From Newsroom to PR Powerhouse: Building a Business with Purpose and Balance with Holly Conti

with Holly Conti

Oct 31, 2025 · 00:44:21

Welcome back to the Total Entrepreneur Mind Body Spirit Podcast. I really appreciate you being here. As always, if anything that you hear or watch resonates with you, please hit the like, the share, and the subscribe button. Thanks so much. Today's guest is Holly Conti. She is the co-owner and managing partner of Full Swing Public Relations, a firm that turns media visibility into meaningful sales results for mission-driven, women-led, and LGBTQ-owned businesses. A proud Syracuse University alum and former TV journalist, Holly helped scale Full Swing to a 7-figure business in under 4 years, something fewer than 2% of women-owned businesses achieve. With nearly 2 decades of leadership experience, she brings heart, strategy, and deep insight into what it takes to grow and sustain a values-aligned company. Holly also balances her business life with motherhood, mindfulness, and a daily walk. Even in upstate New York winters. Welcome to The Total Entrepreneur, Mind, Body, Spirit, where we turn cutting-edge science into practical strategies for entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Dr. John Torrance, entrepreneur, Inc. 5000 honoree, and professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management. Each episode, we dive into mental, physical, and spiritual health with expert guests offering actionable insights to help you thrive and perform at your highest level. Let's get started. Holly, welcome to the podcast. It's really, really great to have you here.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to get into it.

Yeah, of course. So, well, we first met, it was last November at the Q's 50 Summit, I believe. Is that right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think you can maybe see my award somewhere back there.

Yeah. The big heavy, heavy plaque. Yeah. They did a nice job with it. Yeah. I remember we sat on a panel together and You know, we, I remember just by the way you were answering the questions that, you know, there was some sort of alignment there, or we kind of saw, saw things in a similar way. So this is going to be a really fun conversation. I hope.

I remember that too. You were talking about like all of your, I can't even remember all the different health stuff. And I was like, oh, I've been there. I've, I've, I've tracked that.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And, and beyond that too, just like, you know, mindfulness and the way you approach things. Um, and, and I think that's a, a really important context for people to understand when they're building and growing a business.

Yeah.

So, yeah. So I wanted to start there. So before we got into, um, you know, your, um, your practices and just the way you approach life, tell us a little bit about moving from, well, you, so you were a, you were a journalist, a TV journalist, and then you got into PR. So I'm interested in just how that transition happened because a lot of the students I work with that, that incidence or that phase in life where you go from a job to your own venture. There's a lot of mystery around it and there's a lot of interest in how you make that leap. So I'd love to hear your story and how, how you did that.

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's small little miniature actions and paying attention to yourself in the moment and not looking too far ahead. For me, I think there was a time actually when I thought I wanted to be a magazine editor. And I remember someone saying to me, like, there's no money in that. It actually impacted like what I chose for school. And I wish it hadn't. I wish I hadn't listened to that small little nugget, but I did. And so when I went to SU, I enrolled in the VPA program, so School of Visual and Performing Arts, and I studied communications and rhetorical theory. And it was really the focus on how and why we communicate versus the different mediums. And I actually, you know, looking back, I'm so grateful that that is That was my foundation. So I wasn't specifically, though I was taking some classes, I, you know, I took classes on the side about separate mediums. We were really looking at like, I did a whole class, I remember, on whiteness, a whole class on Ebonics and like just learning all these different— I remember there was a class back when I was there that was all about nonverbal communication. And that deep study, I think, of how and why we communicate as humans has, in the different ways that we do, really carried me throughout my different styles of leadership. but the different experiences that I've had in my career. I mean, being a good communicator, there's really not any job that's not going to help, right?

Right.

So, but one thing that I did when I was in school is I always would try to attend the extracurricular events. And I remember there was one event, I don't even remember what it was, but there was all these different post-alums, uh, there kind of talking about their different career paths. And there was one woman there who was like the local— she was on the local TV news. And I recognized her because I grew up in the Syracuse area and my parents watched that news channel. And so I sat there and I walked right up to her afterwards and I said, I want an internship with you.

Mm-hmm.

And luckily she was so kind, as I found so many of the alum of SUR, and she gave me an internship and I was on my way to TV. And so yeah, I spent I actually ended up doing 3 semesters. The one internship, non-paid, as they usually are in communications, at least back then. Um, one semester turned into 3 and I did 3 semesters there. And then post-college, that was my first job and I was a TV producer here locally. And I thought that's what I wanted. And it's funny cuz I look back and I'm like, there's no money in magazines. There was no money in TV.

Local.

And not that that's the point. I don't even— that wasn't always— that shouldn't be the point. But in that moment, in my young 20s, you know, that's where I ended up. And I loved it. I loved the— you learn to tell stories in such a short amount of time in television. And I really loved that about it. And I really got to know my community well here in Syracuse. But after a few years, I was on to the next thing. And so I kind of started just Follow you. What you do is you just follow what's right in front of you. And I somehow ended up in the agency world in marketing.

So that, that's the, that's the part that I think a lot of people find mysterious or interesting, right? So you didn't just wake up one day, right? So there was probably a series of events and discussions and conversations and soul searching. So can you unpack that a little bit more? Like get, get into that whole decision and process and, and that leap? Because I'm sure it was full of a lot of anxiety and uncertainty and maybe Excitement too.

Yeah. My process was about understanding what I didn't want. Every time I tried a new job, even TV, there was a lot I liked about it, but there was a lot I didn't like about it. And so I would take that information. Okay. I don't like these hours. I don't like this perceived glass ceiling. I don't like, you know, these different angles of it. And okay. So what can I find next to try out? It was all a test. It was all me kind of testing out. And really for me, it was the path of this, this is not feeling good. Okay. How can I choose something that feels a little bit better next? I think for other people, hopefully it's maybe more on that positive angle of this excites me, but that for me, that was my process. I don't like this. It doesn't feel good. How can I get closer to what feels good?

Now you joined Full Swing as an employee at first, or did you come in as a partner?

I think that's such an interesting, that's an interesting path to entrepreneurship for me. When I was a kid and people asked me, you know, what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would always say creative and the boss.

Huh.

And I guess that's entrepreneurship, but I didn't know it at the time. And so I never really set out to be an entrepreneur. Um, as I shared, I took a few different career paths before winding, winding up in marketing agency world and I really thrived there. I loved the creative environment of the agency world. I loved working with our clients. We were working with clients like HP and Smithsonian and doing really big projects around branding, and you could see the visual representation of the ideas coming out into the world, and I loved that. And though I, you know, the same things start to happen, I ended up getting paired up. I was on the account side, so I was an account executive and I got paired up with the PR director. of the agency that I was at. And this was a purpose-driven agency, which I loved. I was, I had always been seeking out service and purpose. That was always my main goal of my career. I want to do something that feels good. And so I wound up at this B Corp branding agency, really socially impact focused, working with brands, doing good things in the world. And I was lit up by that and so excited. But I was paired up with the PR director on this one account and Her and I just hit it off. Something about the way that she worked and the way that I worked just really meshed, and we got to know each other really well, and and we became really close. And she decided to go off on her own and start her own thing. And I think at the time she thought it would just be a solopreneurship, you know, just be make her old salary back was her goal at that time. And she had asked me to come with her. And at that moment, I was in my early thirties. I was pregnant with my daughter, and I was like, "I can't take that." that chance. I can't take that risk. So I didn't. And, um, however, I was helping her on the side. I remember I helped her choose the logo and I helped her edit the website. And, um, I was kind of moonlighting with her at night, kind of helping her with just like little small tasks. And after a year, she had made her, uh, salary back. Her goal was just make my old salary back. She had made that in like 6 months or something. And, uh, she was really realizing like, wow, I could, maybe I actually do want to grow this. And she convinced me to leave the more, um, comfortable, the more obvious path of being an employee at the, at an established company. And she hired me to be her first employee. Um, and that was February 2020. So a month before the shutdown and everything that, you know, transpired in March of that year. But we were just in it and ready. And so, yeah, she hired me as her first employee, but in that year we tripled the business revenue. And we thought like, wow, we always knew we worked well together. Why not do this together? Why not really try to, try to go for it? And so that's when I actually became her business partner and decided to jump into the world of entrepreneurship.

It's a cool pathway. You know, you left the first job you had for another one in the agency world and then tested it out as an employee and then, and then became an owner and partner. That is a, uh, yeah, it's a unique pathway, but I, I think it afforded you some advantages. For me, it makes me think about whether the, you know, whether things just kind of conspire in your favor anyway, right? Because at first you're like, no, I don't want to do this. And then you got there eventually anyway.

I don't, yeah. I think it's because I'm always listening to like my, listening to my inner guidance. So yes, like the person who told me that there was no money in magazines, but then, you know, And I actually followed that. And then as I got older, I realized, okay, what is— what am I being told? Because actually then, like, when she— when my current business partner, but at that point she was my boss, right? She said, you can either, like, make more money as an employee right now or become a partner with me. And that's— there's a gamble there. But my inner guidance was like, I want to take that gamble. Like, I actually— I want— I want to do more here in this space. And so, yeah, I, I listened to that little voice.

Do you always listen to that inner voice or like, is there, I guess, are, are there times where you didn't listen to it and you thought you should have, or, you know, cause I, I kind of, I feel the same way sometimes, but you, you always wonder like, am I, am I interpreting this the right way?

Yeah. The inner voice is the quietest. I think that's what I've learned. And no, I definitely don't always listen to it. No, I think I most often listen to the fear.

Yeah, no, I, for sure. Yeah. So, so just back to Full Swing before we get into some of the other stuff. So, you grew, so I think it was within 3 years, you grew it to 7 figures. That, that's rare and impressive. I'm guessing that, you know, just your, your wellness, mental health, physical health, spiritual health practices probably have something to do with that, right? It doesn't just happen by accident. So, tell us about that growth phase and how you handle that. I mean, a high-growth environment isn't for the faint of heart, and you, you did it and you look like you survived it. So talk to us about that.

Completely survived it. And so happy I did. You know, my business is the same age as my daughter and yes, we tripled our business's revenue every year until year 3 when we hit 7 figures for the first time. And we have now sustained that going into, it'll be our 7th year next year. And yeah, I mean, I think that our businesses are Physical representation of the inner work that we have to do on ourselves—that's what I found. And so, when we were scaling the business early on, had my inner work at that point was to believe that I could do that, to believe that I was capable of scaling. And my dad is an entrepreneur, and my grandfather was an entrepreneur. I have those examples, but not as women. I didn't have an example of a woman who was also raising children—not in my. Who was, you know, successfully scaling and being loud about her ambitions and being loud about wanting to hit certain goals like reach 7 figures. And so a lot of my work at that point was just removing the blocks to understand that I was capable of that and that it was okay for me to want something as big as that. And that's what it was early on, but also it's true, it was a lot of long hours. It was, you can't grow like that without really putting the work in and dedicating deeply. And in order to be able to show up mentally daily. I also had to know where to set boundaries in my personal life and what to do and how to take care of myself. Even the simple things of like always having your water nearby. You got it.

Cheers.

Cheers, bud. Exactly. And those small little tasks like that were small little habits like that were the things that I relied on to sustain my physical health. And then I had to really work on my mental health so that I could Grow.

You mentioned that there were mental blocks or this negative self-talk about, you know, can I do this? Am I deserving of doing this? Talk a little bit more about that because I think a lot of young entrepreneurs get stuck into that negative self-talk cycle, right? Like whether or not they know it, they have a mistaken belief that, you know, they don't deserve to scale quickly or they don't deserve the success or they're not good enough for it. How did you, I mean, I'm, I'm assuming you had some of those thoughts. How did you get by those?

I mean, my story as a kid, and yes, I do a lot of inner child work. And my story as a child was always, I'm not smart enough. Like somehow, even though I graduated from SU, like I went to good schools, like still somehow I never felt smart enough or good enough to be in the room. And I noticed again, as when I say that our businesses are the physical representation of our limiting beliefs internally, there was a time we were in our second year as a 7-figure business owner, and I still didn't trust myself. With the finances of the business, I still thought everyone else knew better. My business partner knew better, but even beyond her, all of the coaches that we invested in and the teachers that we listened to, the different experts—they all knew better than I did about how to grow my business, how to manage my finances. And I remember it was we were in year two, and we were a seven-figure grossing company. However. We're also spending about 7 figures. If that's what they don't tell you when you're going after that big goal is that it's not about that big goal at all. It's about the profitability number. And I can talk for days about that. But, um, it was the end of the year and we were paying about $6,000 a month to a bookkeeper and like fractional CFO person. And we had a, a big client owe us a lot of money and we had kind of all of these messy things happening and our finances felt like they were completely falling down. I couldn't, we couldn't even pay ourselves that month. It was, you know, very stressful and scary. And I realized as I looked, I didn't even know. So I didn't even know how this one client paid us because I was letting someone else do that. I didn't even know. I didn't, I would spend money and ask our fractional CFO if I could, even though it was my money.

Right.

And actually, you know what I mean? And, and so there was a disconnect. Like I was spending money almost like it wasn't my own and, um, treating the money like it wasn't mine. wasn't my own. Oh, it's the business's. It's not mine. I am the business. Caitlin and I are the business. It is ours. And I realized in that moment that I wasn't trusting my ability to, specifically with the finances in that moment. And we weren't even happy with that team that we were paying $6,000 a month for. They reinforced our feelings of us not thinking that we were good at money. We ended up letting them go. We had to. We were in a cash crunch, and I ended up taking on kind of the role of managing our finances for the following year, and that was our most profitable, most financially successful year to date was the year that we finally— I trusted myself, and Kaitlyn and I trusted ourselves to take on the money portion of our business. We know we're great at— we're great communicators. We know we're good at PR. I know I'm good at leading a team, but that was the the part that I felt like I definitely need the experts for. And it wasn't until I really spent time digging into that that I learned I'm actually really good at business finances. That's actually one of my strengths. Um, our business ended up being so much healthier as a result of me trusting, trusting myself there.

What you said about growing to 7 figures, but also spending 7 figures to get there really resonates. Uh, you know, I had a, I had a mentor early on who, who told me that top line is vanity and bottom line is sanity. And I kept remembering that. Yeah, right. Because, because we always talk about the top line, right? Yeah. Spending more than you're taking in, it's really not that helpful. So, yeah.

What's the point? Yeah. I don't care about reaching a million if, you know, that's all out the door.

Yeah. I can relate to that. And I think everybody who's, who's grown quickly kind of gets that, right? But I love what you said about trusting yourself to do those things, especially when they're so core to the business, right? I mean, it's your scorecard and how you measure the financial success. So, yeah. So, let's talk about some of your practices and habits. I know you walk even in Syracuse's winter when it's freezing cold, but you, of course, do other things as well, just to keep yourself grounded and healthy and resilient. So, tell us about some of the things you do to stay in that frame.

Yeah. I mean, for me, especially as a mom and a business owner, the simpler, the better. I don't have the luxury of time, or I should say I have the luxury of time, but I have to spend it very wisely and I have to, 5 minutes has to sometimes sustain me. And so for me, it's small little habits daily, uh, like every morning. I mean, it's the, it's the entrepreneur morning routine. It's so cliché, but it really, I have to start my morning a certain way. And so I always wake up with my daughter and I always sit and have my coffee with my husband. And it's really intentional for us to, as a family first, like have that connection point in the morning. So when it's nice out, my husband and I will go sit on the porch and spend 5 minutes having our coffee and just connecting. And then we focus on getting our daughter ready for camp or school or whatever. She gets on the bus or we drop her off at camp now that it's summer, and then I have intentionally set up my days so that I don't start until 10:00 AM. And that's because I'm not an early riser. I wish I was. I wish I could play that cool card of like, I'm a 5:00 AM person. I'm just not. That's not how my makeup is. And so I need my mornings to kind of do my family thing, have the coffee. And then from 8:00 to 10:00, I walk outside, always in nature. Not always in nature. I try to go in nature. If not, then it's It's, it's in the, in the neighborhood and that works as well. But I try to, I think it's really important to have that natural sunlight on my eyes as early in the morning as possible. And I, and I'm an intentional walker. So when I walk in nature or in my neighborhood, there's no headphones. It's quiet time. I, I'm a podcast obsessed person. I'm constantly having some type of learning.

Me too.

thing in my ears, but when I'm walking, that is my quiet time and that's my time to connect with my inner thoughts. And so it's always that walk and then I come back and I meditate and then I get into my day.

So it's not complicated, right? There's a very, there's an elegant simplicity to it, but it's just a matter of making a habit out of it, right? Like, yeah.

And then the other thing that I would add there is, and then in the evening I journal, I journal every day, but both with meditating and journaling, those are 2 things that you hear entrepreneurs say all the time. And what I want to No. Is that when I was in my 20s, I started meditating and journaling. However, the way that I built that practice that I now do daily, both of them, I know so many people aspire to do. I mean, I would maybe pick up my journal or meditate one day and then not do it again for 3 months. And it went on like that for years with journaling and meditating. I would do it and then I wouldn't. And it was a really slow and gradual process to that, and literally a decade. process to that becoming a daily practice. And I think so often we feel like I'm failing if I'm not doing it every day. I set a goal and I want to be a meditator, but I do it for a month and then I drop off. So I must not be a meditator. And it's like, well, I mean, that was for me years of that before it, before it just slowly became that thing. And that's okay.

I can relate to that too, with a lot of things, right? Like, like learning Spanish. Or learning guitar or anything that you want to take up, you start with good intentions and then you do it less and then, yeah. And then until, until it has to become a priority, right?

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So I'm, I'm similar in that, I, you know, it wasn't really until, yeah, probably around the pandemic that I, I say I got good at meditating, but like I was, and I think the only reason I got quote unquote good at it is because I was consistent with it and I started using apps and biofeedback just to, cause I'm that kind of person and I need to see biofeedback. But yeah, it does eventually help. And you're right, you have to, you have to forgive yourself, right? So you miss a day, big deal. Or maybe you were very mentally active during that particular meditation, you know, big deal. Move on, right? Yeah. And I think I remember this from the Q50 Summit. Somebody had asked us something and we both talked about journaling. Yeah. So I've been, I've been keeping a journal since 1990.

Oh, that's awesome. You keep your journals? What's that? Do you keep your journals?

I do. I do. And every once in a while I'll go back, you know, and I wanna see, okay, what was I, what was I thinking, you know, 25 years ago on this day or something, right? Yeah. And it's, it's really fun to see, like, well, you know, first of all, how, how stupid you are as a young adult, right? Like, I know the things you worry about or think about are just, you know, they're comical now. And, you know, I wish I had that wisdom when I was younger, of course. Right. But it's also interesting how a lot of the same worries always come up, right? So as a, as a poor grad student without any money, you know, I was always stressed about paying my bills and this and that. And that, you know, now I'm, you know, I don't have to worry about paying my bills now, but it's still always something that's in your head, right? So I think those old habits die kind of hard, you know?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I actually remember you saying that and really resonated with that because I don't think those worries, those same, even those limiting beliefs or those trusts or, uh, the fears that you have, they evolve. you know, even if you take it back to like business finances, it's like, okay, you'll have a $5 problem or you'll have the same, you'll have a $500,000 problem or $5,000 problem, depending on the scale of your business. It's all the same thing. I recently went back and listened. Sometimes if I'm driving and I can't journal, I'll voice note myself.

Hmm.

And I went back recently, uh, kind of by accident and heard a voice note from 2022. And it was about this block that I had and I realized Oh, like I've evolved so much. You know, the goals that I was reaching toward in 2022 are, have, are long accomplished, yet those same blocks that I thought were healed are kind of showing up in different ways. It's so interesting.

Like what? Give us an example of those. Cause I think other people can relate to this for sure.

Yeah. Okay. So that one was, I don't mean to keep making this a finance podcast, Mm-hmm. But that was around that. It was actually around at the same time that I was trusting myself with business finances, I was also trusting myself with personal finances. And I realized that I tend to be a people pleaser and I'm giving away— I never feel like I belong. I'm always afraid of belonging in a room or in whether it's professional or personal. And I realized that I would often follow other people's agendas, follow other people's wants. So if it was around spending money, You know, a friend would invite us to do a vacation and we'd say like, sure, we'll go along with you. And then our kind of vacation budget was spent with that. And I then, what I wanted to do, what I was authentically drawn to for a vacation, say, all of a sudden I was depleted. And you can use that financially-wise, or you can use that, you know, from an energetic or time. I was saying yes to everyone else's agenda and putting my, um, attention into just wanting to please what everyone else wanted instead of like getting clear on what I need in this moment and choosing that first. And then the leftover, instead of the leftovers being for me, the leftovers are for the people around me. Even if I love them, they're great friends, they're good, you know, it's good invitations, it's great opportunities, but I need to preserve— at that time it was my budget, now it's more my time and energy. For myself first and then let the leftovers be for the others.

So same underlying beliefs or mistaken beliefs, uh, just different circumstances, right? Different, different, uh, yeah, different setting. It's still, I guess, driven by that belief. Yeah, I can definitely relate to that too. So with my journaling, I don't do it every day. Um, I've never done it every day. Um, it's usually like a cadence of about once, maybe twice a week. Sometimes when something big or important is going on, it's much more frequent, but it's usually once or twice a week. I've used guided journals in the past, uh, but I don't really love those cuz it's, I'm just more of a free-flowing writer, I guess. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's, it's just been one of those things that I've, I've kept up and now I've been doing it for so long. It's, it's just a habit that I enjoy and I keep going and I can't imagine not doing it.

Yeah. When do you, when do you journal?

Mostly on Sundays for whatever reason. It just seems to be a really good day for me to do, you know, I can reflect on the prior week, look ahead to the next week. Um, and then, you know, usually for what whatever reason, Tuesdays tend to be a day for me too. I don't know why that is, but a lot of my entries are on a Tuesday or a Sunday. Not sure what that means, but that's what it is. And it's usually in the morning. And, you know, a lot of— I don't know why I have this obsession with weather, right? So most of my entries just talk about, hey, what is today like, right? Oh, it's sunny, partially cloudy with a light northwest breeze, right? So like, I can— it's like I've got a farmer's almanac of the last 30 years, you know? Yeah.

And so you're— yeah, for me, it's— my journals tend to tick up when I'm in a big fear state or I'm working through something and I find that if I write it down, I'm able to work through— oftentimes I'm able to work through something on the paper that would've otherwise just been eating me up inside.

Yeah, same. So yeah, I usually, usually use it to work through problems. So yeah, when I'm, when I'm in a fear mode or stressed, or there's a lot, there's something going on, that's, yeah, my entries, uh, go up in volume for sure. And then you could tell like, you know, there's like maybe a month where I haven't written anything. I'm like, oh, things must've been really pretty chill and good that month, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So, so in terms of meditation, like, so what do you, do you use an app? Do you use guided meditations? Like when, like what's your set setting? Like how do you, how do you approach that?

So many. Um, I started as a purist and wanted to, thought like I have to be sitting up straight. And that, that's another thing is like, it doesn't have to be perfect. So in my early 20s, it was always like sitting up straight, quiet, maybe some transcendental meditation, but always really focused on doing it the right way. And then I kind of moved into, I studied yoga for a time in my 20s and was a yoga teacher. And there's a practice of Kundalini yoga with, and there's all, they call them kriyas. And you do things like you'll do mudras with your hands or, you know, you'll do certain things with your breathwork. And so for many years I loved doing, you know, I would repeat a mantra and do certain things with my hands. And it was a combination Of meditation and sensory and regulation through my central nervous system with that breathwork and with the hand movements. And then, you know, in the more, in, in the more recent years, I mean, I love a head— I love the Insight Timer and I love Headspace. And sometimes I'll do, I pick and choose, you know, sometimes I'll just go quiet and other times I like a guided meditation. I used to think that guided meditations were cheating. It wasn't until I kind of released the judgment there. And I would, I actually, I lay down now and meditate and it really serves me. My body is, I can be the most comfortable and I can really get into my body if I'm lying flat and kind of looking hopefully at nature. And yeah, I love an Insight Timer and I also love it. I love it to be just quiet now too.

Yeah. If I try to get into lotus position, like the entire time I'm supposed to be meditating, I just think of how uncomfortable I am.

Yeah, exactly. And that's why, I mean, if you think about the yoga practice, the asana practice was all about getting comfortable to meditate, but I'm not doing asana for 3 hours every day. So yeah.

Yeah. And I like to meditate in my hammock or yeah, it's just in a very comfortable position. Right. Yeah. And I think sometimes that, that really helps. So actually one of the things that helped me, I don't know if you've ever seen these, have you ever seen these little Muse bands?

I've seen those. You have one of those, your Star Trek.

Yeah. I loved it. My daughter got it for me for my birthday last year. And I was like, ah, you know, I don't know if I really need that. But once I started using it, I got hooked just because I love the biofeedback, right? You can see how much time your brain spends in, you know, theta and delta and alpha and beta and just work on techniques to change it. So it's really kind of fun for me.

I love that. I should, What brand is that? You can cut that out.

It's called Muse. M-U-S-E.

Okay.

And I've got a couple different versions now, but yeah, that's really good. How, so all of these things. So actually one thing I didn't mention before, or that I didn't follow up on is you talked about getting up in the morning or when you, when you are out getting natural sunlight in the eyes. Talk to me about why you do that and why that's important.

Okay. So I also love to go like the Alexander Huberman route and like, I love, I love to learn about the different ways to hack the body, but Uh, and our, and I'm really into central nervous system regulation and that's, I find that to really support me.

Mm-hmm.

And I read somewhere and it, I, it rang true to me and I don't remember where I read it, but if I get sunlight on my eyes in the morning and in the evening, my circadian rhythm feels, I sleep better. Um, I always try to walk in the morning and at night with my family at night, we try to do our family walk and get that natural sunlight. And it's harder because, yes, I live in central New York and it's cold and dark a lot of the time. But I find even just putting my face outside for 5 minutes in the morning and the night helped me to rebalance. And it comes back to that. It's simple habits. It's not— it doesn't have to be this giant routine. It's those simple things in the margins of your day to just check back into body.

I think that's the important thing, right, is none of this has to cost you a lot of money or even a lot of time, right? Like, you know, walk outside doesn't cost you anything. Yeah. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes or however long it takes, but yeah, the benefits are pretty significant. And yeah, so the, the natural light in the morning and in the evening, I do that as well to set my circadian rhythm because a few years ago I started wearing my Oura Ring or my Whoop band or whatever it was. And I got enough sleep, but it wasn't good sleep. Right. And I always thought I was a pretty good sleeper because I was in bed and asleep for a certain number of hours. And I didn't realize how poor my sleep quality was.

Okay.

Until I looked at like, I'm hardly getting any REM at all. I mean, I was always a pretty good deep sleeper, but, you know, based on this biofeedback, my REM was atrocious. So I went, I went through this whole process, went down the rabbit hole to try to figure out, okay, how am I gonna improve that? And, you know, slowly but surely taking on these habits and implementing them really works. So I call myself an elite sleeper now cuz my REM and my deep are amazing. I go to bed, I fall asleep right away, and it's all those things, right? Like getting that natural light. using blue-blocking glasses, you know, in the evenings, you know? Yeah. So I've got these, these are for daytime use here. So I love these guys. Yeah. But yeah. So, so for me, like dialing in sleep was really important. So are you a pretty good sleeper now?

I am. And I, I'll have to say that's a strength I think I've always had similar to you. I think I've been pretty good at it, but there's things that I recognize, like I stop eating at a certain, certain hour, like with the Oura Ring, I noticed like if I Ate past— and, you know, I will still, I'll go out with my girlfriends and I will have a glass of wine or I will eat past 7:30, but I notice like when I do, I sleep worse. And in bringing it back to business and entrepreneurship and the person I want to be in my day is that I know that those little habits about my eyes in the sunlight and my stopping eating at a certain time and all of that is so that I can show up as my best. self and be not only, you know, now I'm not focused on reaching the 7-figure goal. I'm focused on, you know, sustaining a happy, healthy life and business at the same time. And that starts with like taking care of myself internally.

Yeah. Because what's the point of growing a business if you can't really enjoy it? Right. Now, when you were in that rapid growth, growth phase, and I know there's seasons for everything, right? So you can't always have the best discipline when you're, you're trying to take care of yourself and growing a business. So did some things fall by the wayside that you had to pick back up, or how did you, how did you maintain that balance while you were doing that?

Man, that's such a great question. And you're an interviewer, so of course you have good questions. I think the balance is not the point. I don't think you can always balance all of the time. And I think it's about reducing judgment on yourself. And for me, as I was growing my business, the goals were always up. I also have a really intense and really intentional manifestation practice. I've been really into manifestation. We should check in on that. Okay. Yeah. And so what I recognized was I was, you know, always manifesting a physical thing, the specific career milestone, the specific financial gain, a house, you know, in my personal life, whatever it is. And I still do that. I'm still, I still always have a goal. But what I've now started to learn as while I was growing my business and, you know, I did burn out at times, you do exhaust yourself.

Yeah.

And I think that's okay to admit. And it's also, that's how, that's why I've slowly, you know, developed all of these practices so that I could not always balance, but know intentionally what I'm choosing. And so I'm always manifesting that physical thing, the next, next physical thing, but I've started to realize what is, I call it external manifestation and internal manifestation.

Mm-hmm.

If the external manifestation is a specific financial thing in my business, what is the internal feeling that that represents to me? And I spend a lot of time thinking about, okay, if I wanna reach, we'll use 7 figures on it as the example. What does 7 figures represent to me? Oh, it represents more ability to choose, more freedom, more time. And so I get to the, yes, I still want that physical thing. I'm still, Reaching toward that goal. But if I'm more clear about how I want to feel getting to that goal, I can give myself small moments of that as I'm getting to that goal. And I can slowly teach myself how to, how to feel how I want to feel as I'm reaching that outer manifestation.

That's the key, right? Is the feeling or the emotion that's attached to it. Uh, because what I've learned and what I've read and studied is that your mind doesn't even know whether it actually happened or you just thought it happened, right? To your body, it's the same thing, right? That's why worrying and fear about the future, your body thinks you're going through trauma at the moment, even though you're thinking about it, right? And in the same way, thinking about how it's going to feel to achieve that goal or to, to whatever it is, right? That's really important. And I actually recently, maybe a year or two ago, stopped trying to think about like the thing and just like, I just want to manifest whatever it is for my best and highest purpose. And I may not even know what that is, right? It may not be the thing that I think I want. But so that's what I've been trying to.

Yeah.

kind of put that into practice and being open to the ambiguity and the uncertainty and saying, you know, whatever is for my best and highest good, that's what I'm open to. And that's what I'm welcoming into my experience. And that's been kind of fun, just like, you know, asking for the best possible thing, not knowing necessarily what it is, you know?

Yeah, there's real magic in that. And there's trust. I think now, I think for both of us, we probably identify as high achievers, or we've really been goal setters and goal getters, I imagine. in our lives. And there's a point where, yeah, what if we weren't trying to focus on that, you know, hold on tight to that big thing, but instead be more open to what life might have to offer us that we don't even know is out there?

Yeah. Cause that thing may not even be for your best purpose. Right. It may, may be the thing that completely screws you up. You just think you want it. Right. Yeah. So who are some of your influences? Like, who do you listen to? Who do you read? Like, who, like, you know, I mean, I got Andrew Huberman, I'm kind of, I can guess maybe some of the other ones, but I'd love I'd love to hear from you, like, who are your influences?

Yeah, um, so there is this— it's a really niche manifestation space, uh, it's called To Be Magnetic. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but they're, um, To Be Magnetic, and it's the expanded podcast. I listen to it, it's almost my religion. John, I'm in a cult.

That's all right. I'm, I'm writing it down now so I can listen to it. So To Be Magnetic.

Okay, and I'm kidding, of course, definitely not in a cult. But it's, it's neuro manifestation. So it's a manifestation process that is not just this, not just this thinking positively and hoping that it'll happen. They really have this really specific formula based on neuroscience, based on neuroplasticity, based in therapeutic practices. Like there's a lot of EMDR-influenced techniques that they do in it. And they have this proprietary software. It's like I I should sell for them called Deep Imaginings, and they kind of put you to this into this hypnotic state. The whole point of it is that you are learning again; it's that feeling of manifestation and learning to uncover the blocks that are stopping you from getting what you want. And often it's because you have limiting beliefs or you have you know old programming that you've picked up. You don't you haven't seemed to believe that what you want is possible, and so it's this whole practice around using a combination of neuroscience and therapy and inner guidance to manifest what you want. So I really love To Be Magnetic. It's a good one.

It's important to kind of get rid of the, the woo-woo. Yeah. You know, right. So, and, and that's what, yeah, I love. I'm going to check that out because I like that. And I appreciate the fact that, you know, there, there is physics and science involved here. It's not just woo. I just picked up a book by James Doty called Mind Magic. I don't know if you've read that one or seen it.

I haven't read it, but I've heard of it.

Yeah, I'm about halfway through it, and it— I love it because it is just so, yeah, neurologically based, right? There's, there's something real here. It's not just woo-woo, and that's what I think is really important. But, you know, 10 years ago, we probably wouldn't have this conversation, or at least not have it and publish it for the world, because we'd be too weird, uh, for people.

Yeah, we'd be worried that people would think that we're, yeah, too woo-woo, not Yeah.

Do you get that a lot? Like, do you, when you're talking about these things or even putting them into practice, do you get like that weirdo look every once in a while?

I mean, for sure, but I think at the same time, I have also learned to surround myself with people that also are really into that. And especially in the entrepreneurship world, I think that's something so beautiful about entrepreneurs is that we tend to be a little crazy and we tend to, you know, we go after big things. We have big creative ideas, and I think maybe that also invites us to be more open to things. But yes, I've definitely got the side-eye by the mom at the bus stop as I'm talking about manifesting and astrology, which I love.

Yeah. Or like, you know, if you're in a meeting, I've had this happen before where, you know, somebody's really upset. I'm like, well, you know, you're not upset because of the reason you think you are. It's this totally— and they look at me like I'm nuts. I'm like, no, I'm upset because this person made me upset. I'm like, no, you made you upset. you know, we can't get into it, right? So—

Oh my gosh, I've been in spaces like that.

Yeah, right? So, well, Holly, this was a really great conversation. I feel like we can go on for a while here, but if people are interested in learning more about you and your work or your agency, where can they find you?

Yeah, absolutely. So I run a public relations company called Full Swing PR, and we help purpose-driven, service-based businesses grow using the visibility skills of PR. So if you go to fullswingpr.com, Or @FullSwingPR on any social media channel. You can also find me on LinkedIn at Holly Conti, and I'd love to connect with you.

Thank you so much, Holly.

Thanks, John. This was fun.

Thank you so much for listening to the Total Entrepreneur Mind Body Spirit Podcast. If you liked what you heard or heard something interesting today, please give us a like, share a comment, or better yet, subscribe to the podcast. Thank you.