I'm going to have somebody help me get up.
Laura: It was Victoria Peterson who I heard on stage say that, at the point she was talking, she wasn't drinking. She told her story, and I saw her as a woman ahead of me in our career, someone I've always respected, and I thought, "If she can do it, I can do it." We don't know when we're telling a story how it's going to impact. We don't know who needs to hear whatever it is. But DeW is a safe space to do that. Thank you for building this for all of us and for the many more women who are going to come and join.
Anne: Thank you. Again, I opened a door, and the women are amazing, and you are one of them. Laura Nelson, thank you so much for being with me today. I could spend all day with you, but I have to wrap this up. How do we get in touch with you? I want to know how to get in touch with Sober Life Rocks and how to get in touch with you at Mango because we love Mango. They are cutting-edge. They're churning it out so fast and staying on top of it. Tell us how to get in touch with you.
Laura: Brush Up on AI is my AI group on Facebook if you just want to follow along and get tips and tricks. Sober Life Rocks is the website. You can learn about our conference. You don't have to be sober to come; you can just be part of the movement and the interest in normalizing sober choices.
And then Mango Voice, which again, you said they started because they didn't have any women. We have a ton of amazing women, and we've hired a ton. We just found out we're sending a whole bunch of women to DeW. Amazing.
Mango Voice is an AI company, voice over IP phones, and I'm there helping build AI voice agents. We've got a lot of great stuff coming out and, more importantly, an amazing company that is focused on our industry. Our leadership team is top-notch, and it's a great company to partner with. You can find out more at Mango Voice or find me on all the channels and all the things. I'm everywhere. Just message me.
Anne: You are everywhere, and we love seeing you. I love getting hugs, and I love our friendship that will continue. Take care. I'm so glad you saw Janelle. Shout-out to Janelle. I hope you're listening to this today because we love you too.
Honestly, anyone who's listening today, the most important thing you can do is to keep doing you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. Laura, take care. I'll see you on the road, okay?
Laura: Sounds good. Thank you.
Anne: Bye, darling.
