Today you'll dive into the inspiring journey of Danita Cummins, a former military professional turned business strategist and coach. After dedicating 27 years to complex intelligence work, Danita found her calling as the CEO of Cummins Consulting Group, and the board chair of non profit, she shares her experiences, insights, and the transformative power of faith in her life.

From her early encounter with faith on a church bus at the age of six to the pivotal moment that led her to reevaluate her life choices, Danita shares her unapologetic commitment to living for the Kingdom of God, and her journey from the nonprofit sector to establishing a coaching and consulting business to help leaders and organizations navigate challenges, providing coaching and strategic guidance

“What would my life be like without my faith? It would be nothing. It would be a shell."

"I just try to remind myself that, like even the disciples, didn't always believe when they saw him. So it's okay if I fall down, you know?"

In this episode: 

• Faith and your relationship with Christ as a non-linear path
• The pursuit of your calling and the entrepreneurial journey
• The current state of the Coaching Industry
• the importance of adaptability and continuous learning
• Balancing Work and Self-Care

Verses: 

Jeremiah 31:3

Ephesians 3:13-17

Resources: 

Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor

Tune in to this episode, Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review and share it with someone who might need inspiration on their own journey of faith and business.

What would my life be like without my faith? It would be nothing. It'd be a shell. And on the days when I chase idols like ambition or jobs or purpose or whatever. I come back to the reality of There's nothing without the Lord. But I do pray a lot that the world will see him in all my broken pieces. I pray that a lot.

Do you want God's plan for your life? Do you want to discover your calling? Do you want to build a business? There's a line with God's will. Hey, girl. Hey. I'm Jeanette, business and faith coach. After a decade in the military, the Air Force said you later. And I had to find my true calling.

Want to know how God directed my life? From a cybersecurity engineer to a faith and business mentor? In this podcast, I'll teach you how to start a business, how to know your business is God's calling. Monetization techniques how to trust the Holy Spirit and how to set boundaries to listen to his Word alone. Ready to become unapologetically unstoppable.

Hey, girl. Hey. Welcome to the Unapologetically Unstoppable podcast. And today we've got Danita Cummings with me, and I am so grateful to have her. And I will tell you a little bit about her. After spending 27 years designing and deploying complex nuclear C3 intelligence, personal recovery and Information Technology solutions in the defense and allied agencies, Danita Cummings developed a passion for helping organizations grow.

She served in various roles across the United States Air Force, Army, DISA and US Special Operations Command, as well as in industry and private organizations. She's attended courses at UNC-Chapel Hill Army Medical Staff College and currently pursuing her master's degree in organizational design and leadership at Merritt University. As a business strategist and coach, she helps teams confidently focus on values and results and strives to create an environment where each person lives to their greatest potential.

Welcome. Welcome. Thank you so much. Then that was a mouthful. I know it's weird to hear it on the other side. I was like, Oh, that was very kind. Thank you so much. How are you? Good. I'm so excited to have you here because I'm obsessed with women in the military just like me. Like who are doing things for the kingdom of God.

I think it's like full circle of being like, All right, I will work for somebody bigger than myself. And then being like, Oh, no, I work for the entire biggest purpose I could possibly have. And I just love that I'm obsessed. Oh, thank you so much. I know that's a I don't know if the audience knows, but that's how we met.

You were a guest on my podcast, which I was saying before we started. It's kind of weird to be on the other side of the screen because I normally ask the questions. But no, I think that's so good. And I did love your story when you shared it with me, when you came on the show. It just like that, that realization, I guess, for me that you made where you were like, okay, I'm going to be all in for the Kingdom and for God now.

And yet so I always remember that too. It's just such a great Yeah, thanks. So thanks for having me today. I'm super excited to join you. So after you joined the military and you got out, how did you come to find Jesus? Was it before you joined the military? Was it after What is your Jesus journey? What's my Jesus journey?

That's so good. You should have a little T-shirt. We should work on that little t shirt says, Here's my Jesus journey. No, I'm sorry. I digress. So I was grew up in Oklahoma, and so I went to church when I was little. Actually. We lived in a trailer park, a small trailer park in a rural town outside Oklahoma City.

And I remember the day I was probably like six years old when the community church bus comes around the neighborhoods, invites people to church. Right? So I remember strangers knocked on our door and invited us to go to church. And I really, really, really wanted to go, I guess. And it was the eighties. So life was a lot different than in my parents let me go with strangers and get on the church bus and go across town to this strange church that we'd never gone to before.

I know your mom is like what I know. So I got a six year old. I would never. I know. And so I so my first encounter was just, you know, was just going, you know, going to church. And and I remember the first week they were supposed to come get us, and they did. And I remember sitting on the couch crying because they forgot me.

And then and then the next week they came and I started going to church. Me and my little brother and I grew up in a really hard time. My parents, there was a lot of abuse and a lot of drugs and different things. And so so my little brother and I would go to church and sometimes we'd go to church with my grandma.

So I was saved on that little white church bus. And I was like eight, eight or nine years old. I gave my heart to the Lord and with a stranger, you know, I wish I could remember his face or his name, but I don't remember who they were. And they gave me a little white Bible and wrote the date on it.

You know, that's the only reason why I remember the day. And then I grew up and it was really hard. Life was really hard, you know, again, lots of abuse and lots of moving and lots of all the things that you go through in your teens and join the military, you know, So like the obligatory go to chapel.

All right. So we'll go to chapel. Yes. Find Jesus again. So found Jesus again in chapel, then joined, you know, went active duty, went to my first second duty station, got married, got divorced, and then got pregnant with my second daughter unexpectedly. And so was in the process of deciding if I was going to have an abortion or if I was going to keep her and decided to have an abortion.

And that was really the moment where God became real. So I was invited to come see The Passion of the Christ with my boss, who was a pastor, but also worked for the Air Force as a Department of Air Force civilian as a guest. And I went with a group of friends and we went to see the movie and excuse me, that was the first time where I really realized that that God was real, like that Jesus was real.

And so I remember coming home and calling my boyfriend at the time that night and said, Did you know that Jesus died for us? He died for us? And he said, Yeah, I do, I know. And I said, Then I have to have this baby because he died for us and you can be with me or not be with me, but I'm having this baby, you know?

And at the time I was active duty as a E-5. I had deployed after 911. I was a you know, Yeah, the staff sergeant I was excuse me, very sorry, very successful in my career. And I was going to be in the Air Force forever, you know, like you and I talked about before, I was going to be the first female G.M. were.

Yes. Yeah, Yeah, that's right. And God had a different plane. So after a few months of trying to, you know, work through that, I ended up getting out of the Air Force separating. And so it's just been a a long journey. You know, I had a lady asked me one time, she said, well, when did you first give your heart to the Lord?

And I said, When I was a little girl, when I was nine years old, on a little white church bus. You know, I that was that was true. You know, I, I prayed a thousand nights that God would, you know. Now I lay me down to sleep. You know, I prayed the Lord my soul to keep. And those were true.

Those were true prayers. And then it just took me a while to come back to him. So, yeah, that's made my Jesus journey story. I it makes me emotional just thinking about, like, all the similarities that we share too. I feel like there's something that that brings women to the military that is the trauma. It is the stuff like, I don't know about your journey, but like, I was like, searching for my my earthly father to be there.

How I wanted him to be and how I wanted to show up. And so I was like, clinging to Jesus. And like you, I was saved. Young But then I did not walk with Jesus. After that. It was it was hard. And like you, I came I would, you know, we went to chapel. You do the things, you cry and you buy your eyes out and you feel Jesus.

And then you go to your first duty station. You get deployed I two and to Iraq. And it's just you have to become your own guide almost in those situations. Yeah, I think for me too, what I've realized is because I believe that God creates all of us, like the gift of being a warrior, the calling to be a warrior, the calling to stand for justice is a gift.

It's a calling. And I think just like a teacher or a preacher or anyone, there's a calling on your life to stand for those who can't stand for themselves. And I think that is a deeper calling. And we call ourselves warriors, you know. But I see that in any industry, you know, but it's understanding that calling like you said, and then putting it in the proper place in that is a hard it's it's hard to figure that out sometimes because then you think, well, I was supposed to be a warrior, right?

Maybe. But maybe God also called you to be a protector. Maybe God also built you to stand in the gap right to a set. Wrong things. Right, Right. The gifts of a parcel ship like we see in the scriptures to set the wrong things. Right. And for me, that's what I've learned through all these years. I've learned that that's who God made me to be.

He made me the person to set run things right. That's why I like organizational design. That's why I like building companies, an organization and helping CEOs and founders like we want to set the wrong things, right? But it's taken me a long time to see that that that was, you know, by God's design or, you know, I have never heard that before.

And I agree, like, I'm obsessed with like puzzles and creating things, systems. Like that's my dream is systems to create things the way things are, Right? Yeah. I've never thought of it like that. Yeah. I did a study with a lady a few years ago. She started a ministry, just a great mentor that I had years ago, and she gave me a spiritual give test, which I know you have, because I think it took years before I came on.

Right. The spiritual give test that you have. But she did a whole study with me about spiritual gifts, and that was where I started to see the gift of a parcel ship. And it's not maybe what we think it is. And then trying to break that down into your strengths and you know, and that and it was really interesting.

It was really interesting for me to see and learn how that worked. So that's what I took from it at least. So whenever I see things, when I see things that are wrong, you know, it can be frustrating because you could be very negative. You can right up a very negative perspective very quickly. And I try to remember that like, okay, if God is allowing me to see, I think that's upside down.

The purpose in that is to try to set it right. And how do I do that with Grace? You know, how do I help them be better, you know, so that you're not, you know, critical or whatever those things are. But what made you so, like, unapologetic about your faith in a way that, like, transcends your business? Also, Like, sometimes I think that we can be faithful behind closed doors, but to become outward with it is a whole other thing, especially military words like separation of church and state and all the things.

And how did that Was that one moment that empowered you to be able to be like, I'm going to go all in? I think it was a series of little moments. It wasn't, you know what I mean? I think it's like anything else. It's like after I after I had made that decision to get out the military and like, we're going to have this baby, that was a whole that that domino kicked off a stream of of other things, you know, that that lasted, you know, probably my whole life.

Now she's 19. But there came a point where I really I remember being at church in Oklahoma. We were first season when I got out of the military with some really great friends and a really great small group. And we went to a youth revival or something on the way. On a Wednesday night, I took my youngest, my oldest daughter and some friends, and I just remember being drawn to like go to the stage and my friends came in like the husband and wife, and they both stood behind me.

They prayed over me. I remember. And at the time, you know, when I was done, my friend, she thought that I had like given my life to the Lord or whatever. And I thought, no, I did that a long time ago, you know, I did. But it was that moment where I just rededicated myself to commit to the work of the Lord, like to commit to trust him, to commit to give.

And after I decided to have my daughter when I was still pregnant, but when I was still in the military, when I was transitioning at a neighbor who was Episcopalian. And so she went to a small Episcopal church in Maryland, and I would go with her Sundays. And I remember I just sat on those little wooden, you know, because the Episcopal and, you know, they'd meal and they spent a lot of time kneeling.

And I just remember I was on that little wooden bench on my knees, and I just poured out everything I had because I had nothing left. And I think that's just been my journey. Like, I just got to this place now. And I think about it now, too, because it's been a long time. But I think what would my life be like without my faith?

It would be nothing. It would be a shell. Yes. And on the days when I chase ideals like ambition or jobs or purpose or whatever ministry, like I you know what I mean? We can fill our idle box with all these things. On the days when I catch myself doing that, I come back to the reality of, like this, there's nothing without the Lord.

And so I think that surrender is just really what started for me. And it was very raw and verbal, wasn't in front of anybody, you know what I mean? Like that that whole message of like God prepares us in the darkness. You know, it's it's been a 20 year journey of just being with Jesus on the bathroom floor and so now it just comes out of me.

I don't really know how or why, you know, it's just it's just what we do. But I do pray a lot that the Lord will that the world will see him and all my broken pieces. I pray that a lot. And so I just try to, you know, let them see him. I read something or maybe it was I heard something that was like, God will never make you perfect.

And God needs your imperfection to show other people how he feels. Because, yeah, that's the only way people can relate to you is through those broken pieces. And knowing that I didn't do this myself, I did not feel myself. I didn't. I have nothing to do with this. This was all God, this is all Jesus. This is all him in me.

Just like you said, surrendering over and over and over daily. Yeah, daily, over and over. And over. And I don't think you ever get there. Like, I've been thinking about this concept a lot because, like, you and I talked about, I'm writing a book about purpose, about the Christian pursuit of purpose, and how we what purpose it seems like in culture today, you know, as an idol, like right, even in the church, we're hyper focused on what's your purpose, what's your purpose, what your purpose.

And so the question is, why are we asking that question? You know, we're one. So I've spent this time studying it. But the other part is sometimes I think we just arrived. We're going to get there. Like, where's there you know, you get saved and then you get on the Grace bus and then you just drive around on the Grace bus for the rest of your life, hoping that nothing bad happens to you.

That's not how the world works. It's not how God works. It's not how the scriptures teach us. Yeah. And the other thing that I just realized the other day, I share this, my pastor and his wife recently is I got to the place where I, I guess when I was reading and God reminded me that even the disciples when they saw Jesus after he came back, great.

He died, Cross resurrected, came back even after the disciples who walked with him, who ate with him, who slept with him, who loved him, who prayed over him. They who knew him even said, Who are you? Let me servants. Yeah, they they loved him. They knew him. They. They knew what he smelled like. They knew what color his eyes were.

They knew the sound of his voice. And they still said, I don't know. Is that really you? So for me to have doubts and days where I struggle, like of course I would have doubts and days where I struggle right? So that doesn't mean I don't love him. Now, does it mean that my faith is not big enough?

That just means that I'm human, you know? Yes. And yeah. And so I've been reminded of that recently on days where I struggle with faith because we all struggle with, you know, I have good days and bad days where we're like, what is the point? Lord? What are we doing today? Why is this bad thing happening? You know what I mean?

Why is this person that I love? Why did you do that? So I try to remind myself that, like even the disciples, you know, didn't always believe when they saw him. So it's okay if I fall down, you know? Yeah. He's not expecting perfection. He's expecting obedience. And yeah, the trying to in your heart posture. Yeah, yeah. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, both there are scriptures that say I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

And I remind I remember that a lot when it's not about what you've given up, you really doesn't care. He cares about mercy, not sacrifice, you know. So I remind myself of that. On some days I'm like, Oh, okay. Right. It's not about what we give, you know, it's about who he is. So as you take a quiz and it was a quiz that I put together based on the Roman spiritual gifts the spectrograph serve on the Romans.

Yeah. And do you remember what gift you got? It said teaching. Yes. How do you feel about that? Really surprised me. Yeah, you know, kind of. I think it's the first time I've ever had a spiritual give test where it said teaching, which I was super excited about, actually. I'm like, What do you think? When I when I saw your essay teaching yours was the first one that I was like, interesting.

Not because most people whose gifts come up, I'm like, Oh yeah, that's definitely them. Yep, that's definitely them. So if you read, I was like, Interesting, because I feel like you're more of like exhorting. That's what I would it was kind of expecting from yours. Yeah, well, that's crazy. And do you think, I mean, I'm sure they change like any other personality test where over time the role that you're in and the season that you're in or whatever.

But I could see teaching because I do that in my coaching business rate. So I'm always even today before we got on the call, I had a I had a call with my, you know, my one of my big my primary client that I work with a lot. And he was like, Hey, can can you tell me what do you think about this?

And I was like, Well, we should I think you guys are doing this a little backwards. I think if we move this over here, put this over here, it might work better, you know, And and then there is a lot of empowerment that comes with teaching, right? Like trying to help people see their gifts and their strengths and then bring that out in someone so that they can go be the person, you know.

And so I am in an active season of doing that right now. So I can see how that would maybe make sense. So let's talk about your business. Why did you originally start your consulting business in the five? How did you start off? I went through, yeah, the nonprofit. Yeah. Yeah. So I started the nonprofit first, which is a pregnancy resource center.

We were just a small ministry, you know, And I said, Hey, I need this. I need a $50,000 budget. I need a new building, I need a director. Like this is a what I think is the right thing to do. And he said, well, we can't we can't do that. You know, that's a lot for us. He said, You have to be a nonprofit.

I said, Okay, no idea what that was. So he printed out the IRS form off the website. That night was like 8:00 at night in his office, and he said, Here, go be a nonprofit. And I was like, Oh, it's a government form. I know this. I work for the government. It was not it was a two year journey and it's been six years now.

So for six years we've been a five, a 23. And so that's just really one. It just started out of necessity again because in order for us to go to the next level, these were the things we're going to have to do. And it's been huge. I mean, it's been hugely successful. I say like I was we were saying before, we just hired our first two new employees, our first employees just onboarded this week.

We've got, you know, a six figure revenue, you know, our annual budget will close out at six figures this year, which is insane to me. It doesn't even make sense. Like we started doing ultrasounds last fall in our centers. So we've probably done over 50 ultrasounds this year. We had so many families in our parenting program and all these things.

So yeah, so God is good. But yeah, that just really started one from necessity and then to back to Mercy, you know, like that's my story. So I just don't want her to walk alone. Like, I want her to know that somebody is with her and that we love her, you know, and be there to provide a safe space where she can work through all her stuff and have someone that she can talk to, you know, that's going to help her figure out all these things.

So that's that's how the nonprofit started. And then the business started as I got laid off during COVID, like a lot of other people did, I wish I had retired from the government service. I worked in industry after I got out of the Air Force for about ten years. Then I went into the government service for a while.

I was a guest for the Army, so I work there. I just got frustrated, really, you know, and the government service promotions are based off of so many other factors that you can't control. And candidly year just tired. It was a toxic kind of space and I was just tired. So I went into industry and was with this company for about ten months and then they did a reorg like most companies did during COVID.

Right? And I was the new girl on the block. You know, I've been there the least amount of time, candidly. And I see that, like as organizational leaders, that if you need to reorganize, reorganize, you need to do that. Like, do that. Right. I mean, you're responsible for the resources, so do what's right for your organization. So then I had a choice.

I could try to go back to the government, which I didn't want to do. I could go into industry, but candidly, I didn't have a company that I really wanted to work with that I saw their values or their processes that I'd worked. Beside that I was like, This company is where I want to hang my hat, you know?

And I had been feeling this call to like, do coaching. And I had been working in the nonprofit space for a long time. And so I was trying to make sense of that. And I'd been writing, you know, to on a blog, and I was just trying to figure out how to fit it together. So I decided, well, start a coaching business.

And then a really good friend of mine who's a mentor and a small business owner, he said, Hey, why don't you start a consulting business and do coaching as part of that? Because you've got all of this experience and you you know, you have all of these relationships, you've done all these things. And so that's kind of where it started.

You know, it was just me and a whiteboard and my friend at his house with coffee and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing with my life, you know? And he's like, What's okay? We'll figure it out. Yeah. So it's been two years now since I've had my consulting business. And yeah, we're still learning, you know, like you and I talked about, everyday is an adventure, you know?

It's good. I love it. I don't think unless God calls me to which I would, you know, if you did, I would probably kick my feet, but I would, you know, I would surrender after a long talk with him about if I went back and worked in an office, you know, or went back to, you know, working for a company or industry or something.

But yeah, I hope to stay in this place for a long time. I'm so right now I'm seeing a lot of people going back to their nine to fives and it's really it's a lot of coaches that I know. They're like, yeah, I'm going to go. Or they're like doing both right now. They're going getting a 9 to 5 and still doing the coaching thing, but going back to 9 to 5, I just feel so anti.

I'm like, I, I just can't do that. I just go, Yeah, yeah. I feel like I've learned so much being outside of an office, so much about myself, so much about who I love to serve, so much about that part of it that I'm like, I'm going to be so restricted. Maybe it's because all the rules of the military, I'm just like, I'm like, I'm not going back to that way.

Yeah, yeah, I've been in. But still, I mean, a box as big as anybody. Do you think that's because of the recession and the industry to do you think money is a big factor? It's pushing that I can do at linebacker. They're not making as much money. It's harder to make money these days because during like the pandemic, everybody was on the Internet.

It was so easy because everybody had extra money, also because the government was giving them extra money. So they had all this disposable income where now they don't have as much. And it's harder to show your value when people are like, Yeah, but I still got to like do the sports with the kids or like, I don't want cut their stuff.

I'd rather cut my stuff. Or if it's between like putting food on a table and doing something for your kids or for themselves, you know what I mean? It's just their their priorities are shifted. Do you see It's a specific type of coaching, like life coaching versus business coaching versus financial coaching. Do you see that there's like a trend lines everywhere?

Because I would think organizational coaches like strategy, business, that kind of stuff. I think there's always a need for that, right? Yeah, it depends on your niche and your community, your niche and your network. But I can see there's always opportunities for organizations to to grow and change. And I could see during the pandemic just with my own experiences, like, you know, that was a hard time for a lot of people as individuals, like, you know, the Great Reset and all these things we look at like people asking really hard questions like, What am I going to do with my life?

Like, what's the point? Yeah, a lot of people being laid off so I could see how career coaching or life coaching or those kinds of things may have increased during that time because it was a tumultuous time for a lot of people. A lot of people moved, a lot of people change jobs. A lot of people said, I'm not I don't want to do this anymore with my life.

And then, you know, now the I see the fear, you know, is over. Kind of like we're we're in a different we're in a different season. So that's why I was wondering, just based on what you do, because you you talk to a lot more coaches every day than I do. So, yeah, I don't like people in all sorts of different industries.

I think the most I would say would be the ones that are health coaches. I've seen a lot of health coaches I know and dieticians go back to work well and operations people that are doing H.R. specifically like, okay, they're more like hiring. Yeah, those people. Yeah. I don't know why I was like, I was You reach out to me to find a VA and I was like, talking all my friends in the industry that do H.R. and they're like, Yeah, all my all my pools are drying up.

And I was like, What is happening? Well, hmm. Yeah, well, maybe that's kind of a there's a there will be a gap there. Yes, there will be demand. Yeah. So for the people out there who are listening, who are like, I wanted to be a VA coach too, but I don't know, you know, a VA or whatever it may be.

Just keep Yeah, keep going. I think that's hard too, because, you know, we talk a lot about I had a coaching call yesterday with a small nonprofit who's trying to do strategic planning. And so they were calling to say, Hey, how does this work? You know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think the other thing, too, is we get into this mindset where we're like, Oh, it didn't work.

So then that means it must not be right to do this, you know, And it's going to be hard some days. And all the organizations that I see that have been successful through COVID or chaos or change or whatever change, the ones that decide, like we're going to evaluate our effectiveness and then we're going to iterate on that, right?

We're going to measure are we being successful? Are we meeting the goal even for nonprofits, even for churches, Right? I mean, how do you measure success? You say you're going to end world hunger. How are you going to quantify that? World hunger is big, you know, and I think a lot of organizations don't do that well. They don't do that well.

And then they don't know if they're hitting the mark or not. So they can't iterate. They can't be agile to say, hey, this didn't work. Let me adjust. Let me test the market. Let me see if it works. Let me let me do version two, Version three. Right. And I feel like that's where And so they just keep doing the same thing, you know, and then get to the end and they're like, Where are we going?

And you're like, Okay, yeah. So I see that too. I mean, small business owners, that's why it's so important, which is hard if you're an entrepreneur. That's why business coaching I think is so important because, you know, it's almost, almost impossible. I think, for you to do that by yourself especially is, you know, starting out. Yeah. Or even know what to order in your business.

Like what keeps you eisma I like he performs and like indicates to me taking Yeah what am I supposed to be looking at my open rates or my emails or what does that look like? What is good, what is not good? Yeah. Why do I need to set up the system? That's another thing, like you said, because you're like a system.

You know why? Why do I need an image management system or task management system? Right? Because you're spending 4 hours a day or 4 hours a week that you could be spending on building your business. Yes, we're talking to client or client delivery or whatever, right? Yeah. Yeah, I do. I talk a lot in mentoring because we talked about that training.

I do a lot of mentoring about networking. I spend a lot of time. There's a lot of conversations with people about what networking is and why, how it can not be creepy, you know, like it doesn't have to be creepy. Like, it's not creepy, you know, like you're a person. These people need something. You help them like, don't don't make it creepy.

And it works really well. I mean, all my referrals for my business starting out all came from people I knew. You know, when I started my consulting company, I called ten friends that have either been consultants or who I trusted. And I said, this is my idea. What do you think? And I gave him full range to give me their feedback.

And some of them were like, I think that's great idea. And other ones were like, Don't waste people's time. I got a very candid friend who's a startup, you know, very successful startup tech company, former military guy, and he said consultants are a dime a dozen. They can't quantify the work. We've spent a lot of money for them in our company, and I don't know what they're doing.

Don't waste my time. You know, it was just really good. Yeah, starting out. So whenever I was like, Oh, wait, what am I actually going to do? Like, how can I quantify this, right? How can I productize my services in a way that is value to the customer, Right? Like what problem are you going to help me solve?

I don't want to solve world hunger. I'm trying to, you know, feed my my neighborhood today. You know, the kids at school who don't have food, like stuff like that that I learned. And that was very valuable to me starting out. And we use that in our nonprofit too. We built our OKRs and our strategy and our goals for a nonprofit.

That was the same thing. What what are we going to how are we going to measure success? Yeah, so that's a really good I was talking to a business go to the day and she was like, What makes you different? What gap are you solving? And Harry quantifying that, if you can answer those questions, then literally you're fine.

And back to the conversation we were having before, like God equips you, you know, to be in the military to serve in that space. You know, like you're a cybersecurity professional, you've worked really hard for all these years. You've spent a training and doing all the things like, so you have a, a resource, you know, network this of people who respect you and your you know, you have these skills.

It doesn't mean you need to stay in that niche, but it is relevant. Oh, I mean it is don't discount those people in those resources. And I think we miss that sometimes. I think, you know, like if you just look a person starting out, I can when I sit with them, see all of these opportunities, you know, these little opportunity bubbles of people and, you know, different things.

But sometimes that's hard to see again in yourself. Yeah. So that's why I think it's so important to get outside perspective always, you know, what's that quote? The shoemaker's son has no shoes or something like you can't see it if it's that close to you. Yeah, of course. For the trees. Yeah. Is that what the percentages. Yeah. So what's one thing that you've learned on your journey that you think makes you unstoppable look unstoppable?

That's all I just said as I'm, like, sitting in my floor with my, you know, coffee in my blanket, crying. I don't always feel unstoppable every day. I just it would be my faith. It's not unstoppable from the perspective of like I have the strength to do great things. And I've had a few people give me really good feedback over the years.

Like I have a guy I used to work with. He was one of my employees, you know, I guess I supervised him. He's a older, retired S.F., uh, Green Beret. Just, you know, all the things, you know, gritty guy. And one day we're working on these projects and stuff, and he pulled me aside, you know, on a virtual meeting, and he's like Danita said, you know, busting brushes.

And I said, No, Dave, I don't know what that means. He says, It's when you go out and you've got to like, rip out the shrubs and you've got to chop the trees like you're going into the forest. And we live in a national forest. So it was very like it made sense to me. I was like, Oh, I know, that's my backyard.

We do that like on the weekend. My husband does that every weekend. And he said, It's really hard work. It's really exhausting it. But but the only way to get through it is you got to literally take out every tree. You've got to chop down every branch, you've got to pull every vine, you've got to drag it over, you've got to burn is out.

He said, That's what you're doing. He said, That's what you're doing in this organization. You're busting brush every day. He was like, And it is hard and it is exhausting. And he said, And I just want you to know that I see you. And that's been kind of I've had a couple of other people say that in the last few years, like my sticking to it that stick it to witness or something like that, like resolve like not not not giving up when it, it's hard.

And so I think if you if anyone can do that, if you can just say, I don't know what I'm doing today, you know, like I have these three things in my hands. What did God give you today? He gave me this. Well, that's what God gave you today. So use it. And then you rely on him his strength.

Then? Then that's all he asked you to do today, you know, So that's kind of. I guess that would be my one superpower is just, you know, and that doesn't don't rest. I think you and I talked about that before. So care like you were in your driveway, you know, like going down in your day. It doesn't mean don't rest like I mean, I have a chair right here beside my desk.

You can't see it, but I put it right here. There are days I get up out of this desk and I go sit in that chair and I go, What am I doing today? And it has a cozy blanket in it and it has a place for my coffee, you know, And it looks out the window at the forest.

And I and I put that there on purpose. I could look out the window and see the sunshine. But yeah, I think that's the thing I've learned is just, just keep, get up, you know, tomorrow. But not in a weird way. Pull yourself up from your bootstraps. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, that's unhealthy and whatever.

Like, no. Generally, if you're tired, then lay down. You know, popcorn can be dinner. It's okay. I love that. Yeah. And that that's just really through, you know, my faith, like who God is. Yeah. So I think sometimes I'd much rather. Go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. I'm going to say, like, when we think about like the pull your up your bootstraps because like the toxicity from like the military, what we've been trained to do and how we've been trained to act every single day, there is a unsolvable through God that does come with rest, that does come with surrender and Sabbath and all of those things that is still unstoppable.

But Jesus even went out and said, I am going to go pray and don't bother me. I'm going to be out there for 40 days. But that is I mean, he was like stopping. He was still unstoppable. He was just gaining more strength. Yeah, Yeah. Like you said, I feel yeah, like you said earlier when we were talking about there's this season of pull.

What did you say. There's a season of a boring and then like, like pouring into me in the pouring out to other people. Yeah yeah. Like I'm, you know, I'm writing this book and like I said, last Saturday, I spent 15 hours writing a book. It is exhausting, but I spent 15 hours writing a book because for the last three or four weeks I haven't written in the summer, we, you know, we had family lost.

We lost people that were close to us. And we've had stuff in our family going on. And I just couldn't I just couldn't do it, you know, And it wasn't, you know, that I couldn't physically write. I mean, I can sit down on my computer and type, but the reality was I was just empty. You know, in my husband at one point, he even said, come on, we're going outside.

You know, let's go, because you just can't be creative. You can't see new options. You all those kinds of things, you're just empty. And that's the thing that I've learned, too, is like that, pushing yourself. Like you're just going to keep going. You're just going to get through it. You're just going to make it. No, I'm not. I don't want to do that, you know?

Yeah, I want to try to be as present in a moment as I can. And that means if I'm tired, then I'm. I'm unapologetically tired, you know, I'm just going to sit down now. My feet hurt, you know, like those little old ladies. You see, I'm sitting on the park bench now. I'll catch up to you in a little bit.

Just going to sit here and rest now. Yeah, because you're right, We do in the military, we do that. We just grit it. And. And then you wake up one day and you're like, I'm so weary because I'm so tired. I didn't even know what tired is. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That's how we've been for a lot of years.

Just soul weary, just exhausted it. Yeah. So I agree. I think finding of rest. And even if it's daily rest or hourly, you know what I mean. Yeah. Plugging those things in are so important. Yeah. And would you say go ahead. Go ahead. I was going to say Jordan Raynor writes this book, If you've read him, he he's a writer.

He talks about the vocation of work, the biblical art of work. Jordan Raynor Ari, why in awe if you listen sorry, I probably said your name, but he writes a book called Redeeming Your Time, and he puts he put a little section in there that I kind of have on a Post-it where he says, God didn't expect you to get everything done.

You will die with things on your to do list. You will. And God knows that, and he's fine with it. Do you need to be? You know what I mean? And I just remember that sometimes I'm like, Oh, what's on my to do list? Because I will die with a to do list. I'm sure that's good. I've never heard that before.

Yeah, he's great. He's got a really great blog. You can follow him and you know, all this stuff, but he's really great. Yeah, I'm going to put him that book in the show notes too. I was going to say like, what is something that you do practically to help you with your, like self-help and your self-care, all those things.

Mm. I journal, I'm a huge journal. Yeah. I journal because I'm in my head all the time. Yeah, yeah. I'm in my head all the time and it's exhausting and I got to get it out. And I learned that was before probably ten, 15 years ago I started journaling, really journaling it with intention. And now I journal almost every day.

So that's a huge help in just because thoughts are energy, you know? I mean, they are like scientifically, right? And they're energy and you got to get them out. They're going to go somewhere. So that's been a huge help for my mental clarity is journaling. And the reason why I find that to be so therapeutic for me or helpful for me is because I don't have to remember it anymore.

I can just write it down and it's there if I ever need to come back to it, I don't have to hold on to it. And that's given me a great sense of peace. And I try to, you know, eat better, you know, just those like basic things, like trying to be intentional about what what we eat and, you know, those things.

And I think the other thing, too, is I try to find things in every day or every week that I love, you know, like Sundays are we don't work on Sundays, you know, and that's just because our schedule works that way. But we just have worked our schedule to the point where, like Sundays are we don't, you know, we kind of hold that day just as a day of rest.

And it really does help us kind of keep keep focused. I love that thing. For us, it's Tuesdays because that's our homeschool day and then Sundays is just Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've done like we've done night to Saturday night before because, you know, the kids get out of school and hubby's home and we have pizza night and yeah, we've done all, all different times like, you know, we're not super legalistic about whatever but we just, we do, I do set aside a day where it's like, this is Sunday, we get up, we're going to do this, we have coffee, we have breakfast, we sit, we talk.

You know, we're not in a rush to run out the door. You know, that kind of stuff. And that really does help us kind of reset, you know, for the for the day or the week or whatever we take naps is maybe that's an old person. We love. We love naps. We take naps now. And so just those kind of things.

And we love our kids. Our kids are big, so we love spending time with our kids. You know, they're in a different season. And so we try to spend time with them just listening to their stories and their perspectives and all the things, you know. I think that's my favorite thing about homeschooling is like getting to know my kids.

I'm like this super deep level. And then like, like the intention is to carry it on until they're older and, like, just like learning about them and like what they like and how they think. And it's so different from me and no judgment about it. Just like, Oh, you think like that? Oh, that's interesting. And why do you think that?

Okay. And just like pouring into whatever their soul has, the desire for which I love. Yeah, yeah. And I will say I've learned more about myself through my kids than anybody else. Barb Yes. Hands down. My children have taught me more about myself than any other in the world. Yeah, So. And still today, you know, still today. I mean, our oldest is 24 and our youngest is 17.

We've got two grandbabies and, you know, so our kids are bigger and they still teach me things all the time. Yeah. So I think that's so good. Yeah. And they need a safe space to be able to work things out. And if they can't work it out with you, are they going to work it out with you? Yeah.

So they have to learn how to use their voice. So you've got to be able to let them do that. Just like walking or talking or painting or, you know, putting on their clothes or putting on their shoes. They need a safe place to figure that out. So yeah. What would you say is your favorite Bible verse and why?

My be my favorite Bible verse right now? Right now is Jeremiah 31 three that says I've loved you with an everlasting love, and that is my favorite. I even have like a I thing made on it. And it's my it's in my bedroom hanging up on my wall. I think the reason why is because it's very simple. Number one, I've loved you with an everlasting love like I have loved you from the beginning to the end of time.

That is all the end. You know, I don't need to analyze it. I don't have to get a theology degree, and I have to break out my books. You know, I can just. What is the law? What is the covenant of Abraham like? I've loved you with an everlasting love. I've loved you forever. The end and I love that.

Yeah. So that's my favorite. It's just reminded me that it can be simple. You know, I've loved you. Do you use it for your business is true? Or is that just like for your life? I use that for my life. And I'm using it right now as one of the guiding kind of principles in the book that I'm writing right now, that God says, you know, I loved you with an everlasting love.

Like, you know, I've called you to love me and to love the world. That's what I called you to do. And it's messy and it's hard and confusing and can be done in a billion different ways. So don't overthink it. It's yeah, Yeah. So I've never really considered a Bible verse for my business. For the nonprofit we have a thing in our office.

It's Ephesians three really like 13 through 17, you know, the rooted in established and loved. But it starts out, I think at first 13 or 14, don't quote me, I have to go find it, but it basically talks about the family unit is established in heaven before it's established on earth. And so it goes from like verse 13 through all the way through like 17 or 18.

It talks about the family and then it talks about being rooted in established in love. And it has a tree because our logo, a tree so we so we had that in our pregnancy center. That's kind of the guiding verse that we have on all of our marketing material and stuff. Love it. So where can people find you?

How can people get in touch with you? Do you have anything? Do you have a freebie or anything? I have a couple of lead magnets on my website. Yeah, so I have two. I have a consulting website and then I have my hope, my personal website, Danny, to come in second. So that's the best. If you just go to Danny to come in second, there's a coaching page and a consulting page depending upon what your needs are.

And I have an interested to lead leadership blog so you can subscribe for that. We have an interested a Lead podcast, so that comes out the first and third Thursday of every month. We're on all the big platforms, you know, Spotify and Apple. So you're welcome to jump over there and take a listen and subscribe to the newsletter so you can get all the latest updates on tools and tips and books and things that we're reading about, all the things about leading yourself and leading others as well, which is really my heart.

So that's really the biggest place or the best place. And then I'm pretty active on LinkedIn and Instagram too, so anyone wants to connect. I'm on LinkedIn, definitely let me know. Happy to talk about consulting stuff. You know, if I can help you. And then my Instagram is a little bit more faith driven and, you know, my family and those kinds of things. So yeah, happy to connect on any one of those platforms, whatever works for them. Thank you so much for being on the podcast and we'll see you guys later. Well, they thanks.Wow, that was so good. So I know that you know somebody that also needs to hear that. So share this episode. Leave a review. And I would love if you could watch my free workshop at jeanettepeterson.com/missingpiece. I'll see you guys over on the grams at Jeanette.Peterson bye