S2 EP10: DAWN CRAWFORD

Nicoa just knew that DAWN CRAWFORD needed to be a guest on Coffee With Nicoa - it was all about her energy! She exudes positivity, adventure, spontaneity, family fun and LOVE in all she does. She is an author and business owner, wife and mother, and shares her mindset for living a life she loves without hesitation in this coffee chat! Her WAY OF BEING makes her a LIFE BY DESIGN Role Model for sure. LISTEN IN NOW for a fun and profound reminder that LIFE IS SHORT so don't wait to DO ALL THE THINGS Y'ALL! 

Things that make Dawn happy: A glass of champagne to celebrate big wins, Basecamp, living in the South, seeing the world, and a well-formatted spreadsheet.

Learn more about Dawn here!

Buy Dawn's book KINDLY REVIEW: The Secret To Giving and Receiving Feedback to Make Your Ideas Great here!

Buy your copy of YOUR LIFE BY DESIGN: A Coffee With Nicoa Self-Care Coaching Journal
on Amazon today! 

Transcript

Nicoa Coach: 0:01

Grab your coffee and join me Nicoa For a caffeinated conversation about life. I'll be talking to people who have chosen to walk their own paths and just like me, are creating a life by design. I hope that will give you the inspiration you need to do exactly the same. Hello, my beautiful friend Dawn Crawford, how are you this morning?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 0:29

Doing fantastic. Yeah, I'm so excited to be here.

Nicoa Coach: 0:33

Well, I'm excited you're here to and I was joking with you right beforehand that I cannot remember how we met. I know. I was stalking your LinkedIn to I was like, Okay, we have like 15 mutual connections. And I'm going down the list. And I'm like, There's coaches. Speakers. There's fin fashional people. Were you confessional? I don't even know. I don't know, I imagined I think we found each other on LinkedIn or on Instagram, for sure. Maybe I think that must have been it too. Because when I thought of you as a as a guest on coffee with Nicoa. I was like, I just saw this beautiful energy in you with all of your posts, and you and your family. So who knows who we were both friends with on on Instagram. I know. Or it's back in the day when you can actually find and discover people and like use it as a discovery tool and not just an advertising tool, you know? Well, right, exactly. I think all I used to do on Instagram was like posting beautiful photos of things that are so artsy. I mean, filters.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:39

And then it's also your house. I mean, your house is fantastic. So yeah. Your house is amazing. So yeah, I think that I might have just stuck to you see, I mean

Nicoa Coach: 1:51

I'm a stalker, too. I mean, I'm really a stalker. Well, everybody, let me introduce you to my beautiful Instagram online. We both lived in Raleigh once friend. So, Dawn, you are I'm gonna pull out all the stops for you as we just discussed. So you are a lover of champagne. And and mocktails. I know recently. Yes. You're a fan of Basecamp. You love living in the South, which you've been doing since 2010. And you moved from Colorado, which I lived there once I met to tell you that. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's funny. Yeah. You love seeing the world. And you also love a well formatted spreadsheet. So yes, I see my the OCD and Macy's. Yes.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 2:37

Absolutely. Yeah. It's super organized, super creative life over here. Yes, well, you are definitely super creative and highly positive and energetic. And I always joke about I want what she's having. So my audience to have what you're having. And we're going to talk all things done today. And just as just to make sure everyone knows the formalities of your identity. You are also a founder of an organization called BCDC ideas, which is a nonprofit communications agency. And I have a degree in communications myself. See, I think, yeah, we must. Who knows we must have actually seen each other in real life we must have in real life. And now we still feel like we're playing like it's fun.

Nicoa Coach: 3:21

She's also a wife, a mom, a do gooder. You also are a rabble rouser, which I love it when you and your husband Brian, listen to your podcast interview from AC DC. And I thought it was sweet. It was good. Question Answer question.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 3:43

So good.

Nicoa Coach: 3:45

And you may I share as you do in your interview, so I'm assuming it's public domain. You also have had to overcome the challenge of being dyslexic in your lifetime. So interesting details about us as humans. We're also very unique. You bring a lot to the table. Why don't you just share what maybe I haven't mentioned yet a little bit more about who don really is? Yeah. who I really am. Um,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 4:13

I don't know, you know, I Yep. So yeah, Mom creative. I think that's my biggest identity right now. Right? It's just being creative. I think that's the, it's everything in our world, right is like how to, how to explore the world, how to be creative, and how to just be positive. And it really is that positive mindset that thankfully, our kids are learning in school now. But that's really what I where I come from is this positive mindset and how to how to bring that more to the world. And so yep, so I own a business. We've been a business for 13 years, and found our home in North Carolina, which is really exciting. But we love travel, right? And we love to challenge ourselves with seeing new cultures and seeing new places and

Nicoa Coach: 5:01

Yeah, that unevenness of not knowing you know where you're at. So Well, that's the spontaneity, the open mindedness really being open minded. And what's possible. Were you always that way, Don? I mean, were you raised to be this way?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 5:20

No, I think yeah, definitely. My childhood was very isolated. And, you know, fairly we were, we were very small unit, right? It was just my parents. And me. And so only child I grew up in Colorado grew up in the mountains of Colorado. So in a rural community in the mountains, but we were like, in a subdivision. I'm not like, raising cows or anything, but But yeah, I think it was very isolated. Right. Like, it was, it was very lonely. And I think you know, that I seek so much connection now. And so much openness and so much seeing the world. Because I didn't really have that growing. And, yeah, I think, yeah, it's definitely something that's important to me is to, yeah, just see, see everything before it gets dark. Right?

Nicoa Coach: 6:23

That's right. I know, I think you tap into something that most people, if they really spend the time to reflect on their upbringing, you know, I feel like we all choose our parents, like I have this thought, you know, we have these soul contracts, and no matter what, you know, verbal crap you went through, it was because of some value, but you needed to have that experience in order to be the person that you are today. And, and, and although your happiness and optimism and exploratory nature comes from that craving of connection that you didn't have a child, that's also as us over functioning, right, we over function to compensate for that missing piece. But maybe it's also breaking the cycle. So Katrina, that's your daughter's name? Yeah. So how old is she now?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 7:11

She's 11. Yeah, she just turned 11 in December. Yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 7:16

She's a Sagittarius.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 7:18

She is yes. And she very Yes, she fits that pretty well. When's your birthday? On June? So Gemini. So opposite. We're actually authored exactly 12 months apart on our birthdays. So Oh, wow.

Nicoa Coach: 7:33

Isn't that weird that I never asked these questions before. But I'm all about my I have a daughter. And they're both Sagittarians. And they get along with everybody like they. They're just so open minded and spontaneous. And they play and they get along.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 7:47

Yeah, so yeah, absolutely.

Nicoa Coach: 7:49

When you now 11 years ago, you had this beautiful baby. So But was it before then that you began to say, what you talk a lot about, you know, we prioritize traveling, we prioritize Siena where we're very intentional. When did you start becoming intentional about your life? Don?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 8:05

Oh, geez. I would definitely say yeah, all the way in high school that, honestly, as soon as I got a car, I had that freedom to be able to do what I need to want to do. That I really started being much more intentional. Like, that's when I started getting much more involved in after school activities, because I could, before then it was really kind of discouraged to do anything that was outside of the norm. That was easy for my parents. But yeah, I think once I have that car and that freedom again, right, that like that I had the opportunity to Yeah, drive to my destiny and like, Yes, I got really involved with journalism. I was yearbook editor. I was in a debate club that was awful at but they still kept me they were so nice. I think only one like one debate, like four years of doing that. But yeah, I think and then yeah, it was really kind of picking like, oh, like deciding what to do and how to. Yeah, live a different life live in different place. So yeah,

Nicoa Coach: 9:07

yeah. And so yeah, how would you describe your life by design back then, in comparison to now?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 9:15

Yeah, um, I think back then, it was very much goal orientated right. It was like, I need to do this and achieve this by this age. And it was very, yeah, very, very goal orientated by title or by Yeah, activity of like moving across the country or those sorts of things. And, and I think now, my horizon is so much shorter. Honestly, because of our business. Right, like cashflow. Like, like we're good. We're good for the next six months for sure. Right? Like I could stop working right now. But that's like all we got, right. So it's like those long term goals are much much more fuzzy. Now. Yeah, so it is interesting it

Nicoa Coach: 9:58

honestly can see past it. About three months in. I mean, really? I mean, can you really? I mean, we don't really know, if you can at least get the six month buffer. I mean, that's a good life by design. Because, you know, now we're scanning the horizon for Do I have enough money? Do I have it, you know, kind of pay mortgage? It's no longer survival based on you know, tigers and bears. Yeah. You know, it really is time, though, to move away from that external goal setting. You know, If This Then That, if I could just become Yeah, so I tried to tap into to where you find your joy de vivre? Because you exude this, like inner child energy on Instagram. And I mean, I literally am more optimistic and positive when I look at your posts. Oh, thank you. i My favorite posts recently, you guys you were and what? What's your Instagram? Is it just

DAWN CRAWFORD: 10:56

your name? I can't remember. It is dawn a Crawford? Yeah. Okay. At dawn a

Nicoa Coach: 11:01

Crawford everybody. You should pause the podcast and go follow her right now. Because you Hey, Katrina, I guess, Brian, that's your husband, Brian. He was filming you, I guess. And you're due to walk it along. And then all of a sudden, you're under a giant boulder rock and you stop and you're like, Oh, and if you see me smiling. It's just like, I love rocks. And I'm like, me.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 11:36

Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I'm, I just think life is simple. Right? And I I am very much in the present. Right? And I think that you have to live everyday the fullest, right? Like you have one life dude. Like, it's zero. Right? This is it. So, like, if you have a dream of going to Paris, like make it happen, like stop having it be this like, thing? You know, and I talked to? Yeah, like, we have neighbors who are very much in the twilight years, right, last couple of years of their life, and they just have so many things they wish they could have done. Right. And I just don't ever want to be there. Right. And I think of course, we're never gonna be achieve everything and see everything. But yeah, very much in the present of like, oh, that's a cool thing to go. See. That's a cool thing to enjoy. Right? And it is so simple. But yeah, it's like we love art. And I love rocks. And I don't know, I kind of love those things that are simple and everything right? So like rocks are underneath us all the time. Right? They're everywhere. And another thing that I'm very I love is art that is around skeletons and bones and like, a lot of people think it's creepy, right? Okay, bones have so much skeletons like, but I'm like, Yeah, everybody has one. It's like the most basic thing that makes us all humans as our framework. Yeah. And it supports us and it does so many things. And it could break but like magically fix itself. Like how cool.

Nicoa Coach: 13:10

Exactly. It already knows what to do. Our buyers know what to do. Now, I think this is fantastical. Is that a word? Yeah. Because you know what? It made me think of my daughter was obsessed when we were in Europe. We kept going to those the Crips virus. What are they? Yeah, yeah. So we kept going into the catacombs. And then we're walking outside this giant building, and we're due to do and we look down and there's these little glass windows and you're looking at it's just hundreds and hundreds of, of skeletons. And you're like, wow, I mean, if that isn't kind of put it in perspective, like, you know, we're just kind of this meat suit. Yeah, we're having this energetic experience. Like, we certainly take ourselves really damn seriously though. Most of the time. Yeah. Yeah. In the world. Yeah. How can we help people lighten up? I mean, if our I am, I started to say I'm no coach, but I am a coach. I don't know I don't coach you is what I was thinking. But I, my outside quick thought was, oh, this this childlike play this joyfulness that she brings to her family, and her daughter is probably based on that. She didn't have that playfulness as a child or a sister or brother. Yes. Yeah. And so you get to actually live and not that you're obsessed with Katrina, But who is she? She's amazing. But you get to live that still. You can continue that childhood, childlike joy with her.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 14:41

And I think yeah, I don't know I've been playing around with it's a lot of definition of what is right, what is wrong, what is correct. What is an error and I think in adulting, right, that we create a lot of weird rules for ourselves about how We should exhibit as an adult, right? And that the way that you live your life and enjoy things and, you know, discover the world is not a reflection on how successful you are as an adult. Right? And that, yeah, enjoying art, like still creating things still discovering and like, enjoying the beautiful things in your world does not make you any less adult. Right. Like, it's so interesting. And I think especially Sullivan in the south, you know, I think it's even more kind of underlying strict code about what an adult is.

Nicoa Coach: 15:41

Being aware. Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 15:42

so growing up in the West, okay,

Nicoa Coach: 15:45

cuz I feel like I was raised in the south. So there's Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 15:48

yeah. So growing up in the West, certainly. So born in California, and then moved to Colorado, you know, that California is in the West is much more, I think, pioneering and like individualistic in a lot of ways. A little bit more isolating, but also a lot of self pride and self identity and self expression. Right. So tattoos from West Coast, East Coast is a good example of that, right that there's a lot more visible tattoos on the West Coast is on the east coast. And I think so that kind of progression across and as I think it also Yeah, like what is accepted, right? Like, it's, I think it's definitely gotten better. And especially in Raleigh, as more people have come in for different areas. But when we first moved here, like people didn't like, decorate their house much for Christmas, like we didn't see big Christmas light displays, right? People just had the very, you know, little candles in their window or like some little greenery. And like, I do, like a crazy display with inflatables, and bright colors. And of course. So I think it's just so interesting about Yeah, it's about how people exhibit as adults in America, even across the country. And I think that anyone that then like an assistant when I came to the south, like, all of this kind of creative energy, and spontaneity and joy was is new and different. So people like, are like, Oh, that's so cool. Like, I'm so cool. Here. I was not cool in the West, not a cool person. Because there's more people like me, right? Are we below? We're even more like, out of the box. Right? So it's been really interesting. Yeah, I've upped my cool factor coming to the south.

Nicoa Coach: 17:33

It just made me think of, because everybody, we actually are interviewing, like, a few days before the before Christmas. So I just watched Love Actually. And you know, the British kid goes to America. And he's like, No, I've gone to America. And I'm gonna be so cool. Because they love a guy with a British accent. He's like, No, you're not cool. You're not gonna he gets over there. And they're like, Oh, of course. hooks up with three girls. Absolutely. About that people I meet and I'm like, I wonder if they're cool at home.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 18:05

Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. No. Yeah. I feel like yeah, is not cool. And yeah, not cool.

Nicoa Coach: 18:15

No, we're all cool. Actually, the takeaway there is yeah, we're all cool. Yes. It's just you guys. Surround yourself with the people that agree with that. If you move, yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 18:28

exactly. Right. Yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 18:31

Cuz you're already cool. And it's fine. And you said that about the decorating. I was doing an interview, my friend. Do you know, Shelley Kelly?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 18:39

Ooh, No, probably not. She ran Modus,

Nicoa Coach: 18:43

which was the communications and branding company for a while and now she wants her. Something your stage. Oh, man. Just live your step. Oh, gosh, she's gonna get mad at me. One thing stage Shelly Kelly. Okay. Anyway, she actually decorated her house this year for Christmas. Like over the top. Yeah, she's, like, mount all of North Carolina. So she's a southern and southern kids. Yeah. And I joke in the interview. I haven't even edited it yet. And I was like, Oh, am I gonna have to take that up? Because I joke I was like, yeah, when I drove up, I was like, threw up a little bit my mouth. And you're like, you know, Nicoa people don't decorate like, she opened her inner creativity. Like, yeah, it's felt. Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 19:32

yeah. It's fascinating. It's fascinating also, like, how it changes across the country, even you know, and like, we're just in Houston. And everybody wraps their trees. They're like big wrappers of trees. And here we have those big balls of lights that go up into trees or like, black balls. I don't know. I just Yeah. So it's fascinating, and I think, but yeah, right. This is that expression. And it is different in every part of the country, even in America and then even in the world. So this those definitions of what is yeah what is right and wrong changes all the time.

Nicoa Coach: 20:05

Let me ask you a question about how you have found that solidity solidifying your creative expression without apology. You know, I remember when my daughter Pippa went to middle school she used to make her own little collars created these like different shaped colors that would button in the back around her neck, and she would wear tights with her shorts. And she was very expressive in the sixth grade. Well, then seventh grade hit. And before you knew it, we were at the Lululemon store and trying to find the Michael Kors bags and the Frye boots and she had squelched it. Yeah. And I thought, Oh, this is the saddest thing I've ever seen. Yeah. At what point do you recall being squelched? In your own creativity?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 20:56

No, I mean, I think I was trying to fit the mold. I was definitely an outsider kid. Right. I was a high achieving kid with academics, you know, but I wasn't like valedictorian or anything, but. And then I was high achieving all my extracurriculars. And I think I was definitely yeah, made fun of. And so I feel like I really didn't embrace this actually, the creative part until I was 30, when I had been laid off from a job, and so my like path got knocked off, right? And then at that point, when you spend so much time with yourself, for the first time in your life, honestly, right, especially if you get laid off, and you're like, I'm at home for three hours, you know, for eight hours a day for six months, I don't want to do, yeah. That you discover what's important, right? And what you really want to do. And I think that was a thing. And, you know, in the, in my interview for the job that I got, they asked, you know, what are the three things that your friends would say about you? And so it was this idea of like, trying to get inside, right, and I said nerdy for the first time, and that I loved Star Wars, and I kind of accepted the nerdy side of me. And I think before then it was always it was there, but it wasn't embraced, right? This kind of like opened the door for me to be able to embrace that creative, nerdy side. And it certainly 13 years ago, like it was not socially acceptable for girls to like Star Wars. Right? It is now and we've like, Yay, we moved so much. But I guess it'd be like, 20. Yeah. So I don't know. It's interesting. Yeah, I think. Yeah. Now my expression is, yeah, it is. It's it's catching up. It's catching up for all that last time.

Nicoa Coach: 22:40

I agree. And I think there's a lot of people with some lost time out there. And when they're sitting there not dancing, if they're not moving their body and dancing in the kitchen, or they're, they're not like volunteering. When you're at the, you know, the comedian says, Can I get a volunteer to somebody to come up here or, you know, people just hesitate so much. And I don't know about you, but I tend to be the one that can't sit there too long without just going okay, I'll do it. And there's me now. Yeah, I'll be 55. I'm kind of like, I'm not doing it anymore. I'm tired.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 23:17

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely Yeah, I'm definitely embracing my. Yeah, I don't have to be the leader all the time. It's hard, right? And even in my friend group, right, that I'm the one that organizes everything. And like, you know, even down to the point of just asking people to go out for drinks, like nobody can initiate. So I'm trying to figure out, we

Nicoa Coach: 23:40

haven't learned how to receive or we're not waiting long enough for them to initiate because they know who will do it. I've

DAWN CRAWFORD: 23:46

tried so yeah, yeah. And I've tried for a year I've like, had hinted, I've, like, outright said I need these things. And they're like, cool, I can't do that for you.

Nicoa Coach: 24:00

That's so interesting. Well, we're looking externally still. So you talked about, you know, age 30. Yeah, all of a sudden, I'm home with myself. I mean, that's been a big have reflected on a lot lately. Who am I alone with me? Not, I mean, people could still be around me. I'm not saying I have to be alone. But who really am I and can I? Can I be okay with her and not be attached to the external people showing up for me differently? And I? It's tricky. And I did have a therapist, and she said to me, Don't forget you're human and you have needs. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's not like, I'm just mad for being a martyr.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 24:48

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I'm dealing with the same thing too. Yeah. Yeah. And I also have a therapist who's delightful. But um, yeah, COVID does those things. Um, right? Oh my god. But yeah, it is it's hard to be with yourself when, especially when you're an extrovert, right. And I think I do draw so much energy from people around me. And B, I think COVID also has changed a lot. It's given us all permission to isolate and hide in arcades, and to be very selfish and very focused on your immediate family, right, and the people that you care about most and not care about a whole lot of people, to the point like being aggressively awful to people. And I do feel like definitely in America, we're facing a kindness crisis, right, that we have lost any sort of ability to want to get outside of ourselves, or take a chance on somebody, or learn about somebody else's way of life. And it's because we're all given permission, our government told us that you need to, you need to isolate. Right. That's so so it's hard for a lot of people and a lot of people who wanted it right, like, all of a sudden, yes, yeah. And all sudden, like, yeah, being an introvert was super cool. All of a sudden, right? Like, I feel like embracing your introvert came was is super trendy now. Right? And

Nicoa Coach: 26:22

this is this explains so much about my youngest. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. But she's like, it seems to me. I love you, darling. But it seems to me that there is this goal to avoid anything that requires effort and leaving the house. Yes. And I'm like, why don't you go to campus? Like, why didn't Yeah, well, just she's like, well, it feels so cozy and comfy here. And I'm like, it is cozy and comfy. But are you going to get that human connection that you're talking about craving? Yeah. And where do we get to practice? Unless we're in relationship and relationship? Is everything from an intimate relationship to the relationship with the cashier at the grocery store? Yes. You know, everything is an interaction. Everything is a connection. And we're all energetically overlapping, and you really hit it. And we let's dive into this concept of kindness because we talked about your book and we haven't talked about the focus of you know, BCDC ideas as well. And when sportive nonprofit, I think of kindness and tenderness there. I think there's this loss of tenderness and in the work I do with Ontological Coaching with from the Newfield network talks about this missing level of tenderness. Tell me what kindness and kindly means to you your book The Kindly Is it the kindly

DAWN CRAWFORD: 27:51

review? Yeah, kindly review? Yeah, yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 27:54

Yeah, check that out. The review. All right. We'll talk about that, too. So yeah, what is that word for you?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 28:00

Yeah, I mean, kindness is action. Right. So, you know, it's action out of out of benevolence, out of love out of doing good. Right. And that you're truly contributing by through your actions to somebody else's? Yeah. ability. Not. Yeah, like that. You're, you're, you're free from shittiness. Right. Kindness is the act of being free of shit. Yeah. So it is, but it's an action. Right. And that's what I really work on. And I really talk about in my book is that it is kindness is an action. So nice. Nice is a feeling right. Nice is a I always I do always talk about bless your heart. Bless your heart is a nice, yeah, it is a nice way to be really should he be somebody right? And yeah, and I think that so

Nicoa Coach: 29:00

the intonation on this shed in the south, okay, so I can authentically and kindly say, Oh, bless his heart. Straight or I can say bless her heart. Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 29:17

absolutely. It is powerful. It's powerful.

Nicoa Coach: 29:21

Kindness is a verb it's action is something that we are doing. And we're being intentional about it like a life by design. So how are you? How do you embed intentional kindness not only in your way of being but in your business?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 30:07

Yeah, um, you know, I think it's always showing up with that positive attitude and the kind of problem solving get it done attitude versus the Woe is me. We don't have the resources we don't have you know, we have this insecurity or lack of lack of things right and and nonprofits love that path of lack of resources. Here But I think it is it's like can do attitude, right of like, okay, cool. Like, there's a bunch of problems in the world. So let's solve them, right, let's change how people are harmed or living, right. And that's everything from just being, you know, just smiling at the poor Starbucks person in saying thank you, right? To, you know, to bigger things of, of Yeah, volunteering of giving back of living a life through service, right. And I feel like, while I own my own business, and that, but our life is service, right, like I work for nonprofits, and I work for, you know, 13 to 15 at a time, and we change the world through their clients, and they're the people that they touch. So yeah, I think it can be. Yeah, it's, it's just about showing up with positivity and trying to like, deal with it. Yeah. You know, and I think, for me, it is a lot of I call it, you know, my PR bitchface. But that I do show I put on a character, right. And it's not not not like an authentic, but it is a part of my personality that I bring into every single.

Nicoa Coach: 31:47

Yeah, right. And it is what you have created that, you know, serve your customers. Interesting that yeah, you highlight that, because I think people get the when their inability to be kind shows up. Yeah, it's because they think they've somehow when they're stepping into the character of their identities, yeah. They don't actually see it as such, they see it as this is my, this is me. Yeah. And the more you get to understand who you are and who your authentic self is, then you can show up as the podcast host. And you can show up as the facilitator of the church, whatever, you know, and help. Make sure that you know, the CEO CEO knows who to go talk to when they come to the volunteer event. Those are roles that we play. Yeah, but you're right. Kindness is an intentional way of being that we need to foster more of, if we want to change the world. Yes, find ourselves in service.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 32:44

Absolutely.

Nicoa Coach: 32:45

Was there a pivotal moment that caused you to say, I'm gonna write a damn book about giving feedback, because the book is tell us about the book, but

DAWN CRAWFORD: 32:56

kindly review is, is a book about changing the way that people interact over their creative work, right. So anything that you've created, so is this, it could be, you know, a budget from a finance person, or it can be a creative campaign, which is really my world of doing advertising. But it's how people interact on work on a day to day basis. So feedback, and we don't even have a word for this. This is what's weird, right? So when we talk about feedback, we talk about review. People always go to like my annual review, or my professional, you know, development stuff that my boss tells me, these are the five things you need to work on, and what are your goals for next year. So this is more about that day to day, like, email interactions, reviewing of documents. We don't even have a word for it. And that's what's crazy, right? And that's the hardest thing in the

Nicoa Coach: 33:43

world of creativity. Yeah. So if I'm a designer, I'm a writer, I'm, and everybody's a creator. But this could be more of that that field? Yes,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 33:53

it definitely yes. Yeah, it fits best there. I think, you know, there's a lot of crosswalks. But I've been able to work with over 100 clients in the last 13 years. And so with all of that feedback that I received from people on a daily basis, on an hourly basis, I've been able to identify around eight different feedback styles. So the way that people are interacting with other human beings on their staff, there's eight different styles. And, but only one of them is good. And the rest of them all need work. Right? That the only quiz.

Nicoa Coach: 34:28

So she's got a quiz on the website, and what is the website we could send people to and I'll get all this in the show notes. Where can we send them? Kindly? review.com, kindly review.com So I answered, and I haven't checked my email. I think you've sinned. Yeah. Yeah. So I it was a really well designed quiz as well, because you had ages and I was like, Oh, I liked it. It's fun. I had experienced a quiz like that. Maybe I don't take me I thought it was really creative. And yeah, so I love this because I guess you don't want to do you want to do the spoiler? Like which feedbacks? Yeah, oh, yeah. Which one is the ideal we should be aspiring towards? Yes. So

DAWN CRAWFORD: 35:14

I call it the kind collaborator. Because at work, really, it's around collaboration, right? It's about how to work together to make something amazing and to make a product that is more effective, more efficient, that it gets done quicker. that it really is through collaboration. And that lack of ownership. Right, that we are that

Nicoa Coach: 35:37

we gotta let go of the attachment that my opinion has to somehow fall out on top or exactly. It's not again to that opinion or Yeah. And

DAWN CRAWFORD: 35:47

it's getting outside of yourself and understanding Yeah, differences in education levels in ethnic background and cultural right, you know, cultural, how they were raised culturally, how you're raised across the country, clearly, right, we're talking about Christmas lights. Right. And so, but yeah, so that's, that's the first part of the book is really talking about how to receive feedback on your work, how to give it and then these feedback styles that really dictate how you interact with people, and also help you see how that can be detrimental to other people's creativity. And they're, they're just willing to want to work for you. Right. So like, if somebody's we have one personality we work with a lot is a DI wire. And so that's the person who changes everything, right? You send them a document, and they just change all of it, right? And then you are left with very little time, or they don't want to collaborate with you right to like, they don't want to hear your feedback of like, I don't think this is, you know, the right way to go. Or maybe that this is an accurate and sometimes like, whatever, this is how I would just want it to be I just want it to be purple. Right? It's right. So that personality really squashes creativity, it really squashes people, and it leads to burnout, and leads to people, you know, quitting. And all of these.

Nicoa Coach: 37:05

Forget it. If you don't want my opinion, you don't want my insight. Exactly. So it sounds to me that this actual book could be I mean, as an HR professional for over 20 years. I can imagine. These are just fundamentals that would probably apply to anybody's performance, because you want people to be creative, whether they're a creator, in that category or that in Yeah. I mean, think about it, any of my work as an as an HR person, if I brought it to a boardroom table. Yeah. And everybody shut me down, or said, yeah, no, we're gonna do it the way I did it at my last two companies. Yeah. I remember once a leader said to me, contributed to a conversation that we had just come together as leadership team, and he was the new leader. And I said, Well, why did we choose that country for the outplacement of that organization? And he said, Oh, hrs, HR has a business opinion? Oh, gosh, what have you paid? Yeah, I was shocked. And I ultimately quit that job. Yeah, you could have leveraged me embrace that. Now. It was also me and Tom, you know, I can appreciate his genius. Now. I really can't I understand his background and his thinking. But I could not at the time. Yeah. And a lot of people can get shut down pretty easily.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 38:24

But it's that interaction, right? Yeah. It's that interaction. And that I think, with human relationships, right, and connections that were also real fast to cut people off. Right. So if you have like, a moment where that moment, right, that was the moment and you probably it tipped you're wanting to leave that job?

Nicoa Coach: 38:43

It probably did. And I didn't even realize it. Yeah, at the time.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 38:46

And that's the thing about that's what this book is about, right? It's about how to how to manage, and be more self aware. So it has a lot of, you know, the emotional intelligence stuff in there. And it just how to be more self aware of how you're interacting with people. And just Yeah, being more honest about who you are also, like, I tell my team, when I have stressful times and days, I was like, I'm not gonna be a con collaborator. You know, like, it's not gonna work out for the next week.

Nicoa Coach: 39:15

That's authenticity. That's truth telling. Yeah, we have to be really clear. Well, what was the impetus to writing the book? Yes, yes. Yeah. I'm curious.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 39:26

Yeah. So I So in 2021, so I my my ultimate passion, right. So I work with lots of different nonprofits. My ultimate passion is vaccines. I love vaccines and shots. I think it's super cool that we can prevent diseases with something you shoot in your arm. It's my thing. So in 2021, I took time off the business and I spent 20 hours a week working with Wake County to bring the vaccine to our community and through our community and through our messaging and in a lot of great work from all of their kind of diversity things we were we reached 80% vaccination By August, which was insane and Biden chose wait County as his site for his like, rally speech of like, We're doing great. So it was it was really an important thing for me to do. But also it was it was awesome. My second dip into working life right where I wasn't the boss and I will do Have I had a lot of autonomy and it was amazing job, and I really enjoyed it. But I dipped in and I saw how people were interacting, right. And it just really, I was like, This can't be how this is for everybody. Like how do people do this all the time? Right? Like, how do you live like this? And I think

Nicoa Coach: 40:51

you mean example. What was it like? Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 40:54

I mean, I think it's it's the interactions of people. Yeah. Right. It's around creativity often was in this particular situation. And it was that somebody was right, no matter what. Right? And that there was no opportunity to collaborate. No opportunity to utilize my experience, right. I had been on the frontlines of Yeah, talking about vaccines for over a decade before that. And yeah, and this is what I do, right, as I talk about vaccines, so to real people. And so I think it's just that idea that people are, yeah, are people who are able to not contribute, right? They're allowed to not contribute and collaborate. I mean, you know, that debate, collaborate on projects and on things at work, was like, wow, this is, this is time. And then. And then 2020 was a wild year for the economy, you know, all of this started feeling that and people were not really getting back to work really well. And so I just had extra time. Right. So I wrote it. I wrote the book in six months. I just took two hours every working day to just crank it out. So yeah,

Nicoa Coach: 42:09

yeah. So you had you written a book before? No,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 42:13

no, this is, yeah. A year ago, I

Nicoa Coach: 42:16

was about to write a book. And I actually am about to launch one. It is not anything like what I thought I was gonna write. But we're about to launch open it. It's taken me a good year. Yeah. But you set an intention. You talked about you, you took it from an personal experience. And you saw a possibility and opportunity here to influence and so how do you leverage the book now? Do you go in through BCDC? And and use the book as part of your offering? Or how do you leverage your book?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 42:49

So what I learned about myself was that I had a big goal of being an author, ever since I was in third grade, I want to be an author. I do not have a goal of selling the book that I wrote, so I'm leveraging it. It's hard selling that this isn't selling it is very difficult.

Nicoa Coach: 43:09

But as you would have written it anyway, and so, so.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 43:14

Not I was still gonna write exactly. But yeah, I mean, I think so. Yeah, I'm definitely using it through trainings. Right. So I'm offering trainings to teams. I'm using it as a backbone for my coaching. I do communications, nonprofit communications coaching also. And then yeah, it's part of our everyday work. And then I do keynote speaking and stuff like that on it. But yeah, I mean, I think it's an awesome like, a nonprofit world, like people. People are not impressed that you have a book, I think in HR, like don't even like need it or something. I don't know. I'm

Nicoa Coach: 43:50

sure I've needed it for years I've been I actually, I sell one of my coach gurus books whenever, because it's, it's the foundation of the work. I do energy leadership. So if I had sold my own version of that book all these decades, I mean, I, I might have made some money. Care. Yeah. Great book. I don't I'm like, why would I write the same? Yeah, he's already read it. I'm like, exactly. Yeah. So yeah, but your book seems like really would be powerful for any level, not just the nonprofits not Yeah, I think you could, and we should collaborate on that view. Because I bet you could sell it to HR professionals. Yeah, you know, and say, let's take the Create because they need to foster more creativity in the workplace. Yes. Absolutely. How do you foster your own continued creativity? And, you know, do you have some strategic life by design self care practices that keep you grounded and full, not just giving to everybody and being kind? service oriented? Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 44:53

yeah. Um, our big one is experiencing arts. So we really enjoy seeing contemporary art and people who are Yeah, currently alive in creating art that we'd love. We'd love contemporary art. So I think that's a big thing for us. It's very inspiring. And then I, I really, I'm a person so I'm, I'm not outdoorsy, but I like being outside for like an hour a day. So I love gardening or I have a hot tub. I sit in my hot tub. And I watch birds. So I love nature. Right and so but yeah, I think those those are my big ones is experiencing our Art, but also, we constantly question ourselves about why we like things, right? Oh, yeah, I really we spend a lot of time thinking about our motivations and why we why we like art or like why we're like, oh, that's a cool commercial, right? Or like our terrible commercial, or a terrible movie. So I think we really spend a lot of time dissecting and thinking about motivations. And you know, why other people also have motivations, right? And what was the like, pitch, especially for commercials, right? It's like, what was that pitch? I made that awful commercial.

Nicoa Coach: 46:06

Always think about the three guys in the boardroom at 3am. Going, guy, Go, get go there that works. Let's just make a gecko and let's go home.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 46:18

Let's just make 20 variations. So I think yeah, so we yeah, we do. And that's, I think, what my husband and I talked about, as we really examine and think about, like, why do we like things? What motivates what motivates things to be created? And

Nicoa Coach: 46:35

consciousness gone? Yep. That that I talked about being the observer of self, right? So the higher version of me I call her my tipsy. BFF. She's not the Gremlin. They like is saying, Are you sure she's up here going? Oh, you I thought you weren't drinking anymore? Oh, you're gonna have three classes. When I get let me get some more two. Or she's like, Oh, I thought you you know, become self educated. And don't yell at your kid anymore. But now you're gonna Yeah, let me just sit back and watch that. You go go. Yeah. Because that version of us Yeah. loves us no matter what. Yes. The more curious we can be. I just find it at what an amazing partner to have that the two of you. Yeah, it's clear that you feed off of each other you work to run the business together. You know, talk to me about conscious coupling. This is something Yes. A lot more about how are you guys? Because I mean, with that only child I watch an only child parents. We got six. We are like, whatever. But you got this one kid that. I mean, you like you could stare at her all day. I mean, my God. She's so perfect. How do you foster conscious coupling? Yeah. And of the parenting?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 47:49

Yeah, I mean, yeah. So we spend 24 hours a day together pretty much. Yeah, we're like our desks are have always been facing each other. So Brian, right now, as I'm doing this is less than five feet away from me. He has his headphones on. But it's partnership, right. And we were married 10 years before we had our kid and that, yeah, that it's, it's our life together. Yeah. We met in high school. We started dating in college. And but he like, yeah, Brian was also somebody who was very different when I met him in college, like very different from all the other people who are at my high school. And his belief structure was already kind of created and in line with me in a very liberal way that I didn't see in guys in my high school. That's for sure. So I think it is that that we, and also that we just chose early. I feel like a lot of people like get freaked out by choosing too early. And we chose each other early. And it Yeah, and it's absolutely fantastic. And you

Nicoa Coach: 49:00

both seem really in love and friends. And yeah, happy. I mean, I'm sure it's not all roses every day. But you know, I don't know, Brian seems like every day.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 49:13

Like we really we do not argue right. Yeah. And it is really it has always been treating each other with kindness from the start. And and that's intentional. It is always intentional. Right that like, yeah, there's no reason to, yeah, again, bring that shitty person that you have inside you to the people you love, and that they're not the ones that need to. Yeah, it's not the space where you get to let that person out. Right? Yeah,

Nicoa Coach: 49:39

I think you created conscious space along this path that most people don't have the habit of doing. And I don't know if there's anybody in your world or any role models or even your parents that I mean, how did you learn how to be conscious? Because I think I think we're born kind of knowing but they're brainwashed so quick. To think inside the box. Yeah, maybe it's because you've been in a creativity space. But yeah, I'm curious. What would you say? Why, like, Why me? Why am I confident and I can talk on a mic or stand on a stage. Why me? I learn that how did you learn to question and do root cause analysis about your belief systems? Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 50:23

um, I think it is a lot of I don't know, man. I don't know I don't I just It is it comes back to this one life to live, right? And that making every moment just living with no regrets, right, like, is all about that right for me. And it's been like that for a very long time of like, I don't ever want to be like, you just never know what's gonna happen and that I will try anything once. And like, what's the risk? Right? And I don't know, I'm just not very I'm not very, you know, I don't care about risk. I don't worry about it. Yeah. But also I spend assets, finding people that help you with the things so that you can do that. Right. Like, Brian cares about money a lot, right? So I don't have to worry about it. I also like very much delegate a lot of my worries and things that you know, to other people, rather than pay them or I love them. Right. And so

Nicoa Coach: 51:26

saying, I'm an outsourcer Yes. There's somebody cleaning my house right this second. I love her. I will double up in the holidays and my hair extra.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 51:38

Yeah, yes. We have a house cleaner. We have yard people like yeah, I Yeah. And and I think it is that thing that I don't have to be good at everything. But I want to try everything and experience everything and see, you know, and yeah, it's really it's very much about I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. Literally. I have no idea.

Nicoa Coach: 52:01

I don't know where to live. We had a friend just passed away age 62. Healthy Vegan. He was mountain biking, a heart attack. Everybody start living now. Yes, right, this.

Jennifer Gardner: 52:16

We hope you're enjoying listening to this episode of Coffee with Nicoa. Make sure to subscribe so that you never miss an episode and follow Coffee with Nicoa on Instagram to find inspiring content that will help you begin creating your life by design.

Nicoa Coach: 52:31

Real quick, I want to tap into just one other element of your your beautiful life. Talk to us about having dyslexia when you found that out how you have been intentional about your life by design to offset that and cope with that. Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 52:45

I think so. I was never, I was never diagnosed. I've never been diagnosed. Okay, so. But I've always had workarounds, like massive workarounds. Like I still don't know, my left to right. Like it's a conscious subconscious decision of what is left and right.

Nicoa Coach: 53:07

Your house, okay.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 53:09

Like every time every time and then, um, so it's always been workarounds, and just little things like in college, I had my journalism professors like, Have you ever been like diagnosed with dyslexia because they're just little things? And I like, yeah, like, I am not, I need a copy editor. Right. Even though I write for a living, you know, and I create your living like, I need somebody who's going to help me make sure that my sentences have the right structure. And then, so that didn't stop. Yeah, I love Yeah, go Yeah, yeah, no, people be like, Oh, I

Nicoa Coach: 53:43

could never be a writer. I'm dyslexic, or whatever.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 53:45

I know. Exactly. So but I did discover it. When my daughter is also exhibiting very similar struggles with reading and writing. And they won't dislike they won't diagnose her as dyslexic either, because it means things. So for school systems, so but just reading things and taking quizzes and stuff like that, like they're like, Yeah, it's pretty, we're pretty dyslexic. So but what it's done is that because I constantly have to do workarounds, and I my brain is wired differently is that I do see the world in a different process, right, that I see all of the possibilities versus the one path or the correct path. And that because my brain has never seen anything as Correct, right? Like, like there. So there is a word I can never spell. Like, I just can't. And I know the difference between there there and there. But like, it's it's a hard one for me. And it just never, never the way I write it is correct. Exactly. That's what my brain thinks. So I think it is back to this thing of like, what is correct was right, what is good? I just don't have that. I just don't have that.

Nicoa Coach: 54:59

I think you're evolved. Evolution. I think that is awareness that's at a level that I mean, because I believe there is no right or wrong. Yeah, we're just playing with a game of norms, rules, just so we can get along just so we can. Yeah, drive straight through the street without crossing the line. I mean, you know, you can't get it wrong. Will it be effective? Yes. In the game we're playing maybe maybe not exactly. Serve me or not, maybe, maybe not. But you Yeah, so coping mechanisms work arounds. Obviously, it just requires you to be more intentional. Yeah, again. Yeah, exactly.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 55:40

Yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 55:40

Oh my gosh, yeah. Well, I appreciate you talking about it, because I think nine out of 10 of us at all has something that we're dealing with that makes us so unique or would be considered some sort of diagnoses or as, and we need to, you know, here's my question or my comment to people who are like, don't get too hung up on whatever you've been diagnosed with. Yes. Now, people might think, Oh, fine. Nicoa. What do you mean, my daughter? And I'm like, I don't care what a coach helps you acknowledge that? And it says, Okay, what do we want to do now? We got it. Yeah. Okay. You take a drug for that. Alright. Are you what you can't get up before? 9am? I don't care what it is. Yeah. Now, what are we going to do with it? Let's just take what is you your authentic version of you? And let's move forward? Yeah. What advice would you give people who are wanting to foster more open mindedness, that freedom of being like you have you have this way of being is an unapologetic, it is not restrained? It seems to me that that allows you this great experience of life. And I like to be that way. But I still feel restrained, sometimes. And I'd be curious, being you in your unique way, what advice would you give people to give themselves permission to come out of that box?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 57:04

I think in the current society, that money is meant to be spent.

Nicoa Coach: 57:13

Right.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 57:15

So right, and that don't let money preclude you from an experience that you want to have? Right? So that's everything, right? That's a better income, it's better? Or is it less income, right, that you're going to take that chance of being an entrepreneur, and you're so worried about the cost of health insurance, like whatever, it just works out? Right? And that and that we so yeah, Brian does a really good job of squirreling money around the world, the internet and keep it like 98. All of his passwords, we rock talked about them like bro, like, passwords. Yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 57:55

He's looking at you right now. But don't ya people on the podcast, the password.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 58:04

But it is that thing of like, money. We're not motivated by money. Right? And I think that's something I learned early in nonprofit work is that you know, you're not right, you're never going to make, you're never going to be stupid, rich, like we do great. We travel a lot, right? We do a lot of experiences, I pay to go see things. I don't think about, oh, well, that's an expensive ticket to go in this immersive art experience that you're going to do for two hours, but like, your life is gonna be changed by that, because it's so cool and so joyful. Right? So it is I think it's about money for me that I just, it's not a boundary or a barrier. And we're not I'm not wasteful, right, I'm definitely do some spontaneous shopping. Um, but that, yeah, you know, take care of yourself, take care of your needs, but don't let it be the barrier. And that's something that always comes up with people, right? It's a

Nicoa Coach: 59:01

scarcity mindset versus an abundance mindset. And I, as I often will, like, when people want to hire me as their coach, and then I talk about the price tag, which I never really move away from that value. But I will say, Hey, I don't want money to be a barrier to you accessing this partnership, if this is what your heart tells you is really what you want to invest in. So then we find alternative, a third alternative? Yeah, so, but I don't discount it. Yeah. Because that's kind of a balance between entrepreneurs, you know, yeah, know your worth. And if I ever did choose to discount it, I make sure I write down the retail value of like, and I'm giving you this discount. Yes. Because they need to know that, you know, I believe in the value of my time. And you should believe in the value of yours. And if you believe in yourself and the investment for you for the joy of the artistic immersion experience, because that's an important value in your life. And you want more of that. Yeah, then to your point, don't let money get in the way. Yeah,

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:00:03

and I think yeah, and so many people Yeah, that that's their that's the goal, right is like, Oh, I just need to make 150,000 in the year and then and then I'll be happy or you know, it's just yeah, and also that thing, too. I never Yeah, yeah. Like, I've never I'm an overweight person too. And I'm never going to stop myself from doing something or be like, oh, I need to get this weight before I can do that. Like should

Nicoa Coach: 1:00:28

you role model for me? You You wear shorts you, your body is different than mine. Yeah. And it's a beautiful body. But I have a history of body image issues. Yeah, having a set of insecurities and you role model for me to just throw that out the frickin window. Yeah, I love that. Because I'm like, Oh my gosh, she loves herself. She loves her. And you happen to just be different than me. Yeah, yeah. I always say if you want a bikini body, put a bikini on it.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:00:55

Stupid, so stupid.

Nicoa Coach: 1:00:58

Yeah, thank you. But thank you for just living. You're living your life without hesitation. And I invite people to follow you and take in some of that energy. And, you know, and the whole thing about money. One of my kids the other day said, Well, I don't know if I'm gonna have kids. It's expensive to have kids. And um, yeah, my husband and I looked at each other. But we were kind of like, to your point, Don, if you really want kids, don't let it be about the damn money. Yeah, like, have a kid. A lot of people are having kids who don't have a damn Penny. Yeah, yeah, always, you know, not always okay. And 99% of the time it works out like somebody's gonna get fed nursing for three years. I don't care. Yeah.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:01:43

You know, and that's also I do think it always works out right, that in working in nonprofits, and that there are so many security nets, right, and so many things to help people manage their money differently, get them different skills, so they can get a better paying job. You know, that it does always work out. Right. And don't

Nicoa Coach: 1:02:01

assume that money has to come from your effort. Yeah. Or the sort the resource. Yeah, like lots of things can be made possible. And you may not have to pay a dime. Yeah. And you will be surprised if you allow your mind to open up to those possibilities. Yes. Oh, someone just invited me to a dinner and I didn't have to pay wow, I got to a fancy restaurant. Or, you know, yesterday, my son got invited, he's going to be at a conference in Sweden or somewhere. His friends separately said, Hey, we have this extra ticket, see Taylor Swift in Sweden, in July or something. And he's like, Oh, my God, I'm gonna be in sweet jazz. And so he's he was like, he goes, Wow, I don't know what if it's expensive. Retail Price. It wasn't even the jacked up price. And I was like, Joe, why just take it do it should just do it. I don't care if you have to charge it. Just do it. He's like, I got the ticket. Yes. Because if you can't get whatever, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:03:04

No regrets. Yeah. No regrets. And, yeah, but also, yeah, really thinking about what? Yeah, I don't know. I just discover a lot. I do spend a lot of time absorbing and seeing things. And so but yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 1:03:18

Well, I'm gonna ask you one more question before we wrap up, because we we've already talked a whole hour.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:03:22

I know. I know,

Nicoa Coach: 1:03:25

I could talk to you all day. So I like to ask this question to my clients at the end of every coaching session. What is the one thing Don that you want to celebrate the most about yourself? And don't make it about serving others? Yeah. How about you? Yeah, that you would like to share before we hang up?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:03:44

That's a hard one. This is my this is my work area is Yeah, I don't have a lot of self esteem. Right? I have. No, that's the thing. I have a lot of self value. And I have a lot of Yeah, but the self esteem part is the part of them like, you know, so what do you want to celebrate about myself? I do think it's creativity, right? Creativity and kindness. Those are the things that I bring to the world that really makes me very happy. Right? It all does. It's all about feeding myself honestly, in every single way. Right? That creativity making things is about and kindness is ultimately about? Yeah, making yourself happy, because you see that people are having a better, a better day, A Better Life, A Better World. So

Nicoa Coach: 1:04:36

well, if you want to continue fostering that self esteem. Just apply all of that by looking in the mirror and saying it's

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:04:44

exactly right. I know. I know. It's a weird one. Yeah.

Nicoa Coach: 1:04:50

Yes, it's possible. I'm actually going to as a thank you for you being on this podcast. Yes. I just designed and am launching. So by the time people hear this, it will have already launched is a life by design journal. It's a coffee with Nicoa Self Care coaching journal. Ooh, I like it. Yeah. Right. So talks all about how are we taking care of ourselves? And then there are prompts. And just like you and Brian love to do, it's gonna get you thinking, Yes. And then pages for you to journal. So I will send you a copy of some hard copies. And I want to thank you, to you. So thank you for being amazing and for role modeling away You're being for me. You make me more of me.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:05:34

Oh, thank you. That's very kind.

Nicoa Coach: 1:05:39

I love Yeah. Is there anything else you want to share before we hang up? Are we good?

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:05:42

No, I'm good. Love your house lovers. Come

Nicoa Coach: 1:05:46

visit. You're only two hours away, right? Yeah. Nice right beach trip, you guys. Sweet family Damn.

DAWN CRAWFORD: 1:05:57

Fine. Totally.

Nicoa Coach: 1:06:00

Okay. All right. I love you. Thank you. I will talk to you soon. Okay, bye. Bye.

Jennifer Gardner: 1:06:08

Thanks for joining us for a caffeinated conversation. Subscribe to Coffee with Nicoa for more stories from people living a life by design. You can also find inspiration on Instagram. Just follow Coffee with Nicoa and check out our website Coffee with nicoa.com and that's Nicoa N IC O A. We look forward to talking with you soon. And enjoy your coffee between now and then.