Permission To... Jump-start your idea, with Debbie Garcia

I think I have an idea. So, and I said, let me look for virtual site tours because I'm in the media. I knew the media. I knew that there were virtual site tours and I couldn't find them in one place. I was like, I can't do this side by side. I couldn't even find them, half of them. And I said, man, wouldn't it be easier if I was able to source, if I was able to just like see virtual site tours and never leave my house? And someone said, well, go ahead and create it. And I'm like, Okay, now when you're in a pandemic, you got two kids in virtual school and nothing to lose, you're going for it. So that's kind of how it all started.

And it's brilliant. I mean, brilliant, because like the cost of travel to go on site and do that thing like that is really— it's costly, it's time consuming. But I will say, as an event person and a speaker, speaker, like, getting the feel of that space is tricky. So knowing that you, as an event planner, you know what to be looking for, like, um, that's, I'm sure, part of your value proposition, right? Is that you've been doing this, you've seen a million sites. Um, so how's business going? How's it going, this, this idea that, um, Yeah, it's been interesting.

It's a 4-year journey right now. We're like right at, you know, 4 years. And, um, the idea was great and I was bootstrapping. I know that when you get into the tech industry and all that sort of stuff, it's like, are you going to bootstrap? Are you going to get investors? And I kind of took a really, really deep search into my own soul and what I wanted. And you guys actually had a lot to do with it at the 3-year journey. This word permission came kept coming up. Like, Erica's like, we're doing this permission slip thing. And then I was talking to someone, I was like, give yourself permission to do this. And definitely changed the trajectory of what I was doing the last 3 years, which was gotta just get money to pay for it, gotta get an investor, this idea is great. I was building the website myself.

I'm—

I am not a coder, I am an event planner, but I have a lot of technology background. And I was just plugging away and then taking jobs to make money, and then What I found was I was getting in my own way. I mean, essentially I just got in my own way because I was terrified. I had that fear in me of I've always taken money from having a full-time job and I always had this and I just had that hurdle that I couldn't get over to do this on my own, even though I knew it was a great idea and I was plugging away at it and I wouldn't tell anybody I was doing anything else, man. I was like moonlighting for so many different companies and I was like, don't say I work for you. Like, just don't tell anybody because I'm a CEO. And so I think it was around October of last year after I had already signed up for Permission Slip, and I knew my two favorite ladies were going to be— well, four. My four favorite ladies are going to be there. Judy Holler, by the way, has this huge space in my heart that she's always there when I need her. I don't know why she— and I've told her this story a million times. It's like I'm at the lowest, and it's like something of hers pops up. It's like the postcard I got at an MPI meeting. I was like, I found it, and I changed my entire life because of her. And Jade Simmons was another. And of course I love Erica. And then when I met Sally, I mean, gosh, I had to be there. But you guys really pushed me into my next level of decision-making by taking ownership, giving myself permission to take a huge step, which was number one, getting rid of business partners that weren't serving me. I was serving them more than they were serving me. And had to take a step back and say, you're not going to do this to yourself anymore. You've got ideas. You're in charge, do it yourself. And, um, also did a lot of soul searching and came up with my way of exploring my freedom and what freedom meant to me. Now, freedom to, you know, there's different people, but I wanted freedom to make my own decisions and choices. And then also realized that taking other people's money and investment was not my way to go. So that was another huge decision I made, was just stock money away, keep doing that moonlighting and bootstrap this until it was where I wanted it to be to release the new version, which should be coming out in the next month. So I love that.

Um, I feel very strongly about the— your story about taking on moonlighting gigs and etc. I, I just got back from, um, I guess a side gig, a moonlight gig, whatever, um, for 20 years I was on site, and now I suddenly haven't been on an airplane for a while. And so an opportunity popped up for it with my sister-in-law, um, and I, I went and did it without, like, literally without even thinking twice about it. I had people push back and say, I thought you weren't meeting planning anymore, you know, whatever. I said, I'm not, like, I'm not actively planning anything, but I have this skill set. It can make money for my family. So why wouldn't I utilize it when an opportunity comes up? And so I do. I think that gets in the way a lot of times for CEOs or business founders, whatever it is, entrepreneurs, whatever, however they consider themselves. They feel like there's these rules of things you can't do. And the reality is, unless someone else is filling up your bank account, they don't get to make choices for you. Right.

And I think that was a hard thing for me to think about, but it actually led into the other arm of my business. Like I never even thought about it, that there's this whole arm out there that people are not tapping into, which is even after a pandemic, event planners were not hired back on, or a lot of people went independent. And there's marketing departments— like my client I'm on a site tour today with is marketing. They don't have an event planner on staff. And I found that I had people, like, people just contact me after— more and more. I've got 12 events, I've got a huge conference, I need somebody, but we don't want to hire someone. I was like, Wow, I'm like a virtual planner. And really, we, we dove into it, and that's going to be part of our new website as well, which is this area where people can come and if they don't want to source and use our platform on their own, they can come and use us. So we're building this, you know, portfolio of planners that I can tap into for, for them, maybe a side gig, but they're an independent planner. And being able to bring Erica onto a major conference, maybe on, on-site if I need her, but really tapping into, right, tapping into a pool of experienced people that may not necessarily want to work for a corporation or not have— or a corporation that doesn't need them. So we found like this hole that was needed where I was making all this money but not telling anybody I was doing it. And now I'm like, hey, we're telling everybody we're doing it because this is just another arm of what we do.

Yeah, I'm, um, so exciting.

I want to ask you, because I, I have— I followed along, um, pretty closely with what Debbie has has done with VersaTour from step one. And I know there have been some down— some downturns, not necessarily with the business, but just in experience that you've had. And I know it has taken a lot for you to say, I'm going to keep going at some of these points. Can you— can you take us maybe to one of those moments and how it is that you chose to keep moving forward?

Yeah, I think my biggest obstacle has definitely been money. I think that we grow up scared of money, that we don't tell anybody how much money we have. I've got a family, so like I have to have, you know, kids and a house and a husband that, you know, has a full-time job. And, you know, and you have to really think about that time and the money. And I was afraid of it. And I think the more and more I was afraid of money, it was holding me back. And that's why I kept thinking, I need an investor, I need someone to believe in me. But what was happening is I wasn't believing in myself.

Oh, that's—

and when you— yeah, when you don't believe in yourself, you're not going to attract the people that you need. What I need is believers in my platform that want to pay us money to be a part of our community. What I didn't need was someone who doesn't understand what I'm doing or just think it's a great idea and just want to throw money at me. And I was the person who had to start that and stop being afraid of money, um, and give up certain things. I mean, I had to let clients go. I had to let clients go that were too taxing for me. I had to go and figure out how to get my own IATA number. I was, you know, I didn't even know how to do that. I had to figure out how to talk to web developers and say what my needs were without spending a lot of money on them and really just taking it to the next level. Um, and personally, I think it also took a toll on my relationship with my husband. Um, you know, working a lot, you know, there's just like, this is my baby, this is like my third child, and you have to like, you have to water that and garner that. I have to go to events, and it was uncomfortable for him to not have me there. And I think there's a lot of things that I look at now that were like, damn, that was hard. But, you know, I represent who I'm serving. There's childcare issues, there's travel issues. I love what I do. I do not want to give up what I do, and I'm good at it. Like, I'm going to say that now, that I will never doubt myself again. But I need to know that there's something out there that's going to help me. And I feel like that's like— I represent what VersaTour is, and I think the struggles that I had very much mimic what a lot of other people are doing and going through as well.

And just seeing— okay, I just, I want to say, seeing your, um, change in, um, belief in yourself, like, I, I see it, I hear it, you know, like, you were so much more confident in who you are. And then that comes through with your business too. And that's just been a joy to watch also.

Yeah.

And I would love to know, Debbie, it's so fun to hear you talk about the role that the concept of permission has played for you in your business as you continue to pivot and figure this out. I mean, there's there's nothing harder than taking an idea that is in our head and then making it real and growing it, responding to the market, dealing with all of the challenges just in life. Like, how this contributes to, um, for good and for ill. Like, it's, it's another thing in life. So I would love to hear a little bit more.

I don't know, I don't know if you guys can hear me, but you guys, uh, Oh, you froze. You guys are frozen on my end so much.

Oh, you're frozen. Okay, hang— hold, please. No worries. There, are you back? You're sort of back here. I wonder if we do this. Debbie, there. Is this easier for you?

I can sort of hear you.

You can sort of hear me?

Oh no, I can't really hear you.

We can hear you. We can hear you, right? Yes, we can.

Yes, I'm here.

Here.

Okay, I'm here.

Yep, we can hear you.

Okay, you guys can keep singing. Let me change my Wi-Fi.

Singing? Okay, I'm not singing. Sally, you go.

Okay, so we're gonna remove Debbie from the stage for just a moment while Erica and I will, will, um, we'll reestablish here while we bring Debbie back in. It's so fun. It's part of what's fun about being live. You just never know what's gonna happen.

Just do the do, man.

Do the do. Um, so we'll save that question that I have for Debbie for when she comes back. But Erica, from your perspective, like, you are an entrepreneurial strategist for yourself. So you help people take these little ideas, these little nuggets that are in their head. It's like, can I? Oh my gosh, is this a thing? And help jumpstart those ideas. I mean, I think it's one of your gifts is to say yes and help validate it and really deepen the richness of it, the probability of it, give it legs, give it a strategy, give it an approach. So how do you know when you are strategizing with people, how do you know this is an idea that's worth the jumpstart?

I actually had a meeting with someone, I don't know, maybe about a year ago, and I told them at the meeting, like, this is not, this is not it. Um, and I could say this was not it because when I asked, why do you want to do this? There was not any, any purpose or passion behind the idea. It was, uh, it was one of those things where people are always like, owning a bar would be fun. And as someone who came from a family who owned a bar, I was like, it's a lot more work than that. And that was what that conversation sounded like, was being an entrepreneur will be fun. Um, That was like, ah, yeah, that's kind of a red flag. So, um, and I do, I get that, um, people will come in without an idea and they just want to be an entrepreneur. And I think any of us that have made it as long as we have, um, Debbie included at 4 years, right? You have to be in it. You have to believe in it because if you don't believe in it, getting through these obstacles which are real, true, hard obstacles, you have to believe in it enough to push yourself through that piece. So I think that is step one, honestly, is believing that the good or service that you're offering is something that the world needs and that you are doing it in a different and maybe likely better way than how others are that are doing the same thing. So like what Debbie said, that virtual tours exist, that's not like you know, she has not come up with the idea of virtual tours. What she has— the idea she has is a better way to hold those together and make it a singular location for planners. And listen, I, I tested one of her very— like, I've tested her stuff early in the process. It's so much easier than going to 87 different websites and all of their virtual tours are different, right? So what she's doing is putting it all together in a way that saves me time and energy. So That's better and it's needed, right?

Well, thank you. And I'm back. I'm back. Yay! I told you I had to get my little Post-it of a new Wi-Fi. So I—

No worries. It happens. It's part of the fun and the joy of live streaming. I love it. We're a-okay. Yeah, we're all good with it. So before we all froze up, what I was asking you was the role that permission has played for you in your business. I think, I mean, selfishly, we love the idea that that took hold for you in some way, but growth in business is, it's unpredictable. It can be really challenging. What has the role of permission played for you in the growth of your business?

I think for me it was the growth of myself. And I know that Erica alluded to that. She knew me. Like, I was like, I don't know if you guys have seen Inside Out 2 yet, but like, I got in that theater yesterday and watched it with my kids and I'm like, Anxiety is mom. You all see that, right? Mom is trying not to be anxiety anymore. That was me. Like, oh my God, I'm not hearing that from this person. Once I gave myself permission to be like, you're out of the office today. My Fridays now, I went, I literally listened to every one of your speakers. I walked away with, I need a day for everything. So like there's Marketing Monday, there is CEO Tuesday. We've got client meetings. But Friday is my personal growth day. And that could be I'm getting a massage today because that's what I need, or I'm reading a new book. But sometimes I have to take meetings and that's okay. And really being able to give my permission and grace to take that time for me to grow, because if I didn't, I'd be a ball of anxiety, which would go into fear, which would go into anger. Oh my gosh, the anger that I had with, like, talking to a client sometimes, like, why aren't you listening? Well, I wasn't making myself clear. And I think that the role of permission— and I don't know if I told you guys this story, but the morning after I woke up in Knoxville after the Permission Slip conference, I got on my phone and just started typing on my phone. And it was, oh my gosh, it's the 12 Days of I. It's Christmas time. I'm going to do this 12 Days thing. I had scripts, everything written before I even left Knoxville on what I was doing. I wrote recorded like 3-minute things that were released on YouTube over like the 12 Days of Christmas, which went into a workbook and an ebook, and then my own podcast that I do on a monthly basis that relates all back to it. Now, did I need to do that for my business?

No.

Did I need to do that for me spiritually to get me to the next place for my business and also help others and understand my journey? Absolutely. Does anybody listen?

I don't know.

I don't care. I do it for me, you know. And I think that at the end of the day, that, that word permission was just so prevalent in understanding that you give yourself permission. Nobody else gives you permission to do anything in your life. You can ask for opinions, you can ask for suggestions, you can ask for help, but it's up to you to give yourself permission to take that next step. And until I really realized that, I didn't have to ask my business partners to do something. No, it's my company, I'm gonna do it, you know. So I think that that word permission is just like, it's huge. And I love that it's like really jump-started— like what you guys did was definitely jump-start something within me, um, to take my business to the next level.

Oh, well, I've been near tears all morning, so thanks for pushing me over here.

I just love it. We always know it's a moment when Erica's like, goosebumps, goosebumps. Yeah, it is. It's really powerful. A, you know, I love the idea took hold for you, but I just want to acknowledge what's so powerful about what you're talking about, Debbie, is the way that you took hold of that idea was like it embedded itself and you were like I'm sorry, I just pounded on my table. My, my whole camera shook. Was like, yes, I can, I'm going to. And I don't know exactly where this is going, but this is fueling you and, and giving yourself space, the creative juice to do that, the space to do that. Like, otherwise we are just getting tasks done, wrapping ourselves up in anxiety. It's like, what about this other part of ourselves, this, the who we are as humans, and giving ourselves permission to allow that to thrive will absolutely feed into the rest of your business. So kudos to you for not just like thinking about the idea and being unappreciating it, but really saying, what could this mean? What does this mean for me? As a business owner is just really inspiring and exciting. So congrats to you.

Well, I think it's— what's important about it is that we're all humans. Like, I might be building a technology platform, but I don't want it to be so out of touch because hospitality, it's about the humans. It's about being— but how do we make technology work for us? How do we make a tool work for us? How do I as a person You know, what's my relationship with technology? What's my relationship with other people? And really, like, all of it is, you know, they're all brains in a sense, and we all have to, like, foster what our brain energy is. And sometimes we need to shut down. And I had to learn that it's time to shut that one down. Like, you're going to go on vacation with your family and you're like, I still have my braids in my hair. I had to be like, no, I can't take 5 site visits. We'll take 1. But you're gonna make it worth it for me because I have my family with me. So if you want me to come see your property, then you do something for us. And of course they did. We got a cabana for the day and dinner and transportation. But I have to really think about the people who are involved in my life who are always there. And I think that's really important is you think about permission. Yeah, it's the permission to give yourself that, that time and grace. But sometimes I have to give me permission to say No, that's a hard one. No. So there's a lot that goes into what permission does for people. You can say yes, yes, and, or you just have a no, and that's okay.

Amazing. Amazing.

Debbie dropping it today.

I know. Boom. Nice. Okay, well, Debbie, we end our podcast always with the same question, which is, what is the next permission slip that you are going to write for yourself? What is the next little bit of permission you need?

I need the permission to accept my decisions and see them through.

Hmm, that's a good one.

Yeah, I think I tend to— well, I think that sometimes we tend to doubt, like, I'm making this decision, and I think that making that decision to invest my own money into this new rebuild has really put a hard, like, what did I just do? This is my family's money. This is the money that I was making. What am I doing? What if it doesn't work out? But what if it does? And truly changing that script on what if it does, and stop thinking about, like, see it through. And if it doesn't, okay, what's— what do we change? What makes it better? And really giving my permission to make the decision instead of not making it, and make the decision and see it through.

Awesome.

So good. What a powerful reminder that you can choose your thoughts on that. You don't know what's gonna happen, and, uh, giving yourself the permission to make a bold choice and see it all the way through in, in belief.

Yeah.

All right, really cool.

I'm writing down, I'm writing down post-it notes of things that you said.

Maybe in a few years I'll be on your stage speaking at your permission slip. So maybe out in the—

out in the— um, Debbie was one of our earliest, uh, ticket purchasers. She's a smarty pants.

She is. Way to go, way to be a smarty pants, Debbie Garcia. Trying to bring all of it.

Yeah, I love it. Bring ev— yes.

No, no joke, Erica, we moved the date of the gala for MPI because I was like, uh-uh, I'm going to Permission Slip.

Now I got tears and more goosebumps.

Dang.

Yeah, yeah, that was a double whammy. Tear and goosebump moment.

Yeah, that was good.

That is, that is amazing. We're grateful for your enthusiasm for this experience. And just a reminder for everybody that, uh, early bird tickets are on sale right now. And in, in less than a month, in about 20 days, they go up by $150. So now is the time. So now is the time, Debbie, if you're like, friends, let's go, are you coming? It's a great time to bug your people and grab those tickets before they run out. We have a limited number of early bird tickets, so go be a professional nudger like me and just go nudge Everybody, you know, uh, the list of people I'm nudging is quite long right now. So it's part of the fun.

Awesome. Thank you, Debbie. This is so fun to— it's just so fun to do life in a different way with you now, right? Like, we did it, we did it under that umbrella for a while, and now to be in this entrepreneurial space, um, with you, it's just awesome.

So, well, thank you. Thank you.

We are grateful for you, Debbie, and we will see you on November 15th. And Eric will probably see you before that, but I will see you November 15th in Knoxville. All right, this time it's time for us to dance. We just do a closing dance. Ready? Oh, you know what, I gotta turn the music up. I got this. Here we go. Alright everybody, have an awesome rest of your day! See you soon!