Season two of the Pollen Podcast is finally here after a six-month hiatus as Diana has been on a soulful nomadic journey. So far, her path has been full of powerful and moving experiences that helped her grow. Every moment was an opportunity to learn. And the most important lesson was this: your dream life is within your reach.
In this episode of The Pollen Podcast, Diana Davis returns to provide an update on her life and plans for the new season. Follow Diana's transformative journey to create her dream life where she wanders as a nomad through eleven countries, five states, and fifty Airbnb accommodations. Having met all kinds of people, lived through the spectrum of human emotion, and also learned to rely on herself, she can now reflect on what is most important.
Tune in to find inspiration from the life lessons Diana picked up on her journey to creating and living her dream life.
And to start the new season of the Pollen Podcast, Diana's 90-day group course Camp Clarity is back and totally revamped. Apply now to learn everything you wish you already knew, like how to land dream clients, harness the power of social media, and make the money you deserve. Apply here.
🔥This episode will help you:
Hear the real tea on the nomadic lifestyle and celebrating one-year of living on the road.
How important self trust and a strong support system are while creating the business and life of your dreams.
Learn what’s new about Season 2 of the Pollen Podcast
📘 Resources
Achieve the life, career, and clients you’ve always wanted (and fully deserve!). Join the waitlist for Camp Clarity 2.0 with new modules!
Apply now for 1:1 Coaching with me - a copilot for all your creative entrepreneurial needs.
Attract your dream clients with my free masterclass!
Access other courses from Diana Davis Creative.
🎧 Episode Highlights
[01:23] Kicking Off Season 2 With Camp Clarity 2.0
Camp Clarity, a 90-day program for creative entrepreneurs, started in 2020.
Over 120 creative entrepreneurs have grown towards establishing foundations and communities for their businesses.
Camp Clarity 2.0 comes with fresh new modules to kick off the new season. Enlistment is now open.
[7:38] An Update on Diana’s Year
Diana celebrated her birthday, being grateful for all the support she received.
It has been a little bit over a year since Diana left her home and became a nomad. She celebrated her nomad-versary on June 5.
Within the year, she has traveled to eleven countries with her life in just three bags.
Reflecting on her year as a nomad, Diana has come to learn important life lessons she wants to share.
Diana: Know that you're not alone. Also, know that your dreams are possible. Know that we're just humans out here living this really human experience. And it doesn't all have to be amazing. It can be rain; it can be lightning. It can be storms. It can be a tornado. And cliche-cliche, the rainbow comes out after the rain, right?
[17:24] Always Giving 100% of Yourself
Many people hesitate to commit to an uncertain future.
Diana chooses to lean in fully, no matter what.
Nothing is forever. The pain that comes with heartbreak is part of the human experience.
[19:13] The Need for Self Trust
People need to trust themselves more, especially when living a nomadic lifestyle.
You may end up alone on your journey to your dream life, making self-trust even more crucial.
Diana: I remember my therapist just saying: Whatever you do, don't press the big red emergency button. Just try your best to sit with it and let it pass.
Sometimes you have to sit with something and let events flow to achieve your dream life.
[21:54] Live the Dream Life You Love
Not everything has to happen today. Your to-do list can wait.
The purpose of our lives is to live well and do what we love.
Being in a state of happiness has positive effects on those around you.
Joy doesn’t always have to be attached to material goods or pleasure.
Diana: When we're flying in a prop plane, when we're flying in coach. When we're freaking driving a beater car. Letting ourselves be really grateful and present in those moments so that we can be grateful and present when we get more. If we can appreciate a penny, we can appreciate a million dollars.
[25:10] Have a Strong Support System
Support is crucial to success and happiness.
Surround yourself with people who will help you live the life you love.
Aside from family and staff, they are also your life coaches and therapists.
Enjoyed this Podcast on the Power of Retreats?
Never underestimate the power of consistency, hard work, and trying something new! Who knows where you can end up through small acts of challenging yourself?
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Thanks for listening! Stay tuned to my website for more episode updates and other exciting programs and resources!
Transcript
Diana Davis: My business kind of took a backseat, and I just want to normalize that, too. That that's okay. And a lot of people might be like, oh, my God. You don't want your clients to find out that your business was taking a backseat for a year. But actually, what I want my clients to know is that life comes first. That's the reason why we're building this business.
Welcome to Pollen, the ultimate podcast for helping creative entrepreneurs like you build the business and life of their dreams. Want to finally make money doing what you love? Work with your dream clients, and turn your creative gifts into a thriving business? I'm your host, Diana Davis, business coach, Gemini, manifesting generator, matcha enthusiast and full time nomad.
My mission? To empower you to unleash your creative gifts and build a career in life that fills you with passion. Here's the deal. I went from creating a six figure photography business to helping amazing creative souls like you build your own empires. So I've been there. I get it. Whether you're an artist, designer, writer, yogi, or anything in between, this podcast is your treasure trove of inspiration.
So grab your favorite notebook, maybe a matcha, and let's embark on this incredible adventure.
All right, y'all. It's time for season two of the Pollen podcast. But before we get into the tea, it is the tea, too. There's some personal stuff in this episode. I'm so excited to share it with you. I want to let you know that Camp Clarity 2.0 is being released. We started Camp Clarity back in 2020, and we are on the 9th round of this 90 day program for creative entrepreneurs. It is a group program, virtual on Zoom, live every week, the creative foundations for your creative business and the community to go along with it.
We are redoing the modules. It has a brand new look. We are so freaking lit up and excited about this. And round nine is currently enrolling. So if you've been on the fence with this, this is the round to join. It's going to be fresh. It's going to be rejuvenated. It's going to be incredible. It always is. And if this is your first time hearing about it, welcome.
Camp Clarity is Diana Davis Creatives’ baby. We have nurtured this program and nurtured over 120 creatives who have gone through it, building their businesses, exploding their platforms, making the money they desire and deserve, and working with aligned dream clients. That's what we're all about.
This program covers everything from boundaries and time management to social media, marketing, to pricing, money, mindset, taxes, legal — literally everything you need to know for the foundation of your creative business. Except we do not provide the skill set. You have to be good at what you do. You have to be a good photographer or a good designer or a marketable artist, whatever that looks like for you.
So we are so excited to release Camp Clarity 2.0. Go check out the new design. We'll link it in the show notes. Go apply. If this is for you, DM me on Instagram. If you have any questions, we kick off June 29, 2023.
Pollen. It has been several months, six months to be exact, since I last talked to you on this platform. And I'm still, even in those six months, getting DMs from you, messages from you that this podcast is impacting your life. We are kicking off season two here and I'm so freaking excited. It's so aligned. I really kind of stalled on this, I'm not going to lie. And I thought I was going to release this maybe in February, March, and it just kept getting pushed back and pushed back.
It didn't feel good. I'm a manifesting generator, so I really believe that it has to feel good for me to really put something out into the world. And I just want to give you permission, too, that your timing is always going to be perfect, always. So let yourself change the plan. Let yourself change your mind. And that's what we did. I pushed it and I pushed it. And here we are, season two.
I decided I wanted to release this during Gemini season, which is my season. I just celebrated my 33rd birthday on June 7. I just celebrated my nomad-versary. A year of being a nomad. So wild. I also think it's really cool that this is coming out on the summer solstice. Kind of cool, right? Like, I am so tired of Q1, Q2 talk year over year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I am so in the woo at this point that I want to start talking about solstices in business.
I want to talk about how our businesses want to feel during Gemini season, how we want them to feel during cancer season and Leo season. That's what I want to start talking about. Let's just make it fun. Who made these rules up? Q1, Q2 bullshit just makes me want to barf. And if that's the way we have to do business, I don't want to do it.
So back to Pollen and this year and the permission to just be on our own timelines. Y'all, let yourself be on your own timeline. We're not here to force it. I love the memes that are going around as far as like, screw hot girl summer. Let's just go for rusted regulated nervous system girl summer. I'm here for it. I'm so here for it.
So if you're new to Pollen, welcome. We're so glad you're here. I cuss I'm honest. I'm very stream of consciousness. I talk with my hands, all of the above. If you are an OG, I appreciate you so much. This podcast has been such a passion project. I was going to say a labor of love, but that feels really wrong. It's not a labor of love. It's a passion project. And I've had such amazing collaborators on here.
From the guests to my producer to just everyone from my mom helping me name it, to my graphic designers. We have a new look. It's going to be a new vibe. I'm just really excited that you're here. So I just want to dig in on this episode and give a little life update. It's been a year since I left my home and I became a nomad. I want to talk about that. I want to talk about love. I want to talk about self trust. I want to talk about running a business from the road, what that has looked like for me the last year. I really hope you can relate and through this episode to know that you're not alone, to also know that your dreams are possible, to just know that we're just human out here, living this really human experience.
It doesn't all have to be amazing. It can be rain, it can be lightning, it can be storms, it can be a tornado and cliche, cliche. The rainbow comes out after the rain, right? The sun comes out behind the clouds, and it makes it even more potent and amazing. You can just feel it on your skin. Because the rain was there. Because the storm was there.
So I don't know about you, but I am so here to live first of all, a good story. Second of all, a life where I get to experience every emotion under the sun because I believe that's what we were here to experience as humans and to share that with you, share it with others. True Gemini fashion, communication, curiosity, oversharing, all of it. We're here for it. So let's freaking go.
So I've been reflecting a lot lately. First of all, I love birthdays. It is a celebration of self, but it's also a celebration of who's around you and who has supported you and who has gotten you through these 33 years. The morning of my birthday, a friend sent me a mashup of a song that I'm named after. It's my middle name, not Diana, but my middle name is Janine. It's a song called Sweet Janine by Eddie Rabbit.
She sent me a song mashup of that and kind of a happy birthday situation. And because my mom named me this after a song, I just got so emotional with my family and how grateful I am for them and how they've supported me and never let me even believe for a second that I couldn't do everything that I'm doing. They never questioned any of it. They just said, Keep going, keep going. You're doing great. And they support everything that I do. I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for you in this community. I'm so grateful for my friends. And I'm reflecting on my nomad bursary.
I've been traveling for a year as of June 5. On June 5 of last year, I moved all my stuff into a storage unit in Denver. Got a virtual mailbox, by the way.
I use Anytime mailbox if anyone is needing that sort of a thing. They scan all my letters in and I can have them shredded or forwarded or whatever I need to do, which is really handy. If you have no mad questions, let me know. I'm here for it. Maybe we'll do a Q and A episode
But I moved everything into storage. Bought a one way ticket to New York, woke up in my bedroom, which is a hotel room overlooking the Manhattan skyline. I actually have a recorded episode about that. Go back to season one and listen to that. It's super fun to see the transition.
And since June 5, 2022, I've been to eleven countries, five US states. Stayed in over 50 Airbnbs. Which Airbnbs are such doesn't have to be an Airbnb, right? But that's just the main thing that I use. And, like, I like their user interface. I don't know how you all use booking.com. I hate that interface so much. Let me know if you have tips. But the Airbnb experience is just as fun for me as experiencing a new city. I get to live in different homes with different styles and different whatever, like pots and pans and windows and views and all the things in different cities.
So right now, I'm actually in Copenhagen. I've stayed in Denmark for the last three weeks or so. I was in Aarhus for a week a couple of weeks ago, and after this, I'm headed to LA. After that, I'm going to be in the States for a while. I have no plan in stopping, which is so crazy to me, too. I'm definitely in that void of just not knowing and being detached from the outcome. With love, with home, with business, all of it. I'm just letting it flow.
So, over 50 Airbnbs, I've carried my life in three bags. I have an oversized checked bag that literally, if I pack the whole thing full, it's overweight. So I have to be really careful. I practically bring things like this massive crystal. If you're on video, you can see it. It's not practical at all. That's sarcasm and my deck of cards and this candle.
I have to have stuff that makes me feel like home a little bit. I actually just bought a mug, finally, in Denmark, in Copenhagen, because I'm tired of not having a good mug. I love matcha in the morning. It's a whole thing to whisk the matcha and have enough room to be whisking it. And one of the things that I miss is my big mug. So I finally just bought one that I liked. So I bought a mug. So that's super practical, not. Hopefully it doesn't break. Send your prayers.
So I have that oversized suitcase. It's actually from Monos. And then I have a Vera Bradley, oddly enough, backpack. The only reason I bought that is because I liked the specs. It fits over my suitcase like handle thing. Fits my laptop, my podcast mic, and also my very practical seven books that I bring. I had a Kindle for a while. I didn't like it. I accidentally left it in the seat back pocket of a plane. I think that was a subconscious move, so I never bought another one.
And then I have a Patagonia black hole duffel that I carry on. Little tip, if you carry-on a bag like that on your back, even though it's usually too big for a carry on, technically, usually they let it pass because it's on your back and it looks smaller. So little tip there.
So those three bags have been it. If you want more packing info, please let me know. It's been super interesting packing for so many different weather patterns, but yes, and I've met countless incredible people, whether it's been friends, people in the wild, literally, at bars, getting invited to someone's Christmas, dating. I've met people in the wild that I've dated as well as on Hinge. Hinge is kind of my go to. I've also met people on Bumble BFF. That was a big thing for me in Australia.
Some of these people I will never see again and some, I hope, are in my life forever. They were truly transformative. All were transformative in a certain way. For example, we went to Bonavair, my friend and I, client and I, this last week for my birthday. And we met three Danish guys. By the way, everyone in Denmark seems to be six foot four or taller, even the women. Everyone is so tall and blonde. Very, very blonde. And what's wild to me, and this might seem so obvious, but I don't kind of collect these facts until I'm in a place and then they really sink in that Danish people are the indigenous people of this land. Like they originated here, Viking style, right?
So I don't know enough about that to continue on, but it's been so fun learning about this new culture that I never really thought about before. So we met these three Danish guys at the Bony Vera concert. They took us to such a fun local bar, piano bar style, where they were singing Danish songs, very, like beers all over the table, very pub vibes.
We would have never gone without them. And then we talked to them all night, never got their numbers, never exchanged information, said goodbye on the sidewalk and just said, have a nice life. It was so amazing hanging out.
So the travel stories that happened over this last year are so powerful to me. Even those little tiny snippets. I have so many what I call home videos on my phone of just really candid moments of people I've met over this last year and their personalities and just the moment we were in. It's so, so special to me. I have experienced love, I've experienced heartbreak. Oh, man. There's been a lot of that.
I have realized over this last year that something I really want to embody moving forward is leaning in, no matter what. And one of these quotes that I heard recently was just, if you know it's not forever, then how does that change things? If you know it's not forever, how does that change things? And nothing is forever when we talk about it, right?
Like, we really know nothing is forever, but when we know it's like a short term thing, whether it's a workout class that's only an hour, or a coaching container that's only four months, or a relationship that can only last two weeks because you're moving on to the next city, how would you show up for that?
Are you going to lean in? Are you going to be the person who is going to lean in and really just feel deeply, even if you're going to get hurt? Or are you going to be the person to protect yourself and not experience it fully? And I have really tried my best to lean in, which has gotten me hurt, for sure. It's also hurt other people, whether that's friends or romantic partners, whatever that looks like. But I want to be no matter if it's going to hurt anyone, because that's part of the human experience too, right?
No matter if it's going to hurt anyone, I want to be the person who's leaning in fully. Even if it's like I'm dating you for two weeks, or even if we meet and have a drink as friends and I'm never going to see you again in my life, I want to lean in fully.
The other theme of this year has definitely been self trust. Oh, my gosh. I mean, nomadding, alone. The definition of self trust, right? I think the biggest shift for me was when I went to Australia, which was in mid November. I was the most alone I'd ever been. I had just gotten out of a — we weren't exclusive, but it was very hot and heavy and serious relationship with a French man, so my crutches were gone. I had no one that I was talking to romantically. I was in a completely different time zone, completely opposite side of the world, and literally knew no one in Australia except one person, which was my web designer.
So when I landed in Sydney and then I went to Brisbane. Byron Bay. Melbourne. I still can't bring myself to say Melbourne, so Melbourne it is. I was alone and that was the first time maybe fully in my life that I really had to lean on myself in the biggest way. And I remember my therapist just saying, whatever you do, don't press the big red emergency button. Just try your best to just sit with it and just let it pass. And if you feel the same in a week, like, you can go home or you can go chase after that guy or whatever that looks like for you. But do your best to just sit with it and see if it passes, right? Knowing that you can press that big red emergency button if you need to.
So that was a big one. And just running my business from the road, trusting my team, who I would not have been able to do this without a team. I actually have an amazing, in my opinion podcast episode on how to cultivate and run a team in season one, if you want to check that out. But it wasn't easy, right? And my business kind of took a backseat, and I just want to normalize that, too, that that's okay. And a lot of people might be like, oh my God, you don't want your clients to find out that your business was taking a backseat for a year.
But actually what I want my clients to know is that life comes first. That's the reason why we're building this business, so that you can live a life you love and so that you can impact others and use your creative gifts. But first and foremost, living a life you love does impact others. Being in a state of joy, in a state of gratitude, in a state of full expression and leaning in is what reverberates through society and allows other people to see and feel your frequency. And that raises everyone else.
So really, the goal, the desire, the big picture, if we can all live a life we love and knowing that we have things in our life always right this second that we can tap into and be joyful about, and it's not about getting the next hundred thousand dollars or six figure business or the million dollar business. It's not about that. It's not about finally getting the nice car, finally flying first class, like being grateful and being joyous when we're flying in a prop plane, when we're flying in coach, when we're freaking driving a beater car.
Like letting ourselves be really grateful and present in those moments so that we can be grateful and present when we get more. Right? If we can't appreciate a penny, we can't appreciate a million dollars. So running this business from the road has been so activating and also easy. And I'm not over here saying like a lot of people on Instagram, oh my God, I went in the Sauna and just $4,000 came in. That's not what I'm saying.
Is that possible? Sure. But it's not really about that. It's about just having enough. Just having enough, being grateful for it, being open to more and living your freaking life and letting that be the ripple effect. And my team, I got to shout them out. Maria and Alexandra, I couldn't have done it without you. Couldn't have done it without you. And I'm still doing it.
We ran two retreats last year. I just or not last year, but in the last year. We had Colorado in August, and we also had Greece. Just happened in May, which was literally one of the most incredible experiences, an incredible group of people I've ever just had the pleasure of spending time with. It was unreal and life changing. All of that happened because of my team and me being able to delegate that, letting go, letting my business take the back burner, knowing that life comes first and not everything has to happen today. The to-do list usually can wait, even if it's inconvenient for somebody else.
So support, support in this nomadic journey has been crucial. Having a coach, I have an energy coach currently. I have a business coach. I'm in a mastermind, I have a therapist. And I got to say, one of the hardest things has been being in a different time zone. And it's glorious at the same time. I get to wake up and no one's awake. No one needs anything from me until like, two or three or vice versa.
Like Australia, people needed me really early in the morning, but pretty soon they went to bed and I had the rest of the day to myself. I've never spent so much time in the sunshine in my life. But also the time zones were really tough because when I want to talk to people, I call my parents in the morning and I have to wait until like 4PM sometimes to talk to them. And then I'm busy and I only have a little window of call times that I can do, and I need dinner and I'm winding down in my day and my energy collapses by 4PM. I'm such a grandma.
So the time zone thing has been really interesting and dynamic, and that ties into the getting support thing because I couldn't always get support when I wanted it, and especially in Australia, like I said, which was one of the most initiating times.
And then going to New Zealand by myself and navigating that when I thought maybe I wanted to wait for a partner to do that and not having anyone to talk to right away when I needed it and I had to rely on myself, that was a lot, and I learned a lot. But getting support and having those people: so, so important. My accountability buddies, I feel like I'm, like, doing a speech at the Oscars, and I want to thank my family and my accountability buddies and my coaches and my friends and all the people I've met along the way, including those who I've dated. Yeah, what a wild time.
Something I just never thought I would be able to do. I remember 2016 looking out the window in a grocery store parking lot in New Jersey with my ex-partner, just thinking, working in magazines, corporate, nine to five style, but perma-lance and just thinking, I wonder if I could travel for work? Like, I wonder if I could even like have a job where I just go on a trip. Like they'll pay me to go on a trip.
Look at me now. So I just want to say it's so possible. Things can happen so fast and I'm telling myself that too. When I have limiting beliefs, it's like, oh, but so much can change. The universe has a plan, y'all, it really has a plan. Just like detach and go for it, flow with it, let yourself be taken. So much easier to flow than try to swim upstream. Right?
So that is kind of my nomad journey in a nutshell. I'm so here for any questions that you have. DM me on Instagram, @dianadaviscreative. I love, love, love to hear from you. I could do some stories on there and answer any questions, but what is coming up? What is coming up in the world of DDC? And what is happening with this Pollen podcast?
So, like I said, season two, this is the kickoff. We are going to have guest episodes. In the last season, we really focused on their winding path and their stories. This time it's going to be more about being a guest expert, so a guest expert in social media or mindset or dating and a little bit of their stories as well.
Of course, and a lot of solo coaching episodes, you seem to love those. So I'm taking requests, anything you have. I want to create a bank of information for you that you can tune into at any time as a resource, a free resource, and it's going to be a fun ride as always. A new look, new vibe, new breath, new energy. I'm here for it and I want to hear from you. So thank you for being here. Thank you for tuning in.
Screenshot this episode, share it to Instagram. Whether you're listening on Spotify, Apple, my website, we are here for it. We want you to tell us what you got out of this. It means so, so much to hear from the other side of the ether, right? I'm speaking into this iridescent microphone right now, but I don't know what you're hearing, so please let me know. That would mean the world to me.
It would mean the world for you to share this with your people, for fellow creative entrepreneurs to be able to tap into this resource, get inspiration, get coaching, get the vibes, catch the vibes. And we'd love for you to read it. Like, do a review and tell us what you think. So thank you for being here. Thank you for being in this community. Keep tapping in, keep just plugged in. Things are always going to be happening here at DDC. Love you so much.
