[MVP] Dana Corey: From Frustration to Freedom

Dana Corey

Pregame MVP Dana Corey gives business owners the rocket fuel to reach those crazy, can’t-even-bring-myself-to-think-them, never-gonna-happen goals. Then, she coaches clients to make those goals become the new normal, so they are off tackling their next impossible goals.

Dana’s clients are entrepreneurs who have owned their businesses for long enough that they’ve successfully created a job for themselves and they’re making money, but they feel trapped in day-to-day operations and fear that the freedom to live life the way they had dreamed is as far off as ever.

She helps seasoned business owners move from being stuck in the never-ending cycle of doing, doing, doing to leadership through strategies, systems and service.


Why do you work exclusively with entrepreneurs and business owners?
Truthfully, there’s nothing sexier than the thrill of a business owner figuring out how to structure their framework in a way that allows them to make more money and work less! I get to be a part of bring entrepreneurs back in touch with their passion, reconnected to those that matter most to them, while walking beside them as we tweak and revise their systems to give them the freedom that has eluded them thus far.

Plus, I love all the things about business and how to make it work best. With over 30 years of business ownership and experience myself, I feel I truly understand the mindset and the challenges of not only taking a vision and making it real, but the mindset of being the visionary and getting entangled in the challenges and isolation of running it once it’s been built.

What are their most common challenges?
Number 1 is working too much! They’re exhausted, frustrated, on the way to burn-out because their chained to the daily operations. They are stuck picking the weeds when what they really need is a bird’s eye view of the forest. There are all sorts of symptoms: Unraveling life partnerships, health issues, boredom, capacity overload, not enough revenue, clocking 60-80 hours/week, etc. These look like THE problem, but they’re actually the symptom of not knowing how to transform from worker bee to CEO.

What are the major predictors of success / Is there a key characteristic you find essential for success?
Commitment to do the work it’s going to take to make the shift happen. The turnaround isn’t a quick fix. It takes time to shift each system, create new processes, re-frame mindset and embody leadership. If you can’t focus, if you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, if you’re unwilling to try new ways of doing things, you’re going to be an unsuccessful entrepreneur. Resilience, grit, determination, and a willingness to fight through the mental monkey brain have to be a part of who you are.

You talk a lot about mentality, especially around money. How do you want your clients to relate to money?
We have a relationship with money in the same way we have a relationship with people, and my goal is for my clients to relate to money as a partner that’s on their side. To be a great steward and allow money to flow. It’s become cliche to talk about money as energy, except it really is. It’s a symbol that we trade in. As a symbol it represents love, time, worth, and value. It mirrors our self-confidence and our ability to care for ourselves and those that matter to us. My goal is to nurture that relationship.

Why is it important for us to take a break from our businesses?
If we are working all the time, our brains are consumed with the tasks on our to-do lists getting done. Without a break, that’s all our brain will do. When we step away, think about something else, behind the conscious scene, our brains can drift, be creative, chew on a challenge from different vantage points and all of a sudden we can see possibilities and opportunities that we were blind to previously. At the very least, an entrepreneur should be taking a full 24 hours off a week, no email, no work. By the time I’m done with my clients, they are taking full weekends off and regular vacations throughout the year.

How has your love for travel informed your business advising?
Travel is part of who I am in the world, bot just my business. I believe travel is the answer to so many issues we have as humans. For me in particular, traveling since I was a baby and living in over 25 homes around the world, I can connect with anyone, anywhere in just a few minutes. Connection and relationship are some of the core building blocks of business, so instant connectivity has served me well. It also gives me tolerance, patience, an ability to see things from multiple points of view, and knowledge that communication is about intent more than about language. This allows me to see things from my clients’ points of view, from their customers’ perspectives as well as imbues me with compassion and love for their challenges and areas of difficulty. Honestly, traveling makes me a much better coach!

How do you define success?
Freedom! Not just financial and time freedom, but the freedom to design my life to fit my values, my goals, my desires. This is my goal for my clients. To design and then build a business that gives them the freedom to have a life that fully expresses who they are and what they are a stand for.


Learn more about Dana on her Pregame MVP Profile and her website