IAM365- CEO Offers Mother-daughter Relationship Consultation and Speaking Services

Dr. Michelle Deering is the founder and CEO of Curative Connections, a premier consulting company that offers mother-daughter relationship consultation, sport psychology services, and keynote speaking services.

A graduate of Brown University, Dr. Deering is a North Carolina & New Jersey state-licensed clinical psychologist and national board-certified sport psychologist.

Her best-selling book— What Mothers Never Tell Their Daughters: 5 Keys To Building Trust, Restoring Connection, & Strengthening Relationships— helps mothers and daughters connect intentionally and improve relationally with each other.

When she’s not working with clients, guest blogging for Parent Magazine, or being a featured guest on podcasts & radio shows, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband and twin daughters, playing her Ludwig drum kit, and taking boxing lessons.

• CEO Hack: Quick-time and self-awareness before starting the day
• CEO Nugget: i) Remember who you are (your uniqueness) ii) Remember why it is you're doing what you're doing
• CEO Defined: Being in control of how you go about serving people

Website: http://www.curativeconnections.com/

Website: www.CurativeConnections.com
Facebook: @CurativeConnections
YouTube: Bit.ly/MMMYouTubeSubscribe (Mothering Motivation Monday™)
Instagram: instagram.com/CurativeConnections/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/SportPsychologyDoctor
Twitter: @LightblbMoments
Link to Members only offer: https://bit.ly/4Tips4BusyMoms

BOOK (Hardcover/Paperback/E-book formats):
http://bit.ly/AmazonWMNTTD
http://bit.ly/BarnesandNobleWMNTTD
http://bit.ly/WalmartWMNTTD
+ all local bookstores worldwide.

AUDIOBOOK Links:
http://bit.ly/Audiobooksnz
http://bit.ly/Beekio
http://bit.ly/GooglePlayWMNTTD
http://bit.ly/NookWMNTTD
http://bit.ly/AudibleWMNTTD

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE.

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dr. Michelle Deering of Curative Connections. Dr. Michelle, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Dr. Michelle Deering 0:40

Thanks for having me. Great to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem. Super excited to have you on and wanted to read a little bit more about Dr. Michelle so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Dr. Michelle Deering is the founder and CEO of Curative Connections, a premier consulting company that offers mother-daughter relationship consultation, sports psychology services, and keynote speaking services. A graduate of Brown University, Dr. Deering is a North Carolina & New Jersey state-licensed clinical psychologist and national board-certified sport psychologist. Her best-selling book— What Mothers Never Tell Their Daughters: 5 Keys To Building Trust, Restoring Connection, & Strengthening Relationships— helps mothers and daughters connect intentionally and improve relationally with each other. When she’s not working with clients, guest blogging for Parent Magazine, or being a featured guest on podcasts & radio shows, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband and twin daughters, playing her Ludwig drum kit, and taking boxing lessons. Dr. Michelle, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

restrict paid=”true”]

Dr. Michelle Deering 1:46

I am so pumped and excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 1:50

No problem. Super excited to have you on as well. So I wanted to kick everything off by hearing a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Dr. Michelle Deering 1:59

Yeah, actually, I was thinking about what made me want to go out and be an entrepreneur. My first inkling of that was when I was an admissions officer at a business school at a University in Massachusetts. And it was the first time that I had some autonomy with my schedule. But the thing that I really enjoyed was actually going out to meet people, hearing their personal stories about this life and where they felt stuck, and then developing strategies that were tailored to them to meet their professional goals. Fast forward, I got licensed. I went to my doctoral program got licensed, as you read in my bio intro, and did some certifications for trauma work. And I was working at a university where their emphasis started going from moving away from being preventive and developmental to being more crisis systems.

And it felt really depersonalized for me. And we've gotten to know each other shortly, I'm a personable person. And that synergy was just not happening. And it began to take a toll on me physically. So I made the decision in 2010, to found my company, Curative Connections, where I initially started out as a part-time, private practice therapy company, but then somewhere around. And my focus at that point was really trying to put the person back in personalized services. And then back in 2012, I decided to just break ties with the University where I was working, and just launch out full-time as a consulting company, where I offer as you mentioned, speaker services, consultation services, as well as the clinic and sports psychology staff.

Gresham Harkless 3:49

Nice. I definitely appreciate that I appreciate you, especially for highlighting how some of those skills translate into owning a business, I think sometimes you forget when you start a business that you're not just starting from a blank slate, you have certain things that you tap into as far as experience and usually, one of the big struggles that people have as well too, is that autonomy because you do have freedom, but you don't really have freedom if you want to stay in business. So you have to be able to manage that time and freedom overall.

Dr. Michelle Deering 4:20

Exactly. And yeah, actually, I've always been an organized person, I set a goal for myself, I work it backward so that I know the steps I need to take, and then expand to actually run my own business. You have to be consistent, and consistently open to learning. And so it's really made me a jack of all trades, but a master of a lot of things. Mastered a lot of things and then just getting out to meet people who may or may have skills that I don't have and then collaborating with them, which is another thing I like about being a CEO is that I can call the shots as to when it is I'm going to go collaborate with someone I do with the purpose and intent.

Gresham Harkless 5:07

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And like you mentioned curiosity is a very big part, and learning, not just from your clients or people that you're working with, but also of people that might be potential strategic partnerships, and so on, and so forth. So I know I touched on it a little bit you did as well, can you tell us a little bit more about your business and what you're doing to kind of support the client you're working with?

Dr. Michelle Deering 5:28

Yeah, actually, when I think about the kind of work I do, I'm all about moms. That's what Curative Connections is. To put it succinctly, I help moms and daughters get clarity and calm so that they can be in touch with themselves and be more intentional about connecting with each other in their relationship. And I do that through a variety of things, whether it's speaking, and doing motivational speaking, or groups or workshops, for companies, organizations, mom groups, I serve them that way. That's one part.

The other part has to do with the actual consultation, which is kind of one-on-one, We all have moms who have daughters, either, I'll see both of them at the same time, or separately. And then, especially since I am an athlete, I usually get a kick out of really working with those moms who have daughters who are athletes, and that's where I've pulled in the clinical side. So I have different parts of my brain. And what's nice about being a CEO is that I get to access all of that stuff.

Gresham Harkless 6:39

Yeah, absolutely. And you get to really take your expertise and those years that you put in to build that expertise, and be able to help out others, and in a lot of different ways, which is definitely pretty cool to be able to do. And now I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Dr. Michelle Deering 7:01
Well, what makes me unique is that, as I said, I'm all about moms. But I'm really about helping moms get steady with who they are as individuals because they end up perpetuating any unsteadiness. And it just goes on generationally. And so what I'm trying to do, as you'll see, is a lot of times we're forced to come up with self-help books, and everyone has their place. But they're people who come up with self-help books, and they're just putting strategies or tactics on top of what I consider to be underlying wounds and hurts and issues. And what I'm doing is I'm actually in a very engaging, friendly way that's very nonjudgmental, which is helping women, moms, in particular, just get at what it is that's underneath that, so that they can make the change there. And then that will affect their action. So really about getting under the surface with folks.

Gresham Harkless 8:05

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. Because I think a lot of times whenever you're dealing with something, trying to fix something, trying to change something, if you ignore those underlying foundational sometimes I don't want to call them issues, but things that may have happened. And it doesn't matter how perfect a plan you have or how great that self-help book is. If you haven't dealt with that foundational principle, then it's hard to get past that. So I appreciate you for doing that deep dive as we talked about offline.

Dr. Michelle Deering 8:35

That's why I'm looking forward to that. Your members will actually really enjoy whatever it is we end up talking about.

Gresham Harkless 8:40

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely think so. So I appreciate you for sharing that. And also for doing that as well. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Dr. Michelle Deering 8:58

Well, my CEO hack is based on something that I was told early in my clinical training. My supervisor said, you as a psychologist are your tool. It's not like I can work on an instrument or something that I bring to my work. I think that's true for everyone. We are individuals before we are whatever our profession is. And so with that in mind, I think it's my hack is that for a person to actually start their day off with some quiet time to actually be still with themselves in their mind and in their heart. And then just notice, whatever it is they're noticing that morning.

Gresham Harkless 9:42

Yeah, I love that especially because it talked about how you you know, how about the clients that you're working with? It's just getting that self-awareness and understanding what that is but I always try to remind myself that you to put your oxygen mask on first, which is not to mean that you don't give up, it just means that you're able to take care of yourself, you're in a place that you can give even more than maybe you can, if you're off kilter, you're not doing things in alignment with how you need to do, although,

Dr. Michelle Deering 10:10

Actually, I've just written that made reference to that, and something I was writing yesterday, the presentation I'm about to do.

Gresham Harkless 10:20

Yeah, I have to tell myself all the time to make sure to do that. Because, you want to make sure that you give on a great level, but you have to make sure that the oxygen mask is on first. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us. And reminding us of that. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger self?

Dr. Michelle Deering 10:43

I would tell myself a lot of things. Actually, two things that come to mind. One is, to remember who you are. And, I use the word you as your own uniqueness. And really just stay true to that. And then the second is kind of like an addition to that would be, remember why you're doing what you're doing. We all go into whatever line of work we do, hopefully, it's something that energizes us. Because if it's not, then I just encourage your listeners to pause and reboot, to find that, but we all got into doing what we're doing for a reason.

And throughout, on the daily grind, where you're trying to make the business work, it's very easy to lose sight of that, especially when you hit a bump in the road, or you're having to recalibrate, or even when things are going well, you can lose sight of why it is you're doing what you're doing. And, if we lose sight of that, you'll forget your customer is the person that you're trying to help to begin with. So remember who you are. And remember why it is you're doing what you're doing those two nuggets.

Gresham Harkless 12:03

Nice, I definitely appreciate those nuggets. And really, because they align with your hack as well, too. Because I always say when you peel back the onion of a business, sometimes you forget that they're made up of people. And we as people have things that we want things that we crave passions, gifts, whatever, and be able to kind of tap into that, when you're doing what you do understanding that is a product or a byproduct of who you are as a person when you get that kind of perspective and understand that it helps you to make decisions, but it helps you to also understand that, hey, I'm off kilter today, why am I off kilter? Or this isn't where I want to go? Why am I not going the way I want to go, you're able to kind of recalibrate, as you said.

Dr. Michelle Deering 12:43

Yeah, exactly. And it'd be surprising, especially if you have, folks who are working for you, it might have nothing to do with what, but it comes across in the tone manner. And I even say even if you're not saying anything, or if your body language is totally stuck, you know, something, what's the word I just blanked off. But there's a vibe, yeah. And that will always come across people feel it, sense it. And that's what you really need to be attended to.

Gresham Harkless 13:17

Yeah. Everything is energy, and everything is kind of vibe. So whether you are saying something, as you said, or not saying something, a lot of times you have to actually say something. So it's a great kind of reminder. I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Dr. Michelle, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Dr. Michelle Deering 13:45

What a CEO means to me is being in control of how I go about serving people. So that's the fact to summarise it. I like control. Not that I'm a control freak about it. But there's something to be said. Remember, I mentioned earlier how when I was in the one environment, things weren't resonating in terms of who I am as a person and know myself to be and how the system was dictating what I needed to be. Being a CEO means I get to set the tone and how I go about servicing folks. And that excites me. And that gets me up in the morning. Especially when I'm out and about interacting and serving others. It floats my boat.

Gresham Harkless 14:27

Yeah, I definitely can understand that. And it floats my boat as well. Because a lot of times I say, sometimes what we're doing is we're all artists and you have a paintbrush, and you get to basically make the canvas into what you want to make it and if you want to change the paint, you can change the paint, but it's up to you. You have that control to be able to do that. And it's great that you've been able to bring that forward and do that with your clients and definitely share that with us as well. Dr. Michelle, I truly appreciate your time. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get ahold of you.

Dr. Michelle Deering 15:03

You can visit me at www.curativeconnections.com. I also have an add-to-connections Facebook page, in addition to my YouTube channel, which I'll leave that info because the URL is kind of complicated. But the actual video is mothering motivation. Mondays is what I put out a video every Monday, Monday morning to encourage moms along in their motherhood journey. Yeah, those are the ways in which folks can reach me, and then I'll send you the other stuff.

Gresham Harkless 15:44

Yeah, absolutely. And those videos you put out on your YouTube channel?

Dr. Michelle Deering 15:48

Yes, I do.

Gresham Harkless 15:50

Okay, perfect. So we'll make sure to have all those links in the show notes. So just that anybody listening can click through and see all the awesome things that you're putting down and creating but again, I truly appreciate your time, appreciate even more what you devote your life and your energies to, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Dr. Michelle Deering 16:06

Thanks so much, Gresham. Great to be here.

Outro 16:09

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]