Why Being Your Industry's Best Kept Secret Is Killing Your Revenue with Diane Strand

Adrienne Garland (00:01.112)
Hi everybody and welcome back to the She Leads podcast. Before I introduce you to our next guest, I'd like to ask you to do something for me. I'd like you to just take two minutes and give the show a five star rating and review on Apple or Spotify. This is so important for the show's visibility and the visibility of each and every one of our guests. The women on this show,

take their time to share their journeys, wisdom, and lessons with all of you so you can go further, faster, wealthier, and with more ease. So if you're interested in seeing more successful women leaders and entrepreneurs in this world, like I am, please take this easy step to support women everywhere. Thank you so much in advance for helping to share our incredible show with more people. Now, on to my next guest.

Her name is Diane Strand and she's an award-winning serial entrepreneur, marketer, and TEDx speaker that helps entrepreneurs turn their creative passions into profitable businesses. And she did that with her own business, JDS Productions. It's a seven-figure media company creating engaging video content for organizations, people, and products. She's also the co-founder of JDS Actors Studio, which has launched over

100 mainstream actors and producers. And she's also the co-founder of a nonprofit organization, JDS Creative Academy, which works with mainstream foster and at-risk youth, as well as special needs adults to provide career pathway opportunities in visual, performing, and digital arts. Diane has a rich and deep background in production. She's worked for famous shows that you've all heard of.

such as General Hospital, Friends, and for the Walt Disney Company. And if that's not quite enough, Diane is the author of a mindset leadership book called Creativepreneur, which details critical entrepreneurial steps such as creating business concepts, establishing your entity, working through challenges, and how to leverage your money and marketing for success. Diane is an award winner, including 10 Telly Awards, seven

Adrienne Garland (02:21.838)
Communicator Awards and two Anthem Awards, as well as Standout Business in San Diego and Riverside Counties and the 2021 Nonprofit of the Year by the Temecula. I always have a little trouble getting that out. The Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce. I cannot wait to share all of your wisdom and expertise with the She Leads podcast audience. Welcome to our show, Diane.

Diane Strand (02:48.877)
Wow, thank you. Well, you either did your research, you dug deep with numbers and different things. Wow, thank you.

Adrienne Garland (02:59.306)
Well, I am just so excited to be able to speak with you. You are highly accomplished. And I think that everybody listening can really learn a lot from so many different aspects of what you have done. And I can't wait to get into all of that. But I always like to, of course, start at the beginning. How did you get into this world of production?

Diane Strand (03:28.833)
Well, you know, it didn't start yesterday. It started a long, long time ago. And there's a great quote by Steve Jobs. He says, you can't connect your dots looking forward. You have to look back and trust that they will connect in the future. And so it's very clear why I am where I am and what I'm doing. But you know, that first dot really shows up for me.

Adrienne Garland (03:46.158)
you

Diane Strand (03:56.417)
Actually, really big dots show up for me all the way back in second grade when all I wanted to do was play Betsy Ross in the school play. And everyone told me at that time, maybe you shouldn't or don't try, you you can't really read so well. And it turns out I am dyslexic and

I also have something called tenacity. And when people tell me don't or you shouldn't, I say, watch me. next thing you know, I did get the role of Betsy Ross in the school play. you know, the connection to the arts and being in the plays kept me connected to school all the way, you know, ensured that I graduated high school. And then even going back.

Adrienne Garland (04:47.149)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (04:49.385)
to that second grade moment, there was a candy selling contest for a fundraiser. And whoever sold the most candy in the school would win this 19 inch black and white TV. And besides dating myself, which I just did, I really wanted that TV. And so I enlisted help with my parents and whomever. And in a school of

Adrienne Garland (05:04.311)
Wow.

Diane Strand (05:16.939)
K through six, this little second grader sold the most candy in the whole school. And I won that TV and I still work in TV today. So, and I fundraise and I do all of the things. So it's pretty clear why I am where I am and the dots continue to connect. It's all about the arts. It's all about how the arts impact life and business and how it really affected and changed my life.

Adrienne Garland (05:42.062)
Hmm.

Diane Strand (05:45.695)
and that's what I do and teach today.

Adrienne Garland (05:48.734)
my goodness. I love that second grade you knew maybe she wasn't able to sort of, you know, articulate it, but she knew exactly who she was going to be in the future. And that is just, that's so remarkable. I really, really enjoyed that story. Thank you so much for sharing it. That's awesome. my goodness. So I could not agree with you more that the

arts, especially now, is more important than ever before. I mean, you know, I actually teach at NYU in the Tisch Center for Hospitality and we're constantly talking about, you know, where is the line with efficiency and humanity? And, you know, the media just portrays the fact that AI is going to take over every single thing. And it's just not

the case. you know, I've had some conversations lately too, even with some podcast guests about AI, I think does a very good, you know, maybe even an excellent job at taking away a lot of menial tasks. And that's going to actually be beneficial to people because it's going to force us back into maybe our second grade selves and how creative we used to be.

So I think that's something that, especially as entrepreneurs, especially as women entrepreneurs growing businesses, scaling them past a million, I think it's something that we need to learn how to, and I hate the word lean in, but it's something that we need to really embrace so much more. So can you talk about how in your work today, because I know that you help entrepreneurs and you

You do so many different things. But one of the things that you are super passionate about is helping entrepreneurs find their creativity and use that in business. So can you talk about how we can all be more creative and how that can lead to business success?

Diane Strand (08:04.929)
Sure, know, creativity and the arts, they touch everything. They touch every single industry that is out there. And when you really go back to that basic, simple foundation of it, when you think about how it's how we learn, it's how we teach, it's how we market, it's how we communicate, it's how we share, storytelling is the...

groundwork and the foundation of everything. You need to step outside your comfort zone, start before you're ready. These are not euphemisms, these are things that are really learned by the art. You need to be prepared, but do it anyways and get up there scared and that's getting on stages. Today it's increasing visibility, but...

Adrienne Garland (08:48.791)
Hmm.

Diane Strand (09:01.907)
in a business, it's increasing, you know, in life when you're going through these practices in the arts, nobody's saying that you have to go, you know, be a muralist or an actor or even a writer. But yet every day we are doing those same tasks in our life when we go network, when we tell a story, write a social media post.

We need to be these creative individuals. So that's what I tell my creatives is that as a creative, you need a little bit more structure and strategy so you can pull that business into it. Because if you're going to be an actor, be an actorpreneur. If you're going to be a writer, be a writerpreneur. But the other is true. If you are a business, you need more creativity so you can market, leverage and scale.

Adrienne Garland (09:50.542)
you are a business, you need more creativity to work in leveraging the scale and communicate and share, you need more visibility and step into the spotlight and do the thing. Because if you're the best kept secret, then you're not going to ever get to where you want to go. And then you're not even doing your job. It's your job to share because if you're the best kept secret, then what kind of service are you?

Diane Strand (09:56.977)
and communicate and share and be more visible and step into the spotlight and do the things. Because if you're the best kept secret, then you're not going to ever get to where you need, you want to go. And then you're not even doing your job. It's your job to share because if you're the best kept secret, then what kind of service are you providing to the world if nobody knows that you're there? Because

Adrienne Garland (10:21.102)
Yeah. Yeah.

Diane Strand (10:24.053)
There is enough business to go around for everyone, but it's the people that don't see you that you can't serve. So, you know, it used to be, you know, they used to always say, you know, who do you know? But it's really who knows you, right? That's really the difference today. It's not who you know, it's who know you. It's like, we know who Oprah is, right? But does Oprah know who you are?

Adrienne Garland (10:50.594)
Bye.

Yeah.

Diane Strand (10:53.457)
That is really the difference. And she's just one person, but she has great visibility. So that's the difference. That's why we know who she is. So that's the visibility that we have to go to and strive to. And that takes the tools of the arts to get us there. And that really is the pathway and the foundation.

Adrienne Garland (11:02.392)
Yes.

Adrienne Garland (11:16.907)
Yes. Yeah, I think the challenge for so many people is that the social media forces us, or at least in the past, I think we're all waking up to the fact that we don't need to be picture perfect, whatever that means. But I think social media

pushed us into this place that we had to be very curated and have that sort of perfect image. And I think that really scared a lot of people away from showing up on social media because they looked at what was being promoted and what was out there and what was getting the attention. earlier on, the thing that really got the attention was this

you know, these perfect pictures of these, you know, women entrepreneurs running around on beaches with these, you know, multimillion dollar perfect homes and kitchens and everything. And, you know, maybe they looked around and they said, I just, you know, I'm not that. And so again, like another one of these, you know, messages, I'm not worthy as a woman to show up exactly how I am and who I am. And I think that if we can

I do think that the tides have shifted and that more people are looking for more genuine, normal type of imagery. And can you speak to that? Because I think that's the thing that has held people back from being able to be more visible.

Diane Strand (13:07.263)
Yeah, no, I think today we're in this micro brand world. We are very tribal today. We do business with people we know, like and trust. so authenticity is the real key to really building a community today and putting that out there. So that is what's going to keep you real and authentic is.

talking with your community and your tribe and showing up who you are as you are and then doing what it is that you say that you do. If that is who you are, you are really going to go far in this world. It's not about perfection and there is no such thing as perfection. You gotta start before you're ready. You gotta make your mess your message.

and you have to be you and do you and share your story. And if you are sharing from your heart, and this is where I always say, the art is in the heart. When that is happening, it is really moving through you and you just talk about what you know. And that's what I do is I am not by no means trying to teach

Adrienne Garland (14:12.782)
Mmm.

Diane Strand (14:28.809)
rocket science and brain surgery and, all of those things. You know, I am, you know, a dyslexic woman who has raised three children, three businesses, led from my heart, believe in creativity and, you know, being smart and strategic, lots of left and right turns along the way, lots of pivots and shifts.

Adrienne Garland (14:38.597)
You

Diane Strand (14:58.305)
But when I believe in myself, and that is really what it is, call it pack your own parachute. Trust yourself. If I pack my parachute, I know when I jump, that thing is gonna open. I may hit and scrape myself on a couple rocks going down, or it could be a rough landing, but that parachute is gonna open. I trust myself.

Adrienne Garland (15:07.116)
Hmm. Hmm.

Adrienne Garland (15:13.068)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (15:16.494)
No.

Diane Strand (15:24.711)
I know that I am doing what it takes. You know, I truly believe in hope, help one person every day. And then you want a dream to become a reality. You need that dream to have direction. You need to realize the hard work that it's going to take to make that dream a reality. You have to engineer it. You really have to reverse engineer it because if you want to be somewhere a year from now,

Adrienne Garland (15:33.486)
Mm.

Adrienne Garland (15:46.094)
Mm.

Diane Strand (15:53.055)
What do you need to be doing today to make that year from now a reality? And, you know, if that goal is to make a million dollars in a year, well, at six months, which is almost June, right, you better be at at least, you know, $500,000. And what do you need to do today to make sure you're hitting that smaller milestone? You have to pack those in. So that's the engineering. And but all of that needs

Adrienne Garland (15:55.98)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (16:07.368)
Hmm.

Adrienne Garland (16:16.845)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (16:22.737)
Action and accountability. That's the A in the dream, action and accountability. And then you will start building the momentum. The dream needs momentum to become a reality. And then you can ride that to the wind.

Adrienne Garland (16:25.326)
Mm.

Adrienne Garland (16:41.184)
Yeah. So what type of advice when you work with companies that are in that sort of growth phase? Because so many women that listen to the show, I I think that everybody would agree with you, right? They were able to get to a certain point in their business. And as we were talking about maybe before the podcast started, maybe some women did, as they were growing their businesses, they didn't even think that they were going to get

to that million dollar mark. And we talk about that million dollar mark, not like it's this ultimate goal to achieve, but rather at those higher revenue numbers, you know that there are expenses that need to be covered. But we always want to get to a place of profitability because there's so much research that supports when women have access to capital, when women have access to wealth.

we do things that proactively help our families and communities, the world, the environment. And we just need more of that in the world, which is like why I'm hell bent on making sure that women are starting these businesses that have impact, but also that put profit back in their pockets. Yeah, go out and have fun and buy all the beautiful things that you want. I'm not against that, but...

you know, once we get to that point, we take that money and we do such great things with it. women are so thoughtful about where they put their resources. And for so long, those resources have just been, you know, pulled away from us.

So I wonder for women that are growing businesses, maybe they're not at the million dollar mark, maybe they're beyond it and they're figuring out, how do I 10X this? How do I get this to the next level? How can some of the work that you do beyond just the mindset work, but from a strategic point of view, how can they implement some of these more creative type of strategies to get to that next level?

Diane Strand (18:54.561)
Well, sure, you know, I think there's a funny saying, if you think money can't buy happiness, you haven't given enough of it away. So, you know, I truly believe in building wealth and not cash flow. So, you know, cash flow is meant to come and go. You said you have to define your success. What does success mean for you and what what are you looking at?

Adrienne Garland (19:02.222)
Mmm.

Adrienne Garland (19:13.303)
Hmm.

Adrienne Garland (19:19.09)
Mm-hmm.

Diane Strand (19:21.441)
Success can mean a whole bunch of different things. It can be a dollar sign. It can be, only want to work so many hours a day. I want to travel so much. want to go do, you now I'm in a different phase. I'm in a legacy phase. I'm going to Kenya and bringing the arts around the world and doing different things. you know, what does success kind of look like? And that's how you can start to define where you're at.

Adrienne Garland (19:29.922)
Right.

Diane Strand (19:51.315)
and what is it going to take to get you to that mark? so, you know, the money barriers are really a mindset thing. That's you kind of really look at, know, and I had to look at, used to, you know, try and pinch every penny and dime and nickel as I was going through and stress about that in the beginning of entrepreneurship of I can't, how do we do that?

Adrienne Garland (20:16.078)
course.

Diane Strand (20:19.285)
But then as I started looking and I started looking at what do I need to build my wealth? What do I need to pay my bills? And then the rest of it, I don't need it. It's for something else. It's for someone else. It's for learning. It's for a tool. It's for that. That's it. Get into a coaching program and do all of that. And then when I started really getting clear, clear on that, the cashflow

came more in abundance and I was able to then do more with it because I stopped worrying about it. And even if I was a little short on the cashflow and I needed to borrow from somewhere else because it was wealth minded and gonna get me further, or it was something that I could delay on with something else and I could do it and I took that risk because I trusted myself that it was going to join something or be in a group.

Adrienne Garland (20:51.97)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (21:15.576)
Mm.

Diane Strand (21:19.009)
or spend the extra money or go lay out to do a humanitarian trip or spend it elsewhere, that it was going to come back in spades. And somehow then I started learning how to create $3 out of $1. And it turned into a nonprofit and I started spreading more. it just, it happened because I let go of the mindset of the nickels and the dimes and the pennies and.

Adrienne Garland (21:34.339)
Hmm.

Diane Strand (21:45.633)
what happens in three weeks when I don't have them to rub together? Well, I'm living today. I have prepared for whatever 20, 30, 50 years from now could be, I don't have 50 years left, but in that sense. But as you start thinking about that, have to, it doesn't do any good.

Adrienne Garland (21:51.982)
Mm.

Adrienne Garland (22:00.802)
You never know.

Diane Strand (22:09.735)
waiting for the rainy day that you might not need it. It's going to work better for you if you put it to work for you now. And I learned that, you know, I am saved. I'm not protecting myself. You know, I didn't do that for a while in early entrepreneurship. when I stopped, when I wasn't saving, I was stressing. I started saving. I stopped stressing.

Adrienne Garland (22:34.189)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (22:37.545)
And then the abundance of the cashflow has come back in 10X.

Adrienne Garland (22:43.734)
Yeah, I think this is an area that so many women struggle because of how we're almost programmed from when we're young to, you know, be happy with what we get to.

look for the deals. I see this so much in entrepreneurship when women are doing business with other women. We're always asking for the discount, the coupon. It's almost like our badge of honor that we were able to get three for the price of one when we waited until Wednesday at 2am to go online and go shopping. You know what I mean? It's like our...

Our superpower is also the thing that is holding us back, I think, when it comes to business. it's why the statistics show that less than, I don't even know what it is, less than 4 % of women-owned businesses ever get past that million-dollar market. And it's for a variety of reasons. Some don't want that, which is completely valid.

but more often than not, it's because of the way that we're sort of programmed. So my question to you is, being a creative and being able to tap into this almost design thinking approach, how can women use some creative tools? If you would share some creative tools that women can use to almost...

reframe or reprogram some of the things that have been programmed into us that are holding us back.

Diane Strand (24:29.151)
Well, you know, I truly believe that, you know, it is a mindset thing. You have to get into the right mindset. you know, I'll knock on some wood is maybe those were some of the things that, you know, weren't some of my challenges that I had to go through in that aspect. Because, you know, if you think I'm expensive, hire an amateur. you know, it really is, you know, you to discount.

Adrienne Garland (24:53.794)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (24:58.591)
You know, it's like, do you want me to discount my quality back to you? And I, I, it's the only child syndrome or, you know, being in a male dominant field, like production and the entertainment industry that, you know, I would just come in all barrels, that precociousness, you know, that kind of came through, but that's the arts. Those are, you asked for the tools because I got up on stage scared.

knowing my lines or not knowing my lines, I did it anyways, right? So that's walking into the room, you know, and being seen, being heard, being able to get my point across, you know, and having a little tenacity that when someone says, I don't think maybe you should do that. And I'm like, why is it that he can do it and I can't?

Adrienne Garland (25:32.045)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (25:52.398)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (25:53.665)
You know, there's nothing different between he and I except, know, maybe some anatomy Yeah, you know, so it's in that sense I've always had that attitude you know that I I can be a little feisty I can You know, but I lead with kindness, you know, I'm definitely you know, and I often say don't take kindness for a mistake of weakness

you know, because that those things are not unanimously the same. So, you know, that it's it's having confidence and remember, action comes before the confidence. So you have to take the action first and then you build the confidence as you go and you have to borrow confidence. You know, if I'm confident in one area, sometimes I have to borrow it as I'm entering into a new area.

Adrienne Garland (26:28.866)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (26:36.226)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (26:52.819)
and trust myself that I can fly a little bit by the seat of my pants, but yet at the same time, I'm prepared, right? That's the prepared performer. I do rehearse, I do show up. Arts and athletics are kind of a little of the same. It's like, the quarterback who is the all-star quarterback does not show up every day for practice and.

Adrienne Garland (27:02.498)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Diane Strand (27:19.659)
throw 100 footballs through the ring of the tire? It's over and over because if you don't practice and rehearse and keep doing what you do, consistency, showing up, saying yes, doing the thing, that's how you get better. That's how you get stronger. That's how you build confidence. That's how you pick yourself back up. That's where the resilience comes from because

Adrienne Garland (27:23.959)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (27:35.052)
you

Adrienne Garland (27:46.988)
Mm-hmm.

Diane Strand (27:47.933)
you know, in 23 years of business, it has not always been easy. There have been the financial struggles, the famine to feast, the back to famine from the feast. There's been the legal challenges. There's been the bank, all the things, right? It's all happened. But if you just keep thinking and

Adrienne Garland (28:04.386)
COVID.

Adrienne Garland (28:10.028)
Yeah. Yeah.

Diane Strand (28:16.889)
You don't have to go get yourself in a play, but get creative. You need more money. Where's creative financing going to come from? Right? How you can make your different buckets work. Do you have buckets or is it all just sitting in pile? So, you know, this is where structure and strategy and, you know, I believe in getting a coach, you know, you need a mentor, you need a coach. You need to talk to people who

Adrienne Garland (28:23.742)
Mm-hmm.

Adrienne Garland (28:30.274)
Right, right.

Diane Strand (28:46.465)
have been there before you, not always 10 years and 100 years. Don't compare yourself. If you're in chapter one through five and I'm in chapter 23, we're not in the same spot, right? So you can't compare, but you can emulate. You can definitely look and see what is this person doing? Maybe that might work for me. Where are they showing up? How are they doing that?

Adrienne Garland (29:01.836)
Yeah.

You can speculate. can stop.

Diane Strand (29:16.256)
you know.

Adrienne Garland (29:16.569)
Yeah, I think that what you're talking about is super important. And I also think that it can be very, very challenging for women who are, you know, they have multiple responsibilities. Many of them are in that sandwich generation between taking care of, you know, aging parents, taking care of children, never really having the time to, you know, even

Think about being bold or think about creating buckets and all of this. And I just hope that everybody listening in is hearing what you're saying about, know, wait a minute, take some time to do that preparation. Take some time for yourself. Press pause so that you can actually be strategic and thoughtful about where it is that you're going. Cause we do, get...

you know, through no fault of our own, we get sucked into, you know, the vortex of life and it's hard to claw our way out of it. And I hear you loud and clear with its mindset and I think we all know that that's the answer. And at the same time, it's like that very mindset that's required is...

is very, very difficult to shift into if you're in this vortex that's pulling you down. So I think that what I'm looking for is how do we leverage things like play or like improv or some type of art or getting into nature or something so that

so that it forces us or it pulls us out of the vortex and forces us to get back to our creativity. Because it's all there. It's inside.

Diane Strand (31:14.699)
Sure, I mean, but that's a daily. That's why you said the mindset. It's a daily thing. We can all go down rabbit holes every single day. that's why it's how do you start your day? Do you get up and where are you going to, it's a mind shift. Where are you going to shift into? I look at it, I love the analogy of a car, right? So if you get into the car,

Adrienne Garland (31:37.847)
Mm-hmm.

Diane Strand (31:43.849)
You get into the driver's seat. The fear gets into the back seat. You put a seatbelt on it. You tell it that unless you really see me driving off a cliff, you stay back there and be quiet, right? You take control of the radio. This is where you turn it on. If you need something to lift you up, put on some music, start dancing, sing, look at mirror work. This is the acting, the improv, you know, in the mirror, you are okay today.

Adrienne Garland (31:52.43)
Yeah, shut up.

Diane Strand (32:12.661)
Tell yourself, got you, I got you today. Trust yourself, I got you. You know, be your own friend. Talk to yourself. This is the mirror work. Do those, get your body moving, dancing, stretching. If you work out, whatever it is, even if you're a night worker out or, you know, maybe do a couple of, get the blood moving. It's the mind. This is, what do you...

Adrienne Garland (32:18.062)
Mmm.

Diane Strand (32:36.609)
This is what I'm doing. I'm prepared today. This is what's going. I know it's going to be a busy day. I mean, if you think this is bad, my 10 30 to 11 30 this morning after we finish here, I got three things that I got to figure out how to multitask my way through. And, you know, I'm going to do it. I've already got it, but I've got a plan in place for it. I've got

Adrienne Garland (32:54.989)
Yeah.

Right.

Diane Strand (32:58.641)
I've got my partner in life and business. I'm like, you have to handle this at this time. I will show up in here and we'll make this happen. I've been planning it because I, for some reason, I had to make all these things work in the same one hour period. I can only be one place. It is a little stressful. I've had to, but I've prepared. That's the prepared performer, right?

Adrienne Garland (33:12.247)
No.

Adrienne Garland (33:20.258)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (33:20.821)
And yet at the same time, I'm going to fly a little by the seat of my pants. That's the improv. I'm going to work it through. And you had to do that this morning, right? You had to improv your way through it. You were hoping that if you led with a little bit of, hey, good morning, and you were in the right mindset, because if you came into that call going, my god, I'm overwhelmed, I'm this, I'm that, whatever it was, I might have been like, hmm.

Adrienne Garland (33:29.28)
right?

Diane Strand (33:45.345)
Right. But you came in positive and friendly and improv your way through it. And I'm like, yeah, no problem. Right. So, I mean, that just changes the whole thing. It's how you look at it. Cause we could all look at the trials and tribulations that are happening in, in that way. And we're going, we're either going to suck down the rabbit hole or we're going to lift ourselves up and we're going to meet the moment. Right.

Adrienne Garland (33:45.496)
Mm-hmm.

Adrienne Garland (33:51.276)
Cool. Thank you.

Adrienne Garland (34:06.882)
Mm.

Adrienne Garland (34:14.051)
Yeah.

Diane Strand (34:15.125)
Because life is gonna life. The phone could ring at any moment with life calling and saying, guess what just happened, right? We don't know, but are you prepared? Have you done your rehearsal? Do you know what's coming next? How would you pivot? How would you handle that moment in the moment, right? Because it's gonna happen. And we can't always figure it out. We will improv our way through it.

Adrienne Garland (34:22.722)
Yeah.

Adrienne Garland (34:32.0)
Thank

Mm.

Diane Strand (34:44.907)
But yet at the same time, that's how we, the resilience that comes with it is those actor moments that, my gosh, my scene partner just totally went off book and we're in scene three right now and we're supposed to be doing this, what are we gonna do? And how you get through those moments, it's the same thing for life. It's like, that was not in the plan today.

Adrienne Garland (34:57.727)
Yup.

Adrienne Garland (35:04.397)
Yes.

Adrienne Garland (35:12.012)
Right, and I love everything that you're talking about because I do think that life is just a big improv stage and for almost anybody to think that other people have it all figured out, that is the biggest fallacy of all.

I think that there's also a little bit of take the pressure off of you. You do not have to show up perfectly, especially if you are prepared and that your heart is in the right place and that you know that you have the tools and the expertise and the desire to, you know, almost learn your way through it. I think that that is almost the artist's way and that's

does and I think will more and more translate into business success. do see a huge shift toward more of those things that used to be called soft skills that women really know how to do. And I think that the businesses that we are starting and the businesses that we're growing and helping to grow are more focused on that human aspect and

Like I said before, think that AI, if it can take away some of those menial tasks that pull us down and allow us to be more in our creativity, I think that there's really no place that we can't go as women. So I just love everything that you said today.

for people that want to get in touch with you, that want to work with you, that want to help support your nonprofit organization and buy your book and all of the good things, how can they get in touch with you?

Diane Strand (37:08.223)
I'm all over social media, so at Dianne Strand. To find out about any of my businesses, you can search with the hashtag JDSfamily and our businesses will come up. You can find me on Spirit of Innovation, Arts Across America TV show. It's across the world and on broadcast locally and binge networks and all your Amazon fires, but you know, just connect.

I love to connect with people and collaborate, you know, and if there's something that we can work on together, whether that be attending something creative like a festival or seeing a play or doing any of those things or just stepping outside that comfort zone. Let's talk.

Adrienne Garland (37:55.706)
I love it. Well, thank you so much for spending your time with us here today and sharing all of your wisdom. We appreciate it so much.

Diane Strand (38:03.851)
Thank you so much.