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Introduction 0:00
Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns 0:18
Well, welcome to the #piratebroadcast. I love the opportunity to share #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. And Today we're going to do that all day long and talk about mental health. Maybe a little change in your life. Entrepreneur versus employee, toxic workplaces, non toxic workplaces, making change, and all of those things. I want to welcome to the room and she's a pirate now, Laura, how are you?

Laura Nutt 0:53
Aaarrrgh. Thank you so much for having me, Russ. Hello everyone. So hey y'all, yargh, so I will do the combination of Texas and pirates.

Russ Johns 1:09
Well, I spend my fair amount of time in Texas and it was really, I really enjoy Texas and I, my sister is still in Texas and my son is in Texas.

Laura Nutt 1:24
Come back, come in, it's calling your name. Come back, come back to us.

Introduction 1:31
We were talking before the show and we were talking about some of the journey, part of your journey. You're going through some changes in evolution, and why don't you talk a little bit about that and what's prompted that change in your life?

Laura Nutt 1:49
Sure. So it's it's kind of funny telling this story because I've been in mental health for the past seven years and just, truth be told, I've been trying to get out of it. It's not that I don't love my clients and love helping people, I just found myself really kind of going against the grain. Because counseling is very focused on building the relationship kind of processing where someone is at in their life. And that's wonderful, but it was very hard for me, who's very goal driven, For Focus solution oriented kind of person because I was sitting here going, okay, it's like we've kind of rehashed this like, come on, let's get out of the hole. I don't want to be in here having Cheetos and Netflix...the holes, not fun. There's life outside the hole. For a lot of clients, they just were not in that mindset. So it was very taxing for me to keep going back into that and try to put that aside. I know you meet the client where they're at which I would do that, but I was just inside I was just like, no, there's so much more. So now I've actually walked away from being an employee to actually being an entrepreneur. I kind of was frustrated with the way everything was going and said, hey, I'm going to create my own nation. So now I'm moving toward more purpose driven coaching, organizational change, and things like that. So really professional experiences were not so great. So it's like, ah, let's fix that. Then some tough life experiences have brought me to the journey I am at today.

Russ Johns 3:19
It's interesting, because I know, unfortunately, there are a lot of people that hold on to the place that they are right now. It seems like they're really challenged by the change by moving away from something that they're comfortable with, even though it's either toxic or it's depressing or it's not really full, what I would consider a full life. What do you think, what's the core of that? Why are people so hesitant to evolve and change and move away from their current situation? What is it that they're holding on to.

Laura Nutt 4:03
Sure that's excellent. Absolutely. Sorry for jumping. I was just like that. I was like, Yes, I love this question. I'm glad that you brought it up because it's really, really difficult to explain to people who are not experiencing it. I see this a lot with domestic violence and abuse and trauma. There's very, very overt negative reasons for somebody in an environment. They're being physically abused, sexually abused, emotionally abused, spiritually abused, financially abused, any type of abuse, and the outsider may say, oh, we'll just pick up and leave. Just walk away. It's not that simple. I think that translates to a lot of mental health difficulties and toxic environments. There is a fear that is there. Even though it's not good, I'm kind of comfortable and because I know this is familiar to me, I'm used to this pain or I'm used to this person being here and providing for me. What do I do if I step out on my own? I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do. It's like you lose sight. I'm a victim of domestic violence myself. That's why I speak from that, it's just kind of like, where do I go? What do I do? I don't even know my own identity. So the thought of even setting foot outside of this relationship is just not even realistic. That would be a fantasy because like, I don't even know what my favorite color is. I don't know how to pay bills. I don't know how to take care of myself. I think the same thing happens for those in depression and anxiety. They've been in this place for so long that the abnormal becomes normal for them. So when they're trying to return back to the normal, it's like looking at change and going well, I don't want to go to the abnormal, that's uncomfortable. So it kind of goes with us thinking of like, I don't want to do something weird and different. Like why? I know this, I'm comfortable with it. It's just really hard to to have that mindset when you've been so bogged down, you just don't have that same rational thought because you're in your pain.

Russ Johns 4:11
It's interesting too, because depression is one of those things that is either, you really are in a place where you can't process information, like you need to, in order to move away from it. So it's always good to have some help. This month is September Suicide Awareness Month. If you're depressed, there's help, there's things that you can do, and there's places you can go and there's changes you can make in your life. And I just want to make sure that everybody's aware that there is help, there is change, and you have an opportunity, even though it seems like it's impossible. It is possible and you look around and there are examples of it all over. I just want to make sure that if you're in a place that you're not feeling 100% confident that you can do something else and you know, phone a friend, get some help, look for a solution. So I just want to make that because it's so important, and people need to hear it over and over again. Or they make a change. I want to I want to shift gears a little bit though and rather than just changing careers, you've decided to become an entrepreneur and that's even more of a massive change in attitude. It's like, okay, exciting. I get to plan my own day, I get to do all this stuff. And it's like, now what do I do next? So walk us through some of those emotional attachments and changes that you've had to go through.

Laura Nutt 8:01
Sure, yeah, it's kind of a roller coaster of emotions. It's like excitement to oh my god to freak out to yay, so it's an interesting experience. But what led to that is kind of referencing back I had been in mental health for seven years and I just never really felt like that was a good fit for me. I kind of bounced around a lot, I could handle it for about a year and a half and then I was like, oh, I can't do this anymore. Then I'm going to take a break and I'm gonna try to get out of it. It just never really fit. And so I said something has to change. There was actually a seven month period of my life where I had some physical health, difficulty, some mental health difficulties, spiritual health, and I almost lost my life to it. So it really helped me to reflect on my life and what was important and it was going, Laura, you know, you're not finding your place where you're at, you need to create your own. Part of those difficulties came from a very toxic work environment that I came out of. I had experienced that at almost every single job that I had been at, sadly, in the mental health field. It can be very toxic in the workplace because you're dealing with individuals who usually come from a mental health background. So sometimes they haven't processed all their traumas. Sometimes they're bringing that into the workspace. And being in that for so many years, and then when it manifested the way it did with me, I literally almost lost it because of it. Then I said, okay, it's time. I'm going to start over, I'm going to do things my my own way, and I'm going to change that. So that leads to my passion of wanting to help people be purposeful in what they're doing and make meaning and change things at the micro level, the individual, so I can change at the macro level. I'm also very passionate about organizational change going into companies and saying, hey, do you have a healthy workspace? Are you communicating with your employees? Do you have an open door policy versus a closed door? You're wondering why your employee turnover rates are so high. Let's look at what's going on in the ivory tower, the C Suite executive level, you're wondering why you're hemorrhaging money, just coming in and helping people to rethink what's going on. Because I I see too many people affected by mental health. And with the suicide component, we have lost beautiful souls because of workplaces, toxic workplaces, and home spaces that are toxic. So it's my goal to change that so we can save more lives and make a positive impact.

Russ Johns 10:29
I call it the analogy of being inside the pickle jar. A lot of times people are so close, especially in organizations that are running on automation. They're running day to day and you show up to do your work and you don't think about everybody in the environment, you don't think about what is good or bad. What's unfortunate is however, you have an opportunity to make some changes in there and some small adjustments that can make the environment so much more healthy, productive and welcoming. It's a time that is needed. Thank you for doing that work and thank you for thinking about it from that perspective. Coaching isn't easy and there's a lot of people that are willing to help. When you come from a mental health background, it kind of adds that next dimension to it as well.

Laura Nutt 11:38
Yeah, definitely. Just to speak to that, what I'm finding with clients and organizations is a lot of times people don't recognize that mental health is what's keeping them back, kind of what you're speaking about. People don't recognize that it's mental health that's causing difficulties in the workplace, where people are not seeing the whole picture. They're so focused in their work or they take on workaholic tendencies because of distracting themselves from anxiety or depression or whatever that may be or a past trauma with a certain group of people so they're acting that out, they're projecting that. They don't realize it and then also, just within the person,we we have goals that we want to achieve but a lot of times there's something that's going on in our mindset that's keeping us back, so it helps to have that background to not get back in the hole but just sit there and go, okay, let's take a look at this pothole. What's gonna patch it over and then we can jump back to to moving you forward.

Russ Johns 12:36
Yeah, I really thrive and I resonate when you say, you wanted to do progress, you wanted to do next step. There's been instances in my life where people wanted to stay and I had to leave because I wasn't willing to stay where they were. People don't think about that. They don't really think and understand that I'm in a place that's toxic. I know people that are in toxic work environments right now and you think, can't you see that and they're comfortable in their perceived security and if we all knew how insecure all job environments and employment was, you wouldn't hesitate to jump out and try something new and go explore new opportunities. So I want to go back to what prompted you to get in the mental health field in the first place?

Laura Nutt 13:41
Sure. So, funny story on that one. Originally, I kind of took a journey just to find myself as a counselor. I originally started out when I said, I don't even want to go to college. I don't need to do that. So I kind of tease people, I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit. I've owned three companies. My first one, when I was five, I was co-owner of a friendship bracelet business and my second one was a sidewalk toy business, where I took free donations, door to door and turned around and then sold them. So my margins were 100 percent. I have my company now. I've always wanted to do things my way. I really struggled with the thought of well, what am I going to go to school for? I'm just going to make my own way. I started out as a fashion design major, I can't sew, so that's not gonna work. Then I wanted to be plastic surgeon, not for cosmetic, for people who had burns or disfigurement. Operation Smile was something I really wanted to do. So helping children in third world countries who have a cleft palate, the cleft lip, things like that. I was not blessed with the ability to do math very well. So that one got scrapped. So just moving down the list and then I recognize I really love psychology. I love knowing what makes people tick. I love wanting to know why people do what they do. People just fascinate me.

Russ Johns 15:12
Kind of like the #piratebroadcast.

Laura Nutt 15:15
Yeah, #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. I'm very interested in that. I even went extreme. I got into serial killers for a little while because how do you go so far from here to over here? Like, what the heck happened? How can I stop that? So I really started getting in psychology and I got a degree in that, but to be a psychologist, you have to have a PhD. My family was not so supportive of that, just because I was looking to get married and start a family and all that kind of stuff. So it just was not the right time. So I thought, oh, I can do counseling. I can get a Master's, get in the field and it's very different. So just anybody who's wondering, mental health counseling and psychology are very, very different unless you do Counseling Psychology. That's how I ended up there. I don't want to say it's an accident because I don't believe in accidents, but it was the kind of an all around way to get there.

Russ Johns 15:55
It's a journey. It's interesting because a lot of people are...you have to have enough experience in something to understand whether you like it or not. Seven years is a good period. You gave it your all and now you're coming back for something else, you know, it's like this doesn't fit.

Laura Nutt 16:39
Permission.

Russ Johns 16:40
I'm gonna go do something else now. I think the world would be a more healthy place if we all evaluated that, and maybe considered new jobs because there's this individual, this idea that I'm going to get a job and I'm going to stay there and I'm going to retire and it's going to be all good. We live in in a completely different culture now and a different environment in where people can go out and learn things so quickly. Information is so available. There's this idea of that the experience and the journey is more important than the destination. I'll be happy when this takes place. I'll be happy if I get here. And it's like, just be happy right now. Just enjoy the journey, enjoy what you're doing right now. I think that's a much healthier, from a mental health perspective, that's a much healthier perspective on life, in general. You want to talk about that. I know it's a scary place, being an entrepreneur and starting a business. I've been doing it for years and not every day is rainbows and unicorns.

Laura Nutt 17:57
No, I imagine it's probably not. Be happy to talk about that. I love that you bring up that mentality. I agree 100% not just as a human and not just nutthouse approved, but also, mental health approved, that it's so important to enjoy the journey and each component of the journey, because what we're doing right now impacts our life in the future. If we are wasting our time sitting here thinking so much about the future, well, I've gotta do this, I gotta do this, gotta do this or missing those moments. We can't get those moments back. To me, time is the most valuable asset that we have. It's really a privilege because we only have so much and it's up to us how we spend it. We can spend it being miserable and worrying or focusing too much on something hasn't even happened or may not happen or we can be mindful and stay in the moment and be happy with each and grateful for each moment that we have and make the most of it so that way when we can look back at our life, we don't have have those moments of oh my gosh, I should have done this, I should have done that. Because working with end of life patients, that's something that they go through, they reflect on their life and say, did I do everything I wanted to do? Did I accomplish this? Or there's a lot of regret, and I don't want to be in that place. I want to look back and say, heck, yeah, I had an awesome life. I'm ready to go on to the next one. But talking about the plight of the entrepreneur is what I've learned to call it as I've talked to my fellow entrepreneurial tribe. It's funny, because it seems like you've never really fit in, and you've always had to venture out and then it sounds so glamorous. So when you actually do it, it's kind of overwhelming and scary. It's exciting because it's like, yes, I'm doing my own thing! I'm my own boss, and then it's like, well, there's nobody telling me what to do. So am I doing it right? What do I do now? It's like, you're overwhelmed with so many decisions because you have to make all the decisions. So I kind of go back to, it feels like almost when I was getting married, and I hated all this, even the little finite details. I had to make decisions and I was just like, oh my god, I don't even care. I'm trying to be as excited as possible and I'm trying to talk to my family about it, but they've never done the entrepreneurial route. They're not able to support me in that realm, so I'm just like, I don't know, is this normal? Am I on the right track? Am I crazy?

Russ Johns 20:33
Somedays, it's a very lonely place. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, that's why I think LinkedIn is so important, because it's business minded individuals that are all working together. If you could find a group of individuals, build your tribe, your community, whatever it happens to be in. I want to give a shout out to some of the individuals that are in the room today because it's important. Angie, good morning, everyone. She's an awesome individual, so supportive. And Elaine, how are you? Stella is here, good morning. Gabriel's in the house. Hello #RussJohns and Laura Nutt.

Laura Nutt 21:25
Oh, how funny. I just got a message from him. Hey

Russ Johns 21:28
Good morning, fellow pirates. Stella says I agree. I'm sure we were talking about something so I'm a little behind with the comments.

Laura Nutt 21:37
Well, thank you.

Russ Johns 21:41
Gabriel says looking forward to the #LinkedInLocal pop up with both #RussJohns and Kenyatta Turner. Art Jones is also going to be there. That's an event that is on the 17th. We're going to have that at 3pm Arizona time to 4pm. We're gonna be talking about, you know, because we have a pandemic going on, I'm not sure if you read in the news or anything, but there's a pandemic and so we can't meet always in person. So #LinkedInLocal, Kenyatta was managing that for the Phoenix area. What we want to do is create a pop up and just say hi to people that we've met and we've connected with. You're welcome to join us.

Laura Nutt 22:30
I like that.

Russ Johns 22:31
Everybody join in the LinkedIn local pop up. The event is in LinkedIn, it's an event, it'll be a zoom meeting. So it's very familiar with everybody. Kenyatta says, Gabriel Leal, ooo, me, too. Good morning #piratebroadcast friends. Thank you so much Kenyatta. Gabrial says, good morning fellow pirates and everyone new to the broadcast. Yes. thank you so much for joining us because...Kenyatta's here, Elain Morrison, hello!!! And this is how it rolls, you know. Sheri Lally, who's always been a supporter for the pirates and also Gabriel does a show in the evening and so we go back and forth. It's a regular community. It's very supportive. Gabriel says, just sent you a message, Laura. Would love to have a conversation with you. Have a conversation with you. Kenyatta says to Stelle, hey, hey!

Laura Nutt 23:29
Hello. Hey, hey everybody. I love the community. It's so awesome.

Russ Johns 23:35
Stelle says good morning back. Gabriel says, Kenyatta Turner, hello there wonderful friend. So you can see how this rolls, Laura. You know you're not alone. These are people that are out doing their own thing. They're building their own Empire. Elaine says, Kenyatta. hey, Cathi Spooner is in the room. Good morning. You're a pirate now so you can actually reach out...

Laura Nutt 23:57
I know! I have a whole crew to like chat with now. Oh my gosh.

Russ Johns 24:04
Cathi says, you sound like you've been inside my head.

Laura Nutt 24:09
Uh-oh, maybe we have, I don't know. I'll never tell.

Russ Johns 24:16
Yeah. Kenyatta says, #LinkedInLocal pop up, woot, woot! 9/17 at 3pm PT. Come hang out with us. Stelle says, I agree. Enjoy your present time. Kenyatta says, Gabriel E Leal, Yaass!! Appreciate those beautiful, fragrant roses. Thank you so much. You know, this is a new journey for you and I want to make sure that people appreciate the fact that you've taken, this is a huge step. Congratulations! I wish I had confetti or some sound effects. I need that. I need to get the sound effects down. How do people get a hold of you now? What's the best way for people to reach out to you and...well, first you need to join the pirate community and subscribe to the YouTube channel and podcast and then go to www.russjohns.com and get notified for updates.

Laura Nutt 25:15
Definitely doing that, yes. These fabulous pirates and all the love I'm just like, I was feeling a little bit jelly. I was like I totally have to be part of that.

Russ Johns 25:24
Yeah, yeah, now you are part of it.

Laura Nutt 25:26
I know. I've been accepted and I love that. I love the community.

Russ Johns 25:30
It hasn't even been painful. It's been super simple.

Laura Nutt 25:34
I know. Thank you for just accepting that I have to go through...you didn't make me walk the plank or do anything crazy, it was just like, yeah, come on over. I love that. Accept the Nutthouse for what the Nutthouse is and that's really appreciated.

Russ Johns 25:50
We need a little more Nutthouse in the pirate community.

Laura Nutt 25:53
You do! Grog and Nutthouse, what's better than that?

Russ Johns 25:57
I know. So now, how do you appreciate people reaching out and connecting with you?

Laura Nutt 26:07
Sure, so that's the fun thing, too. You caught me right at the right time. I just created several avenues where people can do that. Definitely on LinkedIn, that's kind of my main platform right now as I'm building so the URL is https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-nuttf2/ because I actually do have a podcast coming out eventually. It's called Face Squared. So that's the reason for the f2. So that's coming out as well.

Russ Johns 26:41
I'll work on that more.

Laura Nutt 26:43
Right, when it happens, Russ, let me know when you have the confetti gun, then we'll make the official PSA. But that's coming out. So definitely check me out there and I'm always changing my profile to crazy things. So that'll keep you entertained right there. I also have a website that's coming up and that's www.lauranutt.com. So just my name, right there up top. Also, I have a Gmail account where you can reach out to me and that's based off my business name, which is liberating the lioness. That is lioness-liberator@gmail.com. So I have several different avenues where you can get in touch with the Nutthouse and we can help excavate the awesomeness within you.

Russ Johns 27:26
Excellent, excellent. All of those links, everyone will be in the post at RushJohns.com/piratebroadcast this afternoon. So we take all this information, boil it down to a podcast, the broadcast, the transcription in a blog post, so you have access to all that information. So if you miss the live, you can always go back and watch the replay. If you can't watch the replay, you can listen to the podcast. If you can't listen to the podcast, you can read the transcription and gain all this information and wonder knowledge.

Laura Nutt 28:00
So you will get it in some form or fashion. So there's no FOMO involved. Don't worry.

Russ Johns 28:06
We have to remove the friction and allow people to have what they need.

Laura Nutt 28:10
That's right. No FOMO here. This is just all pirate fabulousness. No FOMO.

Russ Johns 28:18
Well, I really truly appreciate you being here. I know it's a challenging journey. So always reach out if you have questions. If you're just saying, hey, I need to vent to someone, or I need to bounce some ideas off someone, we're here for you.

Laura Nutt 28:37
Thank you. I appreciate that. I think the biggest key right there is, like you said before, finding your tribe and finding people who understand you. I finally found that because when I listen to people, it's like, I finally don't seem like the crazy one in the room. Because I couldn't keep that job for 30 years and retire and do all that stuff. People are like, yeah, I had that same thing and I'm just like, oh my god. People understand I'm not the only one. It's so liberating having that, so thank you for extending that. That's empowering. It's very empowering to hear that, to know there's other people who've gone through it, and they're willing to help you through the journey because we need each other, right? I mean, we need each other to build up, hold each other accountable, and to celebrate the wins and to be with us when we're in the trenches. So thank you so much.

Russ Johns 29:26
Yeah, like I said, before, we are holding this #LinkedInLocal pop up. I've been an avid supporter of LinkedIn for years and have been on the platform since 2005. I've been doing this live for almost a year, it will be a year on the 17th, so it's almost a dual anniversary thing.

Laura Nutt 29:51
How fun! That's Origin Day, too. So the pop up day is actually the nut origin day.

Russ Johns 29:58
Yeah, it's very important day. It's a time and a place for conversation to evolve and people to feel welcome and understand that there's more to life than thinking about the future. You can think about the now and understand that there's people out there that appreciate what you're doing. There's people out there that appreciate where you're, headed. If we can all work together on that, it's so much better than not getting along.

Laura Nutt 30:30
There's enough of that.

Russ Johns 30:33
As always, thank you, Laura, I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you sharing your story. And as always, as we wrap it up, #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree and you #enjoytheday. Thank you, Laura. Take care.

Exit 30:31
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