IAM028 – Entrepreneur Helps People & Pets Heal and Connect

Maribeth Decker is the founder of Sacred Grove, where people and pets heal and connect. Maribeth is an intuitive animal communicator and energy healer.

• CEO Hack: Yoga, energy healing & short prayer
• CEO Nugget: Figure out what you don't know
• CEO ReDefined: Personal responsibility

Website: https://www.sacredgrove.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sacredgrovepets/
Facebook group, Spiritual Pet People: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualpetpeople/?source_id=177944275568559
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maribethdecker/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaribethDecker

Full CEO Chat Podcast Interview: https://ceochat.co/episodes/how-this-business-owner-makes-the-world-a-better-place-by-communicating-one-animal-at-a-time/

Full Interview

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Transcription:

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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 0:26

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 Maribeth Decker of Sacred Grove.

Maribeth, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Maribeth Decker 0:38

Thank you. I'm so glad to be here Gresh

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Awesome. Well, what I want to do, is read a little bit about Maribeth so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's been able to accomplish.

Maribeth Decker is the founder of Sacred Grove and Sacred Grove is where people and pets heal and connect. Maribeth is an intuitive animal communicator and an energy healer.

Maribeth, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Maribeth Decker 1:01

I am ready. Let's do this thing.

Gresham Harkless 1:03

Awesome. Well, the first question I have is, if there's anything additional, you kind of want to let our readers and listeners know about your CEO story and what led you to start your business?

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Maribeth Decker 1:12

Well, I'm actually a retired Navy officer. And then I joined an association, I was an employee so this is my third career. This is the first time I'm an entrepreneur, a completely different ballgame but what happens is that I have got the special gift of doing some energy healing Reiki, and my animals started communicating with me and my heart opened up and I said, Oh, this is what I want to do.

That's when I said, well, to do that, I'd like to make a little money, let's do it as an entrepreneur, because I can't, give it away. That's not my lifestyle support. So that's how I got into the business of communicating with animals.

Gresham Harkless 1:56

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And you know, everybody has to pay bills. So it's funny when your passion kind of turns into an opportunity for you to generate revenue. Even though you would do it for free, you do have to charge so that you can actually be in business. So it's important to keep that in mind.

I wanted to drill a little bit deeper to find out and learn a little bit more about what services and how you serve the clients that you work with.

Maribeth Decker 2:18

All right, so what I do is intuitive, telepathic, which may scare some people, but it's pretty simple. It's a way of I feel like I communicate mind to mind or even more deeply, more clear, is it soul to soul, because I get all kinds of things from animals. So I'm able to do remote sessions, which in this land of sitting in traffic in the DC area is really a big deal for folks. What I do is work with people and their animals. And usually, like maybe there are behavioral problems, aggressive on a leash, not peeing in the letterbox or just, you know, if your dog peeing and doing it in the house, stuff that sounds really mundane unless you're living with interesting animals.

I work with anxious animals, and I even work with animals who are having physical problems, even to the end of life, if you want to know whether they're ready to pass or ready to move and help them through the healing process. Out of just a funny little addition I'm now in the business of checking in on animals while the person is on vacation. I'm doing three weeks for a lady who's got three cats and she's going to be in great Britain for three weeks. I'm going to touch base with your cats. For the time my husband says what isn't somebody taking care of them? Yes, I'm not feeding them, remote stuff, do not feed them or clean the litter box. It doesn't go there, too.

Gresham Harkless 3:54

Yeah, I know. That's very important. As I mentioned, you know, when I left my dog for I want to say about 10 days or so I said that would have been handy just because I felt like she was I heard that from my parents that she said that she was actually missing me. So it's important to kind of do that.

I want to drill a little bit deeper to find out kind of like your secret sauce, so to speak, or what you feel makes you and your business unique.

Maribeth Decker 4:15

Well, what makes me unique? A lot of people say being an animal communicator makes me unique because a lot of us haven't heard about it until we've met somebody who does it right. But beyond that, my focus is on families. I work with people who think they are animals or part of their family, and if that doesn't ring, doesn't resonate with you I'm not probably the right person to work with.

So I treat people and their animals as families and families situations and conversations that we should have together about what's not working in the relationship or also what is what do we love about them, especially at end of life. You know, what do you really need to hear from your animal and what do you need to tell them so that everybody is okay with letting go of a relationship that's so dear? So yeah, I focus on families which probably is the biggest work. I've even said I work with people who love their animals as much as or more than the people in their lives sometimes.

Gresham Harkless 5:17

Yes, sometimes there's a lot more than a lot of people. So I think somebody can categorize it that resonates with a lot of people, I'm sure.

Maribeth Decker 5:29

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 5:30

I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you about what I call a CEO hack. This could be an app or book, but the idea is something that makes you more effective and efficient as CEO.

Maribeth Decker 5:42

Well, I had to think about that, I think what I do is, I have a routine. I don't do it perfectly, but it focuses my mind and my body on the highest being there purposefully through the day. I get up, I do some yoga, I do an energy healing for myself and for all my clients too and forefoot it, present and past. Then I do kind of a short prayer of, I've never shared this with people, but I turned my life and will over and I asked for good things and let it do the right thing for everybody I come in contact with.

That sets my day up to be focused in the right way.

Gresham Harkless 6:28

Yeah, I love that it is huge. I looked at looked and talked a lot about, you know, vibrating higher and trying to vibrate higher and early in the morning and doing those regular activities. I see the difference between myself and me being able to win the day in order to win the day, I have to win the morning. And when I'm able to do those things on a regular basis, I'm more successful.

Maribeth Decker 6:47

It really makes a difference and I have to recommit sometimes, you know, it doesn't matter. But it does.

Gresham Harkless 6:54

You can see the differences. Well, I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this might be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice that you would tell an entrepreneur or business owner.

Maribeth Decker 7:08

Yeah, I thought about that, too. I would say, figure out what you don't know. So for me was marketing. I'm a great animal communicator and healer, not a hill of beans, with knowledge about marketing.

If you don't know about marketing, yet, somebody teaches you to go into a school, and find somebody who's a guru in the area. Because people won't use you if they don't know about you. I know all about the secret. And you know, you just think I'm going to fill my practice. But you still have to be healthier. Yeah, you gotta be out there. You got to market in whatever ways are comfortable for you. So that's my nugget.

Gresham Harkless 7:51

I love it. I love it. Yeah, I've oftentimes for a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners, a lot of the name of the game is visibility. So you have this great service that you're providing, this great product, but nobody knows about you. So you have to be able to kind of close that gap. So I love that CEO hack. And I think it's definitely a CEO nugget. I'm sorry, I definitely think that's underrated. So what I wanted to do is now ask you, which is probably my most exciting question. It's just kind of your definition of what it means to you to be a CEO because we'll have different types of CEOs on the podcast. And now you mentioned, you had a different experience than had been a CEO before. But I wanted to ask you now like, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Maribeth Decker 8:27

Yes, great question, by the way. Gresh Thank you. For me, it means personal responsibility. It's like, there's nobody else to blame for how it's scary. I have to be crystal clear about who I am, you know, the high vibration, what am I doing? How am I treating people? Have I thought about what I'm trying to give to the world? Am I overwhelmed now and do I need to find good people to give some of the work to other people, which is what I'm finding?

Do I have, you know, all those questions, they're all its personal responsibility take taking responsibility for creating what I want to happen. And that includes a life too. It's like, personal responsibility. You're not only in work, but how's it how's that working with life balance, and you know, it's still while I'm doing all this stuff, and I still in connection with my husband and my kids and my dogs and my cats. And you know, that's me, that's my piece.

Gresham Harkless 9:28

I love that. And I think that kind of you sometimes you hear that a lot where the buck stops with you so to speak for as an entrepreneur and business owner if you want to make changes in your business, make changes in your life. And a lot of times there are things that you can do to kind of make that happen. So I love that definition. And it's a great reminder for entrepreneurs and CEOs.

So, Maribeth, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule to kind of speak with us. I wanted to pass the mic to you one more time so to speak to see if there was anything additional you want to tell us about your business. Tell us about any pieces of wisdom or pieces of advice that you might have or any other entrepreneurs and business owners.

Maribeth Decker 10:03

Alright, so the biggest thing I think, and I'm probably preaching to the choir, but perseverance, you know, I found that it looks really easy on the outside. But getting up and doing it again and trying it again and trying another way, and revising and getting a little bit of a thicker skin.

But I'm willing to look to see what worked and what didn't work and keep on truckin' and all those people that love what you're doing, dear to your heart, keep them there, as you know, as you keep working and moving forward.

Gresham Harkless 10:42

Awesome. A lot of people that become successful, it's not necessarily because they're smarter, because, or any of these other factors. A lot of times, it's just because they keep going. So I think that's a phenomenal kind of message to leave us with. I wanted to ask, just if people are listening to this, what's the best way for them to get a hold of you? And to get in touch with you?

Maribeth Decker 11:01

Okay, thank you. I have a website sacredgrove.com. My joke is because I've heard it, it's not scary grove. I do have a phone number 703-259-9012 and an email address maribeth@sacredgrove.com. So those are the ways to get a hold of me.

Gresham Harkless 11:39

Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate you Maribeth. We'll have those links in the show notes as well as the link to our CEO chat podcast we did together as well too, which is a little bit longer form. But I truly appreciate everything that you are doing and everything you did and definitely taking time out of your schedule.

Maribeth Decker 11:56

Thank you for the gift of being able to talk about this pressure. It's really a pleasure to do this with you as well.

Gresham Harkless 12:03

So I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Maribeth Decker 12:05

Thank you. You too.

Outro 12:07

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.

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Thank you for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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