On this episode, host Lorie Jones sits down with Dawn Gabriel, CEO and founder of Authentic Connections Counseling in Castle Rock, Colorado.
Dawn opens up about her 20-year journey as a licensed professional counselor, starting out working with inmates and teens in challenging environments before launching her own thriving group practice. She shares the real and often messy truth about burnout, the steep learning curve of building a business from the ground up, with zero formal business training, and the moments when she almost walked away.
You will also hear Dawn candidly discuss the deep calling that inspired her to serve her community in Castle Rock after multiple teen suicides, her struggles with self-doubt and fear of failure, and what it really takes to bounce back stronger after setbacks and heartbreaks in business. From hiring consultants and building a leadership team to learning how to set boundaries and practicing soul-deep self-care, Dawn delivers hard-won wisdom for all women ready to make a difference.
This episode is packed with encouragement, actionable advice, and a powerful reminder that pushing through fear can lead to purpose and impact, both in business and in life.
Show Highlights:
- The power of need-first, community-driven entrepreneurship. [04:35]
- A glimpse into the need for counseling in jails and psychiatric hospitals. [09:14
- Note the two key investments that move the needle in business. [11:00]
- How to filter advice by using the advisor as the measure. [13:22]
- Tips to handle unhealthy emotional boundaries in business. [14:46]
- Life-changing advice on being fearless and fearing less. [20:03]
- The importance of redefining failure as growth. [21:34]
- Explore the challenges of women entrepreneurs and why claiming your title matters. [25:07]
- Learn about burnout, soul-care, self-care, recovery, prevention, and business systems. [30:30]
To get in touch with dawn@authenticconnectionscounseling.com
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:01.80
Lorie Jones
Good morning, fearless females. So today we are here with Dawn Gabriel. She is the CEO and founder of Authentic Connections Counseling, and she’s got a master’s in counseling. And I know you’re going to love our conversation today. I’ve had a chance to chat with Dawn and been in one of her classes, and I really think she’s going I’m so interested in in hearing about your journey, Dawn. So thank you so much for doing this for us. I appreciate it.
00:29.62
Dawn
Yeah, thanks, Lori, for having me. I’m excited to be here.
00:33.59
Lorie Jones
So the very first question is my favorite question. It’s, I’m a reader. i love anything and everything. Tell me about your favorite book.
00:41.22
Dawn
My favorite book. Oh, my gosh. I am a voracious reader, so I read just about anything. um Gosh, so it depends on the genre. Like right now, i I like reading just more fantasy novels because it helps me de-stress and not think about real life.
01:00.08
Dawn
um So i’m in I’m in a Kate Daniels series right now. So that’s my favorite right now. um And then i would say, though, one of my favorite books outside of that is more I also have a spiritual bent. So I like anything by Henry Nowen. Have you heard of him?
01:20.07
Lorie Jones
yeah
01:20.90
Dawn
Okay, Henry Nowen is one of my favorite authors, so just about anything by him.
01:25.49
Lorie Jones
What does he write about? Like what, what sort of books?
01:27.20
Dawn
um so Spirituality and, um yeah, just his journey through life. He was actually a Catholic monk or priest, I should say, not a monk.
01:35.72
Lorie Jones
Oh,
01:37.49
Dawn
But um he’s no longer alive, but he just writes really good. He’s like a spiritual father.
01:43.37
Lorie Jones
oh that’s good. That’s like sort of a feel good, lift you up kind of a,
01:47.69
Dawn
Yeah. Yeah.
01:48.56
Lorie Jones
being one with the universe. I love those. So, well, great.
01:51.47
Dawn
Yeah.
01:53.16
Lorie Jones
Those are good suggestions. And I’m not fantasy, but I know that I have a lot of listeners that are. So I’m so excited.
01:58.30
Dawn
Yes.
02:01.40
Lorie Jones
So tell me a little bit about your journey, Dawn. How did you start out? How did you get where you are today? And kind of what do you do? Just tell us a little bit about that.
02:10.18
Dawn
Yeah, so I’ve actually um been a licensed professional counselor for about 20 years now. And when I first started, I actually worked in a jail um with inmates here in Colorado.
02:24.02
Dawn
And um it was fascinating and, but it wasn’t the life for me. I was too, I really wanted to do that one-on-one counseling with people.
02:30.90
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
02:33.95
Dawn
And so I then worked at a teen residential home ah and we did wilderness therapy. And then I worked at a psychiatric hospital, which was 24-7. mean, I didn’t work 24-7. It was open 24-7. So shift work in a hospital.
02:53.68
Dawn
And um then after that, though, I realized there was a high burnout rate um for that type of work. And if you don’t take care of yourself as clinician, you burn out. So I actually ended up doing a private practice. I worked for somebody else.
03:10.54
Dawn
And then during that time, i got pregnant with my first child and had my oldest son. And when I came back six weeks postpartum, the boss there said, I’m letting all the therapists go.
03:26.61
Dawn
And we were like, what? We have have clients scheduled already. And she she did more psychiatry and she could make more money just seeing clients every 20 minutes. And she didn’t understand why we couldn’t see like 15 clients a day.
03:41.29
Dawn
And you just can’t do that with therapy. So yeah.
03:43.24
Lorie Jones
Mm-mm.
03:45.17
Dawn
During that, i was I freaked out, but we ended up within a week, we started our own group practice and we had an office, a website, ah and shared office space and just kind of worked together. It was kind of like a co-op, so to speak.
04:00.59
Dawn
um And then a few years after that, that’s when I really felt a pull to start my own private practice. um So that was about 10 years ago. So i ah branched out and did my own private practice.
04:13.02
Dawn
So, yeah.
04:13.70
Lorie Jones
How come, what were you what were you feeling that you weren’t getting like in this co-op situation that made you want to branch out on your own?
04:21.58
Dawn
Yeah, well, honestly, I think two people were moving away and i we needed a bigger space. So i I had asked them, let’s go in together. And they were like, by the way, we’re moving.
04:33.05
Dawn
And it just kind of fell apart, not anything bad. And so I had also moved from Highlands Ranch to Castle Rock. And I just felt the pull. ah Unfortunately, there were three teen suicides at the same high school that week.
04:48.27
Dawn
like right around the same time we moved. And I was like, where are the therapists? And there wasn’t a lot of therapists and so at that time.
04:54.10
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
04:54.66
Dawn
Now there’s plenty.
04:56.04
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
04:57.20
Dawn
But ah I just felt the pull to start a counseling center. And I’d always been the one at our other group to be like, let’s meet for lunch and let’s talk about our cases and let’s learn things. And i was like, why don’t I do this?
05:12.15
Dawn
Yeah. Yeah.
05:14.93
Lorie Jones
That’s interesting. So yeah you wanted to kind of make a difference in the community that you were in and make a difference for that community. And you and you saw the the love of some of that team building, group growing, business entrepreneurship sort of thing.
05:33.29
Dawn
Yes, yes. yeah
05:35.09
Lorie Jones
Tell me, did you go to school to be a therapist? Like, did you know at age three that that was who you like you were? You had your little notebook and you were…
05:42.54
Dawn
No, that’s a great question. No, I thought I was going to be a teacher. And then i because I love to read, I thought I’d be an English teacher. And then my first English class in college, I got horrible grades, probably because I was having too much fun.
05:58.14
Dawn
And I was like, this is hard. I don’t want to be an English teacher anymore. And so then I decided, i think my freshman year, I decided on counseling. But you have to get a master’s to really work in that field.
06:10.98
Dawn
um And so I didn’t go back until I was, how old was 25 to get my
06:18.75
Lorie Jones
So did you, was that when you worked like in the jail was before your master’s or after your master’s?
06:25.52
Dawn
No, I um was in Indiana and I did my master’s there for about, it took me five years because I was working full time as well. And then I moved out to Colorado when I turned 30.
06:37.10
Dawn
um And so I worked in the jail.
06:37.27
Lorie Jones
Uh-huh.
06:39.62
Dawn
It was my first job after my master’s. Okay.
06:43.02
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that sounds so interesting. um I bet you got, ah I mean, that your trajectory, like the jail and the teen and the the psychiatric, has like all of those sound like they just gave you a lot of experience and breadth as far as counseling.
07:00.91
Dawn
Yeah, I was able to see, um I don’t know if you know what the DSM-5 is. It’s kind of our like diagnostic book of that everybody has to memorize and read. I feel like I saw everything in that book.
07:12.92
Dawn
Working at a jail in a psych hospital, um I just learned a lot. But yeah, so nothing really scares me.
07:19.36
Lorie Jones
ah
07:23.13
Lorie Jones
That’s great. Everything that scares me. i but But I do see that, like, you know, like, you don’t, you said you have young kids now still, right? You don’t have like teenagers, but I wonder what it’s like being a therapist and having teenagers because you’ve seen like everything those kids can come up with. You’ve already seen, right?
07:43.14
Dawn
Yeah, it’s not good because my husband is in law enforcement and there it’s bad. we i I know I’ve given my oldest, he’s 13 now, um anxiety because he’s a great kid. They’re both great kids. I have two boys, 13 and almost nine.
08:01.88
Dawn
They’re great kids, but we kind of overdo it sometimes. So we’re real we’re trying to like pull it back. Yeah.
08:09.66
Lorie Jones
Yeah,
08:09.73
Dawn
They’re not getting anything. They’re so locked down on their screens. And we’re always talking about ah body awareness and safety and privacy and.
08:21.58
Lorie Jones
I love it, though. I think I think that’s great. But yeah, I could I could see I start watching Criminal Minds. And, you know, there’s always something really bad happening every episode. And I’m I tell my kids, they’re like, Mom, can we go do this?
08:30.82
Dawn
Yeah.
08:33.45
Lorie Jones
And I’m like, no, no, no. Something bad is going to happen to you. And they’re like, Mom, are you watching Criminal Minds again?
08:40.20
Dawn
So true.
08:41.14
Lorie Jones
Yeah. So tell me, Dawn, what is the best investment you’ve made in yourself? If you can kind of look back over your journey and you’re like, oh my goodness, if I hadn’t done that, I really don’t think I’d be where I’m at today.
08:52.66
Dawn
Well, I don’t know if i could say just one thing. I do believe in education, but it doesn’t have to look like your typical like master’s degree or college. I believe in learning.
09:03.26
Dawn
So I would say investing in learning more. So you know my first would be my master’s degree because I was able to have a career and then have kids. And it afforded me to work part-time while I had kids and I could stay home part-time with them and work part-time where I didn’t have to work full-time and pay for full daycare. So that was super helpful.
09:24.51
Dawn
But then after that, I would say investing in consulting has been really helpful. And then I’ve also done like some intense trainings and courses. I just feel like that’s the best investment.
09:39.47
Lorie Jones
like um Like consultants to come in and and talk to you about your business or the way. Mm-hmm.
09:45.91
Dawn
Yeah, like a what it’s like a one-on-one coach for your business, but they push you. i wouldn’t have grown my business to where it was. It is now without consultants. Like the first three years, I kind of stumbled along ah and didn’t know what I was doing. I thought, I’m just going to provide this counseling center for all my friends to come and we can all just like see clients together and eat lunch together.
10:08.80
Dawn
and then I had ah my second child during that time. And then I came back from maternity leave like kind of year three. And I was like, what the heck am I doing? And then hired some consulting to help grow it more business wise, because we’re not trained in that as therapists, we don’t get trained in business.
10:25.39
Dawn
And so I really had to find that, um that training for myself. And yeah, and then I would say after that.
10:32.79
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
10:36.20
Dawn
Yeah, i limped along and failed a lot. But but here I am 10 years, we’re celebrating our 10 year anniversary next month.
10:43.81
Lorie Jones
Yeah, congratulations. And it’s grown too.
10:45.89
Dawn
Yeah.
10:45.94
Lorie Jones
You’ve got how many counselors there now?
10:48.89
Dawn
Yeah, about 10, but we’re growing. We just moved into a bigger building. um my hope is to grow to 15. Yeah, and we’re private pay, so it’s a little different than insurance-based. It’s more boutique style and customer service and yeah.
11:06.50
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. So what about the worst advice someone gave you? Have you ever had some really bad advice and did you take it?
11:15.92
Dawn
Ooh, I probably did not if it was the worst of it.
11:16.08
Lorie Jones
Did you not?
11:21.36
Dawn
I kind of have a theory, like if I don’t want that person’s life, I know this sounds weird, but if I don’t look up to them and I don’t value them, I’m not taking their advice. um And I usually have to know the person on deeper levels. So like when I do hire consultant, I…
11:37.43
Dawn
Try to get to know them. I actually did have a consultant I found out later was not the healthiest. So I ended things because i was like, I can’t trust what you’re saying.
11:48.86
Dawn
um
11:48.94
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
11:49.92
Dawn
But yeah.
11:50.39
Lorie Jones
That’s a really good that’s a really good rule of thumb to kind of like if I don’t, if I don’t want to be you or do the things you do, then i probably won’t ask for your advice.
12:02.44
Dawn
Yeah, or how people just like give you advice whether you ask for it or not. Like, don’t let that impact you unless you really admire them, in my opinion.
12:12.62
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that might save a whole lot of problems because you you do tend to get advice from just about every angle and a lot of it conflicting too. So that’s really, I didn’t think of that.
12:22.66
Dawn
Yeah.
12:25.41
Lorie Jones
That’s a really great idea, Dawn.
12:27.17
Dawn
Thanks.
12:28.70
Lorie Jones
So what about looking back over your journey? Is there anything that, let’s not say regret, but let’s say, is there something that a situation that you’ve gone through that you’re like, oh my goodness, I would do that differently if I could go back and do it again and knowing what I know today?
12:43.37
Dawn
Yeah. The first thing that popped into my mind is um like you put so when you’re building a business and you’re an entrepreneur, you put so much of your heart and soul into it.
12:54.66
Dawn
And I don’t know if you cannot do that, but you get too attached and it becomes your life sometimes. And so I feel like I’ve learned the hard way.
13:05.90
Dawn
Like, so for example, so if I have a therapist come in and I fill them with clients, which now I can do pretty quickly and You know, 10 years in, I know how to do that. But in the beginning, it was like really hard to get people full and seeing full clients.
13:20.87
Dawn
And then there, I had quite a few times where therapists would leave a place, come in, fill up within six months, take a hundred percent of the clients and leave. And, I was heartbroken. it almost like did like attachment wounds and it was so emotional and it was horrible. And I wish I would have handled some of that differently.
13:41.77
Dawn
um i handle it better now. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t hurt as deep. And I also, no i get ahead of it now and I just am really honest and talk to them about it.
13:52.24
Dawn
um I just feel like i didn’t handle some of those the best. So that would be my regrets, biggest regrets in my business.
13:59.07
Lorie Jones
yeah I think that’s that’s a hard thing too like I get I do get you get emotionally attached to people or to situations or to yeah your way of doing things even sometimes.
14:14.88
Dawn
Yeah, I think um what I’ve noticed is besides being a parent and being married, owning a business is one of the hardest most and growth-inspiring things you’ll ever do because it makes you look at yourself in a mirror, the things you don’t like, and it brings out all the hard stuff. And so you can choose to face that and grow quit.
14:37.22
Dawn
or quit And not grow. And so I feel like I’ve had to face myself a lot. So a lot of the gross parts of myself and I’ve had to grow through that. um And I don’t think I could have done that without owning a business.
14:48.41
Dawn
But also, like I said, I learned by failing a lot and being messy.
14:54.55
Lorie Jones
Like it would have been easier if we’d had those lessons we didn’t have to go through to.
14:59.15
Dawn
Yeah, yeah.
14:59.88
Lorie Jones
Yeah. um So any i any tips or tricks for like avoiding that, it like short of listening to other people, which sometimes we don’t do.
15:10.22
Lorie Jones
But is there is there anything you found along your journey that you’re like, oh, my goodness.
15:10.86
Dawn
Yeah.
15:14.58
Lorie Jones
OK, this is the way I would have done it so that I didn’t get so attached.
15:22.64
Dawn
I would say definitely have a mentor or a consultant to talk through that with and know how to set your business up ahead of time to kind of safely protect yourself and do it the right way.
15:34.70
Dawn
um I didn’t. That’s i saying. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. um So I wish i would have hired someone sooner. and and just um reach out, make sure you have people you can trust in your circle to know who to talk to but during that time.
15:51.15
Lorie Jones
Yeah. that’s ah That’s a really valuable point. like Take someone to coffee, say, how did you do your thing? um And people that you admire, that a lot of times they can save you.
16:03.39
Lorie Jones
and you don’t know, like, you know, graduating from college, you don’t have any idea that one day you’re going to be a business owner and need to know all those things. So, you know, yeah but but kind of trying to, in the moment, even finding those people in your life that might be able to help, they’re usually willing.
16:21.95
Dawn
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s to say if they don’t. So there’s certain people you can take to coffee and lunch and that’s great. And then there’s certain people you have to pay them for their time. It’s called consulting. Yeah.
16:32.15
Dawn
And coaching.
16:32.84
Lorie Jones
Yeah. yeah
16:33.67
Dawn
But yeah, but there’s a get a bunch of those people in your life where you have a that you’re not alone because business ownership can be lonely. It can be hard. um So make sure you have those connections and people like Lori, you and I are in a class together like you make.
16:49.93
Dawn
connections like that, i think they’re invaluable.
16:52.88
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. And i I think that um even entrepreneurs that aren’t in your space, like I i work with a lot of women entrepreneurs.
17:00.88
Dawn
yes
17:02.94
Lorie Jones
and And I think that like having that network of people or someone you can go to and you say, hey, I’m running into this problem. Chances are five other women have run into that problem.
17:13.66
Lorie Jones
and And they like, here’s your resource you know here’s the resource I used or here’s the one I wish I had when I were in your spot.
17:19.72
Dawn
Yeah. Yeah. I would, i would guarantee I would go on a limb and say 75% of that is managing people. Their, their problems are going to come back to that.
17:30.71
Dawn
And that’s the thing you don’t realize you could be good at leadership at business, but the majority of our job is man.
17:31.40
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
17:36.80
Dawn
If you have to learn how to manage people and that’s a totally different ball game. Yeah. Yeah.
17:41.56
Lorie Jones
Yeah, it is.
17:42.16
Dawn
yeah
17:42.74
Lorie Jones
um But resources are available for that, too, like consultants and like um classes and and things like that.
17:45.54
Dawn
yeah
17:49.45
Lorie Jones
But yeah, I would agree with you. Like just being through this entrepreneurial journey on my own, that is the that’s the one skill set that it just didn’t come naturally. I had to learn.
18:01.70
Dawn
Yeah, for sure.
18:03.88
Lorie Jones
So what is, you could go back, Dawn, and talk to yourself at the beginning of your journey, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21, you choose, what would you tell her? what would you tell her
18:13.93
Dawn
Wow. Yeah, I never envisioned this life. I think I would tell her
18:23.06
Dawn
to just hold on. to the belief and hope that things are going to turn out to like, let go of the fear and the anxiety more and just live moment to moment more, like more preciously and more open and, and not just let go of some of that fear.
18:40.31
Dawn
Cause fear takes up a lot of space and yeah, I could never imagine where I’d be now, but um yeah, just keep going.
18:41.12
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
18:51.65
Dawn
Yeah.
18:52.49
Lorie Jones
Like the, um you know, obviously the name of the podcast is Fearless Females, but I do the ah Fearless Financial Advisor as well. and And the idea behind that is fear less.
19:04.93
Lorie Jones
Not only like fearless and do it even if you’re scared, but also fear less.
19:10.42
Dawn
Yeah.
19:13.19
Dawn
Yeah. I didn’t even mean to say that. Like, even though that’s the name of your your podcast, but it’s true.
19:20.19
Lorie Jones
yeah Yeah, yeah. It’s sort of a mantra, but I i love that idea of of i just knowing that like it it’s all going to work out.
19:25.32
Dawn
i love it.
19:30.70
Lorie Jones
nobodydding I keep telling my um team, I’m like, they can’t take away your birthday.
19:38.71
Dawn
That’s the best.
19:39.66
Lorie Jones
Yeah. What is, um what scared you the most when you started out on this journey or your professional journey? and And you can choose kind of any point, but was there anything that scared you and does it still or did you learn how to?
19:52.46
Dawn
Yeah, I was terrified to start the practice, the group practice. um I think the thing was, what if I fail? Or what if um I can’t do it?
20:03.07
Dawn
and And which is funny, now that I look at it, I’m like, what exactly was I saying to myself? um But it was fear of failure, which is funny, because you learn so much from failure.
20:11.05
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
20:13.12
Dawn
I don’t know if you’ve read any Brene Brown stuff. But her thing now is, she teaches like fortune 500 companies to embrace failure. A lot of big companies say, we need to fail to figure this out.
20:25.05
Dawn
And so I was just so afraid of failing. i don’t even know what that looked like back then, but now I’m like, oh, I’ve learned and grown from it um But yeah, i was just, I was terrified.
20:37.26
Lorie Jones
Yeah. um Was it the business part of things that you were terrified of?
20:40.27
Dawn
Yes.
20:41.29
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
20:41.68
Dawn
Yes. I wasn’t afraid of seeing clients or leading a team. Those are my strong points. It was the business side, like putting, it was more the money of putting my name on that lease. And how am I going to get x amount of dollars to pay the rent?
20:56.58
Dawn
What if I go bankrupt? And then here’s the, here we go. Here’s the story my head. It was, what if I go bankrupt and cause my family to be living on the streets? Even though my husband had like a really steady job, it was somehow I was going to cause the family to go bankrupt and we were going lose our house and be living on the streets, which is like total catastrophic thinking. And it’s a cognitive distortion.
21:19.70
Dawn
If you want me to get off there.
21:20.13
Lorie Jones
You’re like, I can tell myself exactly where the problem was, but.
21:22.60
Dawn
Yes. Yeah, but it’s always about that. And I think because I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. Like we were, my family was a working class family and we just didn’t have money. There was five kids and we moved a lot and we just were never in that wealthy category. And so I just never knew what to do with money and how to make it or how to advance.
21:46.04
Dawn
And so, yeah, I think it was all around, I’m going we’re going to go bankrupt and be on the streets. Yeah.
21:51.97
Lorie Jones
I think that’s such an interesting viewpoint, too. Like you didn’t have an example of a successful entrepreneur that you had kind of seen and watched be successful in that place.
22:00.28
Dawn
Yes.
22:05.77
Lorie Jones
And so that was the scariest part to you.
22:08.60
Dawn
Yeah. And, but I felt this deep calling and deep purpose to move ahead and do this. Like I felt it was spiritual to me too. I felt like a deeper connection to, to start this practice.
22:22.46
Lorie Jones
Yeah. um I think that’s an important piece. it A lot of my guests call it like listening to your gut or something like that.
22:29.91
Dawn
Mm-hmm.
22:30.16
Lorie Jones
But I do think that there is something innate that just inside of us that just knows that this is what, when you find that thing that fills you up, whatever that is, it and in most people’s cases, it’s not finance, but in mine, it was.
22:48.14
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
22:48.90
Dawn
Yeah.
22:49.29
Lorie Jones
it’s yeah Like most people are like, oh, that sounds awful. But, you know, when you find that thing that just fills you up, like you, you know, you have to do it, even though you’re scared, even though you’re not sure you’re going to be successful, even though you don’t know what it’s going to look like and you haven’t seen um an example of of a successful you know journey, you know that this is where you need to go. And and maybe those failures along the road kind of help you get to that in place where you need to be.
23:19.20
Dawn
Yeah, I would agree.
23:22.70
Lorie Jones
So did you face any unique challenges because you’re a woman in your journey?
23:28.98
Dawn
Hmm. I do think it’s interesting because most therapists, it’s a high percentage of women, but I do think um owning and running a business is I don’t know. I guess I don’t have stats on this, but I do think more less women do that.
23:45.94
Dawn
I know there’s scholarships out there and grants for women owned businesses. Like when we went through COVID, there were there was more available if I was a woman owned business.
23:54.61
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
23:54.70
Dawn
ah ah So I don’t know. I’m trying to think. I think more so, honestly, when I’m meeting other business owners at events, like community events, I don’t think they know what to do with me until they interact with me more. i do It’s more like a subtle feeling, so I’m not sure if that’s true or not.
24:16.29
Dawn
ah It’s like until i I’m like, I know KPIs, I know like ROIs, I know like I know all the things I’ve learned it. But that’s why I changed my title to CEO of my business because I am running it’s a small business, but I’m still running it like a CEO.
24:31.69
Dawn
And so that was like a couple years I changed my title. Yeah.
24:36.86
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah, that it’s interesting. Was there a reason that you felt like you needed to change it, like the title brought more recognition or more respect or?
24:48.98
Dawn
um I think it was twofold. One was for me to realize i needed to step into that role. It was actually right around COVID when I realized I need to stop seeing clients and I need to work more on the business side of it.
25:01.75
Dawn
And I was also um honing in on systems and policies and procedures and protocol and all this stuff, more business stuff. um So financial planning and vision casting and strategy.
25:14.88
Dawn
And I don’t know if you’ve read any EOS or traction stuff like, yeah, so that kind of stuff.
25:18.58
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
25:20.72
Dawn
And I’m like, I need to change my title because I’m also telling clients I can’t see you anymore. Well, what are you doing? Like, well, I’m running this business. And so part of it was for me to just say it and I was scared.
25:32.24
Dawn
But um now it’s way better. And also, yeah. um I do think when like I’m at chamber events or events where I’m with other people, it it gives a different connection of, yeah, I do run this budget of three-quarter million dollars or whatever, you know? And so I’m running a budget.
25:53.17
Dawn
It might not be a 10 million or 20 million company, but you still are running significant numbers.
25:58.06
Lorie Jones
here
25:58.68
Dawn
So…
26:00.66
Lorie Jones
yeah and um women-owned businesses and and are um successful women-owned businesses are rarer than their male counterparts so you do did you feel any
26:16.28
Dawn
Yeah.
26:21.50
Lorie Jones
Was there anyone that kind of helped you to learn that business kind of other than the consultants or something like that? Was there any sort of mentor that you had in did you just figure it out yourself?
26:34.90
Dawn
um It was the consultants I had. um There was some group practice owners who were doing, they that were women and men. I actually learned from both, which I was happy to.
26:44.33
Lorie Jones
hmm.
26:45.59
Dawn
um But honestly, I would say when I joined the chamber, there were some, the president of the chamber, she actually just retired or not retired. She just moved and went somewhere else. But She was pretty impactful in the most recent years of a strong female CEO.
27:06.40
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
27:06.48
Dawn
um so And I realized i don’t have a lot of strong CEO females in my life.
27:06.56
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
27:10.96
Dawn
ah And so I do. I crave it. So I go to conferences to like meet other people like that. But I don’t have anyone in my closer circle except other group practice owners right now.
27:24.25
Dawn
um So I would, yeah, I would like to, I feel like the chamber has been the biggest for me to brush shoulders with women entrepreneurs, women business owners, CEOs, stuff like that. And I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m drawn to them.
27:37.90
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. It’s your tribe. You find the people that are doing where you want to be or doing the things you want to do. Yeah. That’s, it’s interesting that, um, you know, like small business entrepreneurial, like, um, I, I just have been, i guess, blessed since I started to have a lot of, a lot that I’m,
27:46.30
Dawn
Yeah.
27:54.89
Dawn
yeah that’s great.
28:03.82
Lorie Jones
My business is actually smaller than, you know, yours at eight or 10, but there’s been a lot of um examples of women and that are willing to give back and share their experience on it.
28:14.51
Lorie Jones
So, so I love that.
28:15.77
Dawn
that’s
28:16.19
Lorie Jones
And you’re one of those women that is willing to give back and share your experience to those that are are maybe coming after you. So Dawn, what is the thing you are most proud of?
28:27.40
Dawn
Ooh, wow.
28:31.20
Dawn
That’s hard. I go two ways, right? Like I go family, personal, and then business. um So I’ll do business first. I think honestly, moving into this building, I signed a 10-year lease. So i was kind of making a claim like this is where I’m retiring. I turned 50 last year and I was like, this is it. And so i took a huge leap of faith and um and it’s panning out. Like we are, business is just going really well. But also i just won small business of the year award at the chamber.
29:07.93
Dawn
And so I feel like it’s just like this year is just really powerful for me because um I’ve worked, I have worked so hard. And Lori, I almost sold my business two years ago, two and a half, three years ago.
29:19.93
Dawn
I almost sold it because I was done.
29:20.07
Lorie Jones
Oh my gosh.
29:22.35
Dawn
And I was like, I can’t do this anymore. So I’m kind of proud that I like listened. like I didn’t make a heart a rash decision. I waited. i got deep. I did some spiritual journey on that and really came out of that like a phoenix um from the ashes. I feel like that. And I’m like, if I would have given up the like two or three years ago, like look where I am now. like And I love where I’m at now. And I just am really enjoying it.
29:48.18
Dawn
So I don’t know. ah Personally, i mean, it has to be my boys, you know, like being a mom.
29:57.02
Dawn
Yeah.
29:57.03
Lorie Jones
Yeah, it is.
29:57.21
Dawn
Yeah.
29:57.89
Lorie Jones
It’s a lot of it’s a lot of growth and it’s a lot of joy to see them grow as well. So um why did
30:03.98
Dawn
Yeah.
30:07.58
Lorie Jones
Why? Why were you thinking of giving up two or three years ago? Uh
30:12.41
Dawn
um It’s because I was burned out and um I was doing all the things. I didn’t have a leadership team.
30:17.51
Lorie Jones
and
30:18.84
Dawn
My systems weren’t that dialed in. And so I actually got super close. I had somebody, had a couple of people looking at buying and this one person sat me down after like multiple meetings of trying to buy it and said,
30:33.71
Dawn
We can’t buy this because if we do, it will fail because you do everything. And if you take you out, first of all, you’re the heart and soul. And then we couldn’t pay someone to do what you do. So I got mad because I wasn’t paying myself enough, first of all.
30:49.79
Dawn
So I just got mad. So I changed things. I paid myself more. And I listed out everything that I was doing and created job structures and promoted somebody from within to a clinical director.
31:04.02
Dawn
i just got a leadership team in place. um And so the last two years we spent like writing the ship, so to speak, and I just really enjoy what I do now. So I was doing way too many things.
31:15.84
Dawn
Yeah.
31:16.20
Lorie Jones
Uh-huh. So could you have, is there a way that you could help somebody else go back and not get to the burnout stage before they made those changes? Like how do you, what would you say to them if they were, if they were doing everything and not paying themselves before they got to that point?
31:35.56
Dawn
Yeah, I think the main thing, though, is the structure. And it’s part of growth. When you’re growing a business, you are doing everything in the beginning. It’s knowing when to delegate and when to pay somebody else to do things and having making smart decisions. But for me, it’s more of a soul matter. I my i have another business called Soul Care for Therapists, and I focus specifically on therapists who, ah because naturally healer people in the healing professions or therapists the giving professions or people, people are, um, give too much and they don’t take care of themselves. And so a lot of it is learning your own boundaries, learning your own, um,
32:17.35
Dawn
yeah, what does burnout look like for you and taking care of yourself on multiple layers, not mani pedis, like massages, not that, that could be some of it, but like on a deeper level for me, it’s spiritually connecting to my beliefs.
32:21.18
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
32:31.40
Dawn
um And that can be going and being outside for a full day and not taking any phone calls, you know? So whatever it means to that person, I do believe in looking at your soul,
32:42.66
Dawn
And how that impacts your whole life and taking time to slow down to do that, I think creates resilience and prevents burnout. um That’s the short answer, but
32:54.60
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah. Deliberative self-care. um and I agree with you, Don.
32:57.74
Dawn
yeah.
32:59.32
Lorie Jones
You you can’t mani-pedi your way through ah ah burnout. You can’t.
33:03.92
Dawn
No, no.
33:06.46
Lorie Jones
You have to take a deep, deep dive and look at where you’re at and where you want to be and how you get, you know, how you get to that place because because you just can’t. there is There’s not enough massages to get you out of burnout.
33:19.47
Lorie Jones
There just isn’t.
33:19.66
Dawn
No. And you might need therapy. People like you need to figure out why you can’t say no. You need to figure out why you have to be everything to everyone. You need to figure out. And that goes deep. It probably goes to your childhood wounds and your childhood messaging. And of course, I’m going to say that. But like, do the work.
33:37.11
Dawn
Do the hard work.
33:37.33
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
33:38.45
Dawn
um Otherwise, you’re going to burn out and it’s going to be worse.
33:43.31
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. You got to fix it. I love that. and And it’s an important reminder, I think too, as women, we, we do tend to take on all the problems of all the worlds and, and just changing a job or changing a situation is not going to fix that. You know, if you, if you, if you don’t say no in this job, you’re not going to say no in the next job either. You need to,
34:05.13
Dawn
Yeah. There’s research that shows if you’re truly burned out in a job, let’s say high intense job like ah law enforcement or psych hospital, those are intense. And then you don’t heal the burnout and you go to something more like gardening or like working for somebody else. And it’s like a lower key job. You’re still going to have burnout if you haven’t repaired what needed to be repaired. And it’s more of the deeper soul stuff and the deeper stuff than it is just changing scenarios.
34:36.44
Dawn
The research shows that. So.
34:38.65
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah, there you go. Any advice for a young lady who’s just kind of starting down this path that you’re already so successful at? um Any advice for her to help her be successful?
34:51.87
Dawn
Yeah, i I would push into the fear and do it anyway. i know that’s the name of your podcast, Fearless, but but truly, like don’t let fear stop you.
35:03.67
Dawn
Do it anyway and find your tribe. and whether and And that means someone above you to help.
35:11.65
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Mentorship. I love that. Well, I love it, obviously, because it talks about being fearless.
35:13.87
Dawn
Yeah. Yes.
35:16.73
Lorie Jones
And I and i think that is important.
35:17.00
Dawn
Yes.
35:19.56
Lorie Jones
If you listen to others’ examples, like your example, and others that have kind of been in different professions and different professional services, that’s kind of the theme that runs through it is is try.
35:33.19
Lorie Jones
Like, you might fail.
35:33.69
Dawn
Yeah, yeah
35:34.83
Lorie Jones
I’m not going to lie. Yeah. you might You might fall down flat on your face, but it’s going to teach you something. You’re going to get up and the next time you’re going to do better.
35:45.99
Dawn
absolutely. Just like, I mean, my boys are very into sports. So we always talk about, I think it was Wayne Gretzky that said, you miss a hundred percent of the shots you never take, but also like, you’re going to just do it anyway.
35:54.43
Lorie Jones
hmm.
35:59.55
Dawn
You’re going to make mistakes. Do it anyway. You’ll make more shots if you don’t, Not take them, yeah.
36:04.62
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Well, Dawn, thank you so much for spending some time with us and sharing your story. I really appreciate it. If I have a listener that wants to get in touch with you and ask questions, how does she do that?
36:16.25
Dawn
Yeah, she can reach out at my name, Dawn, D-A-W-N, at AuthenticConnectionsCounseling.com. And make sure you spell it right. It’s the longest name ever.
36:26.94
Dawn
But um yeah, Dawn at Authentic Connections Counseling. Or they can just look up my website and they’ll see me there too.
36:33.95
Lorie Jones
Oh, perfect. Thank you so much. I really appreciated this.
36:36.76
Dawn
Yeah, thanks, Lori. It was fun.