Read The Transcript

Connect with Neena
https://linktr.ee/neenaperez
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neenaperez/

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Descript

[00:00:00] Introduction: 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.

[00:00:10] Russ Johns: We're going to have a blast today. Like we do almost every single day cause we enjoy it here at the #PirateBroadcast. Neena, good morning. How are you?

[00:00:19] Neena Perez: I'm doing well. How are you today?

[00:00:21] Russ Johns: I am better than average, you know, I didn't get up to be average.

[00:00:27] Neena Perez: I love that. That's good. That's good. That's the attitude you should get up with every day.

[00:00:32] Russ Johns: So Neena, we have been connected for a little while now and you have this amazing show called Straight Talk, No Sugar Added. So for those that may not know you yet, yet, talk a little bit about where did that seed of inspiration came from? For the Straight Talk, No Sugar Added title. Love the title.

[00:00:56] Neena Perez: Thank you. I have all my life been known as being very candid and very straightforward and my husband always goes, oh my gosh, can't you just sugarcoat that? And I'm like, no, no sugar added started and truth be told, I like to look at real life topics, like things people are truly going through and just say it like it is. I don't sugarcoat and fluff it up and make it all pretty with a bow on top. It just is. So that's how that started. It was really about just me, two years ago I just started a podcast cause people used to say that I was impacting their life with the things that I was saying to them and how I was leading them and guiding them. And I said, what if I can reach a broader audience. So I started Straight Talk, No Sugar Added. That's literally how it was birthed and it was just a monologue at first. And for like last year, I kinda let it sit to the wayside cause honestly, Russ it's hard when you're doing it as a monologue because you start to run out of things to say, or at least you do run out of things you think nobody really wants to hear it. So this year I decided to revamp and now what I do is I actually talk to big entrepreneurs and big thinkers and coaches and people that have been through something and use that life to now impact somebody else's life. So that's what it's become and it's amazing. It's growing. It's beautiful.

[00:02:08] Russ Johns: It's funny that you should mention it that way because there are so many things to talk about. And the more you speak on your subject and the more you work through your voice, the same things arrive over and over again. There's a theme that you have and a way of thinking that gets, I think, crystallized as a result of talking about subjects and you help so many people out, and a lot of times you're helping women out that need a little bit of encouragement, a little bit of a straight talk with no sugar added and you cut the embroidery, get to the point. And so now you're coaching. So now you're starting to coach some individuals as I recall. So talk a little bit about that.

[00:03:01] Neena Perez: What I started doing is I am in a masterclass for neuro-linguistic programming. Andit's just changing the way we talk to ourselves and the way we have trained our brain to limit us in our things that we want to do in life. I came from a pretty tough background and not a very encouraging one. And so it took me some time to get here. So what I'm trying to do now is create a shortcut for people to actually get to that next level that they want to get to without having to go through it all. So we use the life experiences to impact them. It's been a blast. Now, it's something I've been doing for years, but I'm actually now in the midst of creating my courses and I do have a couple of paying clients and so on. So now it's time to up the game. Because I'm seeing amazing feedback and results in these people's lives. So I'm doing it mainly for professional women, 35 and over, but I definitely have men also who will have been impacted with the podcast and are asking me if I can create programs for them as well. So I might get into that at some point, so people are people, right?

[00:04:09] Russ Johns: Yeah. People are people. There's still hope for me now. There's still hope for me. Come on. I need a light at the end of the tunnel.

[00:04:20] Neena Perez: What you need is a vacation, Russ. I see you here every morning. That's what you need. That's your light.

[00:04:26] Russ Johns: I get to hang out with wonderful people like you, Neena. How can I take off from that? That's awesome. So Elize is in the room. Good morning, Elize. Happy weekend, all. So happy to be here. I love that you're here. It just, it warms my heart to have people show up in the live streams. In Malta, Ken in from Malta today. Hey Russ and Neena. Thank you so much. JD, happy Friday pirates.

[00:05:01] Neena Perez: I'm a pirate now.

[00:05:03] Russ Johns: You are a pirate. Now you're a pirate. We got something in common now, we're pirates. That's right. Elise says, good morning. Happy weekend. Oh, it's in here twice. That's awesome. She's in here twice. I want to talk a little bit about transformation because If we go back, some of our history is challenging. I'm not going to lie and we don't necessarily need to go all the way in there. If you want to find out more about Neena, go find her podcast, listen to her episodes, subscribe, leave a review. A five-star review would be good and discover who she is. Cause she's an awesome individual that needs to share and has something positive to share. This is why we bring pirates together is for the connection, the conversation, et cetera. But the transformation that you went through and the resiliency you needed to have in order to accomplish what you knew you needed to do, which was help other people I think is a thread that goes on and on. And so with the podcast and the coaching and the things like that, what would you say is your superpower?

[00:06:14] Neena Perez: That's a good question. Why didn't you prep me up for that one? No kidding. My superpower. That's a really good question. When I think about what I do in people's lives is really a way of being of seeing the gift in others, I think is a super power because I see, I literally see someone who's in front of me who may feel like they can't get to that next level or they feel broken or they feel they can't and for some reason I have the ability to see beyond that. So even though we're going through like horrible times and a lot of us are, and mental health is a real thing. I see beyond that. So as I'm looking at the person I'm looking at, oh wow, this trial, this obstacle, this thing you're going through is going to set you up so well for what you're going to be doing.

And I think that's a gift, right? A superpower, a gift, to be able to look at someone that's in front of you who is really crying or really down, or really can't, they think they can't, and you can see all of their greatness. I love that. I love that I have that ability. It took me some time to find that within me, but when I did, I was able to overcome a lot of those mental blocks and obstacles and then help others overcome that as well. So it's awesome.

[00:07:32] Russ Johns: And I think it's, don't you think a lot of it is a based on perspective?

[00:07:37] Neena Perez: It absolutely is. Absolutely.

[00:07:39] Russ Johns: Because when you're in it, when you're in it, it's hard to see where to go next.

[00:07:45] Neena Perez: It is. And that's one of those things that I do with with some of my clients because we do a third-party perspective, we do their perspective, the perspective of the person or the thing that they're challenged with and then the fly on the wall perspective. Because I think we have to do that. We have to pull ourselves out of the situation in order to be able to see the realness of what's happened. Not every challenge is here to break you. Challenges are usually here to mold you and lift you and give you now knowledge that you didn't have before. It's just hard when you're in it. That's why perspective is so freaking important and I've learned to do that and I've learned to pull myself out of things. So when I'm going through something and I feel blue and I'm getting down. Let's look outside a second and see what's happening here. Cause I used to suffer with depression and anxiety. So I had to teach myself these tools.

[00:08:35] Russ Johns: Embrace the suck, but only for a moment.

[00:08:39] Neena Perez: I love it.

[00:08:42] Russ Johns: Throw the clicker away, get off the couch, go do something positive for yourself.

[00:08:46] Neena Perez: Yep. And for someone else, sometimes when I'm in the midst of oh my gosh, why is this all happening, I try to think of someone I can reach out to. Whether it's, hey, how are you? Let's go for a walk or let's do something or buy something for them or buy them groceries, whatever it is when you pull yourself out of yourself, that's when you can actually overcome whatever that challenge is.

[00:09:09] Russ Johns: It's hard to feel blue when you're pulling somebody else up.

[00:09:12] Neena Perez: It really is. Yeah. It's a blessing too, because not only are you helping yourself, you're helping another individual. So you're just rising up next time.

[00:09:22] Russ Johns: Absolutely. Check it out, Neena. We've got Mark O'Brien in the room. So as soon as I turn on you and Neena were laughing, it was great start to the day. Fantastic. I love that. Thank you. And he says, sorry, Neena. Kenneth says savor the flavor and the awesomeness in you peeps for sharing your scrumptiously, deliciously edible, tasty, good heartfelt thoughts with us. I love you, man. I love you. Thank you so much. For being here. Good morning, inspiring pirates, and welcome to the pirate ship, Neena.

[00:10:03] Neena Perez: Thank you.

[00:10:04] Russ Johns: From Wendy.

Marcia, my friend Marcia. Ahoy mates, happy Friday. Love you. I love you. I love the energy Neena is delivering. I am so excited to hear a thriver speak about her journey. We needed a Neena on the ship. Paddle faster. Thank you, Wendy. We're going to be paddling as fast as we can. So how do you search for guests for your podcast? Because one of the things that a lot of podcasters struggle, not me personally, because I like talking to everybody, but how do you search for guests for your podcast? Cause it's unique thing that your topic is very focused on helping others and what's your process. I'm curious.

[00:10:54] Neena Perez: That's funny. It's a couple things. In the beginning, it was really just connecting with, people like you that I see are doing positive things, right? Following you, looking at your content, listening to what you have to say. Cause I don't just have anybody on my show. I have people that I really feel do want to impact the life. I don't care if you have a billion followers or two, the whole point is your life impacting another life? I started just following people that way and connecting. And that's what happens right? Once you start connecting, they start referring you. And before you know it, you just have guests because they want to be on my show, which is great. Now I'm the one getting the emails and the DMS and all of that about wanting to be on my show, which is great. And another platform that I've been using that's helped me connect a lot is Clubhouse. So clubhouse has been really instrumental because when I go on clubhouse, Straight Talk No Sugar on there as well. And when we go on there, we talk about real life topics, and then I help people live right there on the stage. So that's been really fun and a great way to connect. That's really how I do it in the beginning, though, if you are a beginning podcaster, I literally just wrote a nice email to the person I wanted on my show and said, this is what my show is about. I really love to connect with you if you're interested to impact my audience, here's my link. I would love to have you on. And that's really, and most, 99% said, yes.

[00:12:16] Russ Johns: Yeah. I've had a few people turn me down and it's typically because they're on the other side of the world and it's in the middle of the night.

[00:12:24] Neena Perez: I've connected with people like that too, where it's 1:00 PM here, but it's like 11 over there.

[00:12:29] Russ Johns: And I do the show at the same time cause it's live, but a lot of podcasters could adjust their schedules too. And a lot of podcasters they'll batch it. They'll sit down and do 10 shows a day and dial it in.

[00:12:41] Neena Perez: Definitely don't do that.

[00:12:43] Russ Johns: You don't do that.

[00:12:45] Neena Perez: No, but I will do three, maybe if I can fit it in four interviews in one day because I prerecord. And then I have my editor edit it and all of that great stuff, but yeah. And that's about the max I can do in one day.

[00:12:59] Russ Johns: Let's go back to helping people because I think it's... if you could see, in your experience from your perspective, if you could see one thing that people could change, older professional women change in their mindset, what would it be? What gift would you deliver today?

[00:13:17] Neena Perez: I think the one thing that I've been finding with most of my clients is that they are just at their peak or not good enough for the next level. And that imposter syndrome and limiting belief, it is just a lie. It's just a lie, and I don't know, most of the time when I get women, 35, not so much, but when I start to get the women who are like 45 50, they start with the I'm too old to, I'm too old to. And I'm like, no, you're not. And then we start working on that mind because it's not true. I think it's because the older generation, much older, like my parents and my grandparents, always used to say, we're too old to get the next job. You were too young for that. And even I grew up in that mindset, I had to change myself. I just turned 49 the other day. So I'm almost 50. So the thing is...

[00:14:06] Russ Johns: Happy birthday.q

[00:14:07] Neena Perez: Thank you. And the thing is, I started to think that too for a little bit, and I had to stop doing that because the truth is with our age comes an extreme amount of knowledge, tenacity, grit. We know how to work, we know what it is to grind into what we have to do. And most of us can manage two and three things. I have a full-time job, but I still do my podcasting and I'm still doing my coaching. And so we know what it is to work. So I had to help them out with that because they have to realize that they're way better than they think they are. And they bring to the table more than they can expect. So that's one of the things, it's the limiting belief and the imposter syndrome.

[00:14:47] Russ Johns: That's a common thread with so many people too, is they look at the obstacles and not the potential.

[00:14:54] Neena Perez: Yup. And social media lies to us, because they're showing you like somebody with a Lamborghini and how maybe he did it in 30 days. Which is, I guess it can happen. But that's not the norm. So I'm at a place right now, yes, of course, I'm making six figures now I'm building my business and stuff like that, but I wasn't always here Russ, you know what I'm saying? It took me years and years to get here and to develop into who I am today. And a friend of mine told me once, oh, I want what you have and I said, great, then go through what I went through. And she goes, what do you mean? I say you have to go to homelessness. You have to be homeless, go hungry for a couple of nights, sleep in your car. You know what I'm saying? She's I don't want that.

[00:15:32] Russ Johns: That's the experience I have.

[00:15:34] Neena Perez: Right? If you want exactly what I have. I didn't get here overnight. It took me some grit, crying. It took a lot of hard nights. It took depression. It took fighting for my family to get to where I am today. And now my goal is helping women not have to go through that, so that they can go to that next level. That's the goal.

[00:15:55] Russ Johns: I love it. I love it. I want to say hi to Jenny Gold is in the house. Happy Friday pirates. And she says also happy birthday, as well, Neena.

[00:16:04] Neena Perez: Thank you, Jenny. Thank you.

[00:16:06] Russ Johns: Mahesh is here. Ken says three roots of all evil, deservability, I'm not good enough and trust. Trust is such a ...Ken, you brought up a subject that is really not only trusting others, but trusting yourself. How do you build trust in somebody that may not trust their own opinion of themselves?

[00:16:34] Neena Perez: That's a challenge, right? Because if they don't trust themselves, how can you really trust them? But what you can do is see the content of their character, right? And a lot of times, if people are really authentic and real, and you are following them, because most of the time now we are doing everything via this, via virtual, it's extremely hard for you to know Neena, unless you're my neighbor or my family member. So you would have to know me this way. And the only way to know me is to is to actually watch me watch what I'm doing. Watch my social media. It's really the only way, right? So it's hard to say who you cannot trust. But I like to go with my gut with someone because if people are full of it you're pretty much going to know. If people are trying to sell you, it's going to show. So you have to go with your knowledge, who you are as a person and what you can connect to with someone else. It's the only way to do it, I think. Especially this way in a virtual world.

[00:17:30] Russ Johns: Yeah. And coaching people out of not believing in themselves can be challenging because what I've noticed over time, and I want to see if this is a parallel for you is there some people that I think enjoy being stuck. They enjoy the anchor of the past. You can't release it, so we can help the helpless, but not the unwilling.

[00:17:56] Neena Perez: That's exactly right. That's exactly what I have talked about that.

[00:18:01] Russ Johns: With no sugar added, you can call them out on it and say, bullshit when you're ready to grow, come back and see me.

[00:18:07] Neena Perez: That's exactly what I do. I say, obviously you don't want to be helped right now. So when you're ready, let me know. And they're like, but truth be told Russ it would be a complete waste of my time and it would be a complete waste of money. It is absolutely a waste of time for me to pour into you, every week, you're paying this amount of money to pour into you every week for you to do nothing. I am not your savior. I am your mentor. I'm your coach. I'm going to lead you there, but I am not going to do it for you. And I tell them that I'm very blunt because I feel like most of the time, professionals, entrepreneurs and stuff, they know when to hit walls and they're pretty tough when it comes to stuff like that. But if I get someone who's super sensitive, I'm probably not the coach for that. Because I do have a lot of compassion and I do have a lot of love for people, I do, but I love them so much that I won't let them stay in their shit. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to let you sit there because I care about you way too freaking much. So if you want to sit there, you're fine. You're going to end up smelling like shit if you sit in shit too long, at least that's what I say. But for the most part, I've had a lot of success. And a lot of these women who are really ready to get to that next level seriously and are like tired of being stuck, but there was maybe one out of all of the women I've ever coached that just was not ready for what I had. Just not ready, and hopefully one day she well be.

[00:19:35] Russ Johns: So on your application, does it say how thick is your skin?

[00:19:38] Neena Perez: I should put that on there, but I do ask how ready are you really? How committed are you really to the change you want to see? Because it's important. I don't want to take your money if you're not ready, that's not fair to you. And I don't want to also spend all of this time when I could be giving another client something they really need when you don't really want it. And it's been something that, people know me for that, right? That's why it's called straight talk, no sugar added and people who follow me know that I just say it like it is, it's just who I am, but I do it out of love. I'm not offensive. I'm not cursing somebody out. I'm not, anything like that, Russ, but if you're not honest with people, what are you doing?

[00:20:18] Russ Johns: And people need to be honest with themselves. Take a hard look at really what's going on around you, because we have this bubble of perception that sometimes we don't see what is really going on in our lives. And I believe that anybody that wants to make progress cannot be a victim and make progress. At the same time, you cannot have a victim mentality and say, oh, this happened to me, whoa is me and make progress. You have to decide, okay, I'm going to be a hundred percent responsible for this in order for me to get out of this, in order for me to grow from this experience, I have to be responsible for this experience because I was the only one in it. And that's okay It may not necessarily have all the circumstances that were in my control. However, my response to that circumstance is my choice. My choice. Am I going to move into it or am I going to move out of it?

[00:21:16] Neena Perez: That's facts. That's exactly right. Yeah.

[00:21:19] Russ Johns: So Russ Hedge is in the room. Thank you, Russ and Neena. So good as always. #Gratitude for you, Russ. Thank you so much. Ken says, you gotta be ready to accept where you are. You can sugarcoat a pile of manure, but it's still a pile of manure. Yes.

[00:21:35] Neena Perez: Yes. So true, Ken, thank you.

[00:21:38] Russ Johns: This nice pile, steaming hot. Little sugar added, no sugar added.

[00:21:46] Neena Perez: That is hilarious. I like that.

[00:21:49] Russ Johns: Oh my gosh. Sheri Lally says good morning pirates. Hunt for the new paths instead of falling down and staying in the cavern. Yeah, absolutely positively.

[00:21:59] Neena Perez: Thank you, Sheri. That's true.

[00:22:00] Russ Johns: And going back to your point about social media, sometimes we're only willing to show our most brightest light, our shiniest spots and you can have so many dents and dings in the back office that it's just one of those things and we're all making progress. We're all able to be falling down failures at some point in time, in some area of our life. And I don't think there's any perfection in anybody's life. And if you think you're perfect, liar, liar, pants on fire..

[00:22:30] Neena Perez: And I I don't care Russ, honestly. I have tough skin, so I don't really care too much about what people think of me, whether they follow me or not. I actually want people who want to change their lives. I don't care about negative comments, things like that. So when I'm going through something and when I'm struggling, I'll just turn on my camera and go ahead and do a live. And to be honest, that's the most engagement that you get because people are struggling and they're going through stuff. And so when you can relate and you're not so perfect, people can connect with you.

[00:23:00] Russ Johns: I hope people can relate to this subject because it's so important to understand that folks, were just traveling along. We're setting the sales moving forward, Just a pirate crew, a little bit of kindness here and there. And please return your carts. That's all I got to say. When you go shopping, return your cart.

[00:23:24] Neena Perez: I always feel guilty when I don't. I'm like I got to go return it.

[00:23:27] Russ Johns: So people can get ahold of you through, if they start straight talk, no sugar added, Neena Perez. You're out there on the socials. You're out there in the airwaves.

[00:23:36] Neena Perez: I'm everywhere. Yeah. I'm everywhere. Straight talk, no sugar added is basically the the platform right now and the podcast. But Neena Perez, you can find me on Facebook, on Instagram, all of that. And I'm building out, like I said earlier, I'm building out, actually I'm uploading all the coaching programs that I'm creating. I don't want to put anything up until it's perfect or close to what I think is perfect.

[00:23:59] Russ Johns: I'm so opposite.

[00:24:01] Neena Perez: It's going to bring me more clients and more things I got to do, but I'm like really just working on it, working on the content. And then that'll come out soon and that'll be under Neena Perez and all of that. So all of that is good anywhere you want to find me, you'll find me.

[00:24:16] Russ Johns: So what's your intention that you want to set today as we leave this.

[00:24:19] Neena Perez: I'm hoping that people did take away something from this, especially their mind... I call it mind flow, I don't call it mindset because I feel like when you set your mind, it's hard to budge, but if you have a mind that flows, you can keep growing. And so I called it a Mindflow. So I'm hoping that people got something out of this today where they can continue to grow. And have their mind continue to expand and know that they are worth more than they think they are. If they're have limiting beliefs and you're not an imposter, you are you, right? So just really embrace who you are so that we can move forward into the things we want to do in life and life is too fricking short.

[00:24:55] Russ Johns: Life is too fricking short. So also just to mention, Neena has a book out, it's on Amazon, go check it out.

[00:25:05] Neena Perez: Straight talk, no sugar. I'm sorry that one's called Hit Me with Your Best Shot.

[00:25:08] Russ Johns: Hit Me with Your Best Shot. Yeah. So connect with Neena. Start a conversation. And Neena, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for being here.

[00:25:19] Neena Perez: So fun. So fun. Thank you.

[00:25:21] Russ Johns: We finally got to connect. And everyone, thank you so much for being here. All the individuals, Wendy, Marcia,JD, Russ, Ken, Jenny, everybody that supports the #PirateBroadcast™ and the #piratenation. love you all. Thank you so much for being here because #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree, so you #enjoytheday

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