In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Diana House, founder of tinydevotions.com and upcoming churchjewelry.com, who shares her entrepreneurial journey and philosophy. Diana recounts how she launched her first business despite family pressure to become a lawyer, emphasizing the importance of believing in oneself. She outlines her core e‑commerce tactic: relentless testing of every element in a funnel. Her broader business advice urges cautious personalities to take strategic, calculated risks and to embrace collaboration over a solo‑made mindset. Diana attributes her sense of happiness to a strong Christian faith, alignment with personal values, and a balanced life that includes relationships, health, travel, and contribution. She describes a pivotal self‑discovery period after moving to Australia for law school and suffering a knee injury, which led her to test personal passions and identity. The book "Traction" by Gino Wickman is highlighted as a key resource for building business systems and planning effectively. She also shares a favorite Robin Sharma quote about living each day as if it could be the last, encouraging urgency. Finally, she directs listeners to her central online hub, dianahouse.com.
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All right everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast podcast. This is your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have a very special guest, Diana House. She's an e-commerce and real estate entrepreneur, currently the founder of tinydevotions.com and launching churchjewelry.com. So welcome to the podcast, Diana.
Tyler, it's so nice to chat with you, and thanks for having me on.
Awesome, we'll dive right in. So the first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Love this question. I've been chatting about this a lot online because I'm in a coaching launch right now for our Bullet Devotion Program. And I think the best story is actually when I started my first business 8 years ago. I remember going to family dinners and I would literally be bawling at the table because my whole entire family was trying to convince me to be a lawyer and not be an entrepreneur. And they just didn't believe that I was gonna be successful in my business venture. And I remember a few years later, about maybe 3 years ago, my little brother came up to me and was like, "How could you listen to our parents ever when they were wrong and you did this and you believed in yourself and you started this business?" So, you know, I had to remind him that definitely listen to your parents about some things, but there are certain moments in your life where you can't listen to what anyone else says and you just need to believe in yourself and just go for your vision.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
My expertise or industry?
I know you got a few. Yeah, I mean, tactical or Yeah, that could work. So like, you know, e-commerce, real estate. So if you can pick one, but I feel with the audience that we have, I think e-commerce or real estate would be the top rather than the jewelry.
Okay. So I mean, like tactical with e-commerce. Yeah. So basic, but like test everything. People always tell me like, so what do you think? And I'm like, it has nothing to do with what I think. You just test and test and test and test and test everything. And I think you never know until you test things.
And I think that actually goes along with, you know, a lot of just online marketing in general. Like, everybody thinks there's like this perfect funnel that works for everyone, but no, there's a lot of testing that goes in it.
So it's the funnel that's been tested all the way through. That's the perfect funnel, right?
So the next question then is, what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily like industry specific. Okay.
So I'm very cautious. So mine is skewed from the place of this would be for very cautious people. So for those people, I would say like, take more risks. And I think, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs that might fit in the high cautious compliance, if you're following the DISC profile, profile, they maybe play it too safe and don't kind of take big risks. And in order to win the game, you have to be in the game. And the more I'm in entrepreneurship— I'm starting, I think, my 9th year as an entrepreneur— I just want to be in the game more and more. And that requires taking very strategic, calculated risks all the time.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Oh, I mean, it would definitely be to take more risks. I think the other piece that I would give myself would be to not be scared to partner and collaborate. So I think when I first started out, I was all about like being self-made rather than, as my friend Jason Gagnard says, kind of community-made. And as I get older, I'm all about like, how can 1 1 10? And like, how can you work with people that complement your skillset to just like massively accelerate results?
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
I mean, I'm Christian. And so like one of my key philosophies is really having a very strong faith. So for people who have a spiritual kind of connection in their lives, I think, you know, being rooted in that is really important. Beyond that, I think, you know, being aligned with who you are and your values and what you're doing in the world, and just having a very balanced life in the sense that like work isn't everything. Obviously, like money is important, but also having, you know, great relationships, health, fun, travel, contribution, just having all of those buckets. Be balanced.
And I want to just dive in here a little bit deeper. So, and I just like to ask people this. So like when you say like find who you are, like in your experience and in your own life, like what steps or like actions did you take to kind of like uncover or discover, however you prefer, like who you are and like what makes you happy?
I think this really comes down to the marketing question, which is all about testing.
Yeah.
And I think I did that on myself. And for me, one of the key decisions in that was actually moving to the other side of the world. After undergrad, I moved to Australia for law school and no one knew me. I had no story. I had virtually no connections. And then I got an injury. I got a knee injury that really kind of questioned my identity. So that was very much the foundation of going on a massive exploration around faith, around my passions, around creativity. And it was through that, through kind of that breakdown to breakthrough, that I just started testing things and trying things and seeing what I liked and seeing who I authentically am. And it's a never-ending journey. I'm still doing that. I think I will always be doing that.
Yes. And I love your answer because I feel like a lot of people when they're first starting out, they're always trying to find that perfect thing, but it's just never really there. And how you find who you are and what brings you happiness is by, in my experience as well, is by testing. So, completely aligned with your answer there. The next question I have for you is, what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
So, my answer is different than it would be a year ago today. I would say Traction, and that's because that's really my area of opportunity. And so, what I've really learned through Traction is How to Create a Business System and specifically How to Plan Like a Boss.
And who is Traction by?
I think it's Gino Wickman.
Okay.
It'll be really embarrassing if I'm wrong about that. No, it's fine.
I just want to be able to link it in the description.
Now I'm Googling that to make sure that I'm not wrong. I'm right!
Yes, bingo! And the next question I have for you is, What's your favorite quote and why?
Okay, I don't know the direct quote, but it was a statement that Robin Sharma made, and it had to do with living your life with the very clear awareness that you're dying every day. And so if you live your life knowing that like, this is fleeting, I'm not gonna be here for very long, you can really break through a lot of the fear elements And just like, do the things that you want to do like today, because tomorrow might not be here.
Thank you very much for coming on, Diana. And the last question I have, and we kind of mentioned it in the beginning, but if you were to pick like one centralized place, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Sure, one centralized place at dianahouse.com.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on.
Thanks, Tyler. You rock.
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