Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Master CHANGE Without Losing Control with Heather!
05 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: How do you handle uncertainty in a changing market?
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Visit Whatnot.com slash sell to start selling. whatnot.com slash sell. When you start freaking out and panicking, you will not be able to calm others and save others. You have to be that beacon of light, strength, clarity, and calmness. And when you remain calm, you will find the opportunity around you to solve the problem. Fear and panic will cause you to fail.
So it's all about picking your head up from where you are and finding where is the opportunity. And back to lifeguarding, staying calm, not taking on the fear, but keeping calm, and keeping focused on where is that next opportunity. Come on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity, and set you up for a better tomorrow.
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I'm so glad you're back here with me this week. Okay, so things can change so fast in our world. You don't need me to tell you that. I mean, what we've seen, I'm just looking at it from the Miami real estate market standpoint. If you've been listening to the show, then you know exactly what I'm about to say. For those of you who are new to the show, welcome.
But what's been happening is out of nowhere, back at the We just sold our place. We're moving. We made a ton of money. The market's on fire. There's so many buyers that want our unit. Why don't you list your unit and just see? So I spoke to their realtor. He said, oh, I can sell it, you know, within a couple of weeks. No problem. There were so many people coming in to see our condo.
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Chapter 2: What lessons can be learned from past recessions?
And what's funny is I never thought about selling it just because I've owned it for 16 years. Didn't even cross my mind, just lack of knowledge. I had no idea what I could get for it. And it just so happens my son goes to school really far away. So it would be a gift to be able to sell, make a lot of money and move somewhere closer to where he goes to school so that
We have a lot less drive time and it's just easier. So I was super excited about it. We had so many offers at first. And of course, when you first list something or do something and you're excited, you want to get as much as you can. So we turned down a couple of offers. Little did we know that there would be major changes in rate hikes and talk of recession as well.
Everybody knows, you know, just a few weeks later. So we end up accepting an offer. And that offer completely fell apart when the people tried to do something unethical at closing. But the bottom line is I had spent all this time going to find a new place and packing us up to move and everything. And it fell apart in the end. So it was really disappointing.
Then we had to go put the condo back on the market again, right? Because we had taken it off. We thought we had a deal. We had to relist it again. Anyways, it took a lot longer than we thought. By the time we got it back up on the market, it was after Memorial Day.
And I will tell you, wow, what a difference showing this condo from whatever it was the first week of May for we had it up there for two weeks, I think, before we sold it.
then that fell apart and now it went back up in june and how much slower it is here so again i don't have any experience in real estate market i'm sure that every june it probably slows down in miami because it's june in miami people it's pretty hot okay but i don't have any expertise in the real estate market number one number two no one has expertise in the volatility and what's happening right now in the world with a war going on and inflation and right there's so much craziness
So we received an offer today on my condo so much less than, you know, what we should be getting, number one. And number two, so much less than what our original contract was for just two weeks ago or three weeks ago, whatever it was. So it's just so interesting to see how quickly things can change. The good news is when things are bad, they can change just as quickly.
You know, the challenging, more challenging news is that when things are good or exciting, they can change rapidly to like what I'm dealing with. So it reminds me, it takes me back to years ago, back in 08, 09, I was running a publicly traded company as a chief revenue officer in media and a recession hit. Right. And I had never as an adult been through a recession.
So I didn't have any expertise, any knowledge. Right. Just like I'm talking about now at this situation. I really didn't know what I was dealing with. And so I didn't know how to plan or prepare or strategize to move ahead. Right. That's the beauty, by the way, of going through challenging things, whether it be all of us surviving the global pandemic, right?
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Chapter 3: What did lifeguard training teach about managing fear?
I didn't decide for me. I stayed in way too much during the pandemic. You know, I isolated myself too much out of fear of getting sick. That's something that I learned. I will not do that again. Right. So you learn the smart things that you do and the not so smart things, how they help or hurt you. And then you can adjust accordingly moving forward, which is great.
So anyhow, so we've been living with a situation with the real estate market. It got me to reflecting on the last recession that I led the company I used to work for through. And there was so much fear in the company at the highest level, right? The CEO and his family were so afraid. And when I look back, that was definitely fear was at the basis of everything back then, right? So
And I took that on and I reflect and look at how I led and I was scared every day and panicked all the time. Here's what I know. And I learned this when I was a lifeguard when I was 16 years old. fear and panic will cause you to fail, right? So when you take lifeguard training, which I did when I was 16, of course, you have all these swim tests.
Of course, you have blankets thrown on you while you're in the water and a weight put on your ankle and all these crazy physical things happen to you because they're trying to make sure that you're physically strong enough to be able to pull other people out of the water and help them. But then there's a lot about, you know, you're taught,
and spoken to about situations and how to best handle them. And one of the things that I remember so clearly about that training about and what I really take away from lifeguard times in general, I did it for years, is that
the only and most important thing is to stay calm right when you start freaking out and panicking you will not be able to calm others and save others you have to be that beacon of light strength clarity and calmness and when you remain calm you will find the opportunity around you to solve the problem and so somehow i forgot that in 0809 because when i look back i was a disaster i mean granted i had a very little baby a two-year-old son i had just gotten divorced right
I just lost all of my money and my divorce. And then the company I was working for cut everybody's pay. They wanted me to lay off 25% of our employees, which was so sad during a recession. So many of the people had never been through a recession before, had no idea what they were going to do for work. It was really scary. And so I took that fear on. That was my choice. I gladly accepted it.
And that's sort of how I managed myself for that year or year and a half that things were really tough. And again, I didn't know how long a recession would last.
Now I know and I've researched so much about other recessions that recessions are typically short of a year, which is not a long time when you think about it, especially thinking about what we just went through with a global pandemic, which was much longer than a year and was much more much harder than a recession, right?
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Chapter 4: How can you train your mind to seek opportunities?
Because if I had known everything that I know now, if I had known that the day I listed my condo, I would have taken the first offer that was presented to us a weekend when we received it. We declined that offer. We kicked it back because we wanted a higher number, which also makes sense because you don't want to jump at the first opportunity that comes along.
So there are going to be dynamics in any situation that we can't predict. No, I couldn't have predicted this back at the end of April or beginning of May. And. you know, we have to live with choices, go with your gut, you know, trust that you have the best information possible and hope and pray that, you know, the right solution will come when it's meant to be there.
So that's the walk that we're walking right now, which I will tell you, I'm not going to lie, is a little frustrating at times because I was so excited to move and to not have to drive as much. That was the, I drive a lot right now, right? So it was just going to be so much easier on me and my son. And I was so looking for
to that.
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Chapter 5: What mindset shifts are necessary during tough times?
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So I started thinking about last week, my son graduated from middle school, which is a huge deal, right? I mean, it's that weird in between time before you make it to high school. And it definitely was so hard.
on all the kids that were stuck at home for almost gosh a year and a half to two years on zoom school right and so much isolation so many challenges just you know for people like me who are not virtual learners who want to be in person my son is the same way had a really hard time with it so many kids did and that impact is you know still impacting people to this day so I was thinking about all that and then thinking about how even though it was so challenging he was able to pull it out and graduate and you know
things can go from bad to good quickly. And that's one of those situations that I did see. And I was practicing gratitude that I'm so grateful he graduated given all those challenging circumstances, given that he had to go to academic camp for a summer to make his grades back up that he had to get tutors, and that he personally had to put so much work in and
stay after school to make up for all this Zoom unlearning that went on for a year and a half or two years. So again, just as much as things can go from good to bad quickly, they can go from bad to good quickly when you least expect it. I really believe that it all stems from my back process and overcome your villains. I talk about a lot beliefs, action and knowledge.
It starts with number one, first step, you really have to address that belief that you're holding. Because that's the most important thing, right? If you believe it's not going to work out, if you believe you're not going to graduate, if you believe, you know, you're not going to sell the condo, or you're not going to make it out of the recession, then that's a self fulfilling prophecy.
You have to get your beliefs
clear and straight first and foremost and get real with them what's factual and what's not and stop telling yourself these lies that's step number one step number two is take action to make something happen like my son you know went to see a tutor stayed after late with the teachers did academic camp to make up work you know you have to put in the work take the action and then step three is knowledge you know who are you gaining knowledge from who are you accessing
for feedback what media are you listening to what information are you accessing on the regular that's either going to lift you up or pull you down and start cutting ties with the latter right if you're around people or friends or people at work or you have a boss that's putting you down those are the people that you need to cut those are the villains that you need to overcome
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Chapter 6: How do you rebuild a business during uncertainty?
And then surround yourself with knowledge. Gain insight and knowledge so you can understand what are the dynamics and If you haven't been in these situations before, which has anybody really? I can't imagine that anybody has. Complete sidebar. During all this time, as you know, speaking has been my new business that I got into four years ago, which I was killing it in 2019. I was everywhere.
I was doing so well. Everything was in person. And then overnight it disappeared, you know, with 2020 pandemic and literally everything went to virtual, which I had never done before. So I felt like a rookie starting all over again, but I built my business back up and I ended up being named top 40 females speaker of the year for 2020. That was really for my virtual speaking.
And then this year I was named top 50 keynote speaker of the year for 2022. Super proud of both of those because I did it during these really adverse times, right? There's like all this adversity, all these challenges and still was able to do the work, show up and make it work, even though it wasn't easy, by the way.
But so during all this time, I'm learning yet again, something new, learning about the speaking business, which I had no clue about. Granted, I had spoken for 20 years in corporate America on the daily and I'd taken massive stages. So I was good at the craft, but I don't know anything about the network. You know, who are the people that hire? Who are the people that I need to know?
Who's going to help get me booked? What do I charge? Right. I didn't know the business. I didn't have the business acumen side of the speaking business yet. I could do the actual trade, but I didn't know how to market it, package it, who to work with. I was a rookie on that side. So as I've moved through this and I've made countless mistakes, right?
It's ridiculous how many mistakes I've made, but I just didn't know. One of the biggest things I learned yet again, when you don't have the knowledge, you don't know, which is fine. It's how you get it. I didn't know where are the pools I should be fishing in for those right clients. And so I found out by making mistake after mistake, you know, people would reach out to me on social media.
Hey, we want to hire you for our speaking event. And I give them my quote and they would be horrified at how much money I was charging. Well, especially once I started making these big lists of top speakers in the U.S., I started getting to know the other speakers. So I know what they're charging. Right.
And I might not have taken my rate to the same height that these other people are at, but I definitely raised mine because I realized, okay, in good company, if these guys are getting valued at this price point, I should be as well, right? There's no reason why I shouldn't be.
And so I took my rates up and then, you know, every once in a while I get it and it justifies, okay, this means I'm charging a fair rate. I'm getting great feedback, which means I'm delivering the value and I'm getting great reviews from the clients, but The problem must be that I'm fishing in the wrong pool for business. This is something for you to look at, too.
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Chapter 7: What strategies help to position yourself as valuable?
And so often when we're new and we're a rookie, we're just taking any business we can find. those people just might not be that right pool of business, that right potential client for you. And that's definitely a mistake that I made. But you teeter back and forth with, okay, I want to build a business, I need reviews, I need practice, I need recommendations, maybe I'll do this for a while.
And I did that a lot of that in 2020. And so by 2021, I was able to start focusing on, you know, more strategy, how do I get to those right potential clients who have the bigger budgets? And Okay, so here we are in 2022. And now, you know, live in-person events are coming back, not to the level they used to be, but they are coming back. And in-person pays more than virtual.
And I love in-person, right? So I'm so focused on landing big in-person events. And so I had pitched, people had come to me inquiring about my rates. I'd given them. And three of my calls earlier in 2022, right in a row, it was like the same week, All said to me, oh, you're out of our price range or too much. And, you know, completely disconnected from me.
And, you know, just kind of like, oh, no, this is way too much money. We're not going to work with you. And so that next fourth call, this is a couple months ago, I got on. With a trade association, you have no, I don't know how much they have for a budget, right? I have no idea.
I always try to research ahead of time to see if I can find who is another speaker they've had in the past, because that can give me an idea and a range. But I couldn't find anyone, you know, it was all private information. And so I get on the call and I decided, you know what, I'm just going to lead this.
with the truth and transparency with these people and just say, okay, I'm just going to be completely upfront this dynamic of coming out of a pandemic and stepping into 2022. It seems like there is no cadence to business. I don't know how often I'm getting inquiries. People are upset at what I'm charging. You know, I'm just going to be straightforward with you. I'm expensive.
That's what I came in on the call saying, because I was so sick of that week, wasting all this time when people telling me that I'm too expensive and, you know, they couldn't afford me. So there was a group of women on the call on the Zoom call and they said, oh, really? And I said, yeah, so I'm just going to be up front with you. I don't want to waste anybody's time here.
And they said, no, that's OK. You know, we just hung up with Oprah's team. they were inquiring about hiring Oprah to give a keynote. So it's just one of those yet again examples. What you don't know, you don't know, right? These people had huge budgets, huge. Let's put it this way. Oprah's keynote fee was almost as much as my condo is selling for. Can you believe that?
A 60 minute keynote fee for over, well over a million dollars.
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Chapter 8: How can you apply a three-step process to overcome challenges?
Crazy, right? Well, good for her. I'm gosh, so happy for her. I would just like to be there as well. So whenever you're a rookie, whenever you're new at something, whenever you're in new environments, new situations, like all of us are right now coming out of a global pandemic and in this really challenging, crazy, unknown economic situation. you're somewhat of a rookie, right?
There's going to be unexpected things that show up and those can be opportunities. And those in the moment can be fails and challenges. And then we have to figure out, okay, how can we transition through this and turn it into something else, something better.
So, you know, it was just so funny that I'd had those three calls with small event companies that had basically no budgets that couldn't afford me. And then I get on and declare to this new company, I'm very expensive. And they tell me that they're dealing with Oprah's people and that actually I'm not that expensive. So there is a major perspective shift based upon who you're speaking with.
And when you're new in any industry or you're new to something, you're not going to know those things at first. I'll tell you this. I wish somebody would just fly into my home and give me a list of here's all the companies that have massive budgets to hire speakers. And these are the ones you should be working with. And we've got relationships with them and we'll pitch you.
That hasn't happened yet. And what's funny is that I have so many agents representing me. But like anything, agents are about relationships with people. And the past couple of years living virtually, you don't get to spend time with people face to face to really further and strengthen those relationships. So why would they pick you? Right.
So it's just interesting to see how all these things affect one another in different ways. especially when you know, I know I'm doing the work I'm meant to be doing.
I know that this is where I'm meant to be, but it still gets frustrating when you fumble and make these mistakes and have to pick yourself back up again and remind yourself that you don't have all the answers, that you are new at this, and that in time you will develop knowledge and then expertise and then hopefully get the kind of fees Oprah does.
We'll be right back.
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