Starter Girlz Podcast

Channeling Positivity: Storytelling, Writing, and Life Adventures with Dominick Domasky

• Jennifer Loehding • Season 7 • Episode 62

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In this episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast, host Jennifer Loehding sits down with Dominick Domasky—author, founder of Motivation Champs, and host of Bikes & Hikes, a television show that encourages viewers to explore the outdoors and create lasting memories. Together, they dive into the transformative power of storytelling, the challenges of publishing, and the personal growth that comes from overcoming adversity.

Dominick shares his inspiring journey, highlighting the importance of resilience, cultivating a positive mindset, and helping others bring their stories to life. From embracing failure to finding joy in passion projects, this episode is packed with valuable insights for anyone seeking purpose and perseverance.

Takeaways

  • Everyone has a story worth telling.
  • It's essential to celebrate small wins in life.
  • Helping others share their stories is a powerful mission.
  • Resilience is built through overcoming adversity.
  • Setting realistic deadlines is crucial in the writing process.
  • Finding joy in passion projects can inspire creativity.
  • You must meet people where they are in their journey.
  • Grace is important when facing challenges and setbacks.
  • The mission of positivity can guide you through tough times.
  • Building memories can be as simple as a bike or hike away.

Learn more about Dominick Domasky and his work at Motivation Champs.

Jennifer Loehding:

Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your ultimate source of inspiration and empowerment. We're here to help women succeed in every area of their lives career, money, relationships, and health and well-being while celebrating the remarkable journeys of individuals from all walks of life who've achieved amazing things. Whether you're looking to supercharge your career, build financial independence, nurture meaningful relationships or enhance your overall well-being, the Starter Girlz podcast is here to guide you. Join us as we explore the journeys of those who dare to dream big and achieve greatness. I'm your host, jennifer Loehding, and welcome to this episode. Welcome to another episode of the Starter Girlz podcast, wherever you are tuning in today. We are so thrilled to have you and I'm so excited about my guest today. This is going to be fun. He has got a lot of energy, so I know we're going to have a really good conversation today, but let me tell you guys a little bit about him before we do all our official welcomes. So my guest today is a storyteller with a passion for sharing inspiration and helping others navigate the publishing world, from uplifting social media content to expertly crafted books. He believes everyone has a story worth telling and he's here to make it happen, and so we're going to hear from him in just a few minutes, but before we do that, I do need to do a quick shout out to our sponsor.

Jennifer Loehding:

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Jennifer Loehding:

All right With that, one more announcement I want to make. I want to make sure you know to head on over to Starter Girlz with a Z. Make sure you know it's a Z, not the S com. You can get over there and you can check out all these episodes if you're not following them on your favorite platform. But also you can sign up to get our newsletter over there and keep in with the know and who all of our fabulous guests are that are coming on the show, and so that again is startergirlscom. All right, our guest today, Dominick Domasky, is an author, publisher and founder of Motivation Champs, a platform dedicated to spreading inspiration, smiles and positivity 24-7. As the author of six books, including Go Ask your Dad and the Journey of a Grump, Dominick helps aspiring authors bring their stories to life Through publishing, screenwriting, in-person events and nonprofit work. Motivation Champs offers comprehensive services, from concept development to marketing. He also hosts the TV show Bikes and Hikes, inspiring audiences to explore the outdoors and create unforgettable memories.

Dominick. Domasky:

So, Dominic, welcome to the show.

Jennifer Loehding:

So excited to have you here today.

Dominick. Domasky:

Well, thank you, Jennifer, and that was such a nice intro. It sounds much better than when you do it, so thank you.

Jennifer Loehding:

I know People love that part. I always tell them that's kind of my favorite part. I think that is all those years that I was in Mary Kay because we always had events and we always had to, like, read accolades for our people, right, we always had to have them. And so I think I just ever heard this for so long in my brain that I'm like everybody should have a good accolade, right, we should all have an empowering entrance onto whatever platform we're going on to.

Dominick. Domasky:

I'm going to sidebar this interview right now and tell you one of my dream jobs that I do, I volunteer at. I am the girls, the women's field hockey announcer for my daughter. She's like 15 years old, high school and nothing I love more than giving it 100%. When young girls go out onto the field, you know welcome and I scream and yell and they deserve that and everybody does so well done, Thank you.

Jennifer Loehding:

Thank you, yes, and I bet they appreciate that. They go out there, they're pumped up, they're like, yes, I got that awesome announcement right, there's nothing more powerful than that.

Jennifer Loehding:

And you know what else, too, I think is like nothing more powerful than I think, though, and you know what else, too, I think is like. We get so like like used to what we do, right, like we. We look at our stuff and then we start saying oh, I did that, that's cool, that's cool Right. And then if there's something about it, like when we hear it in a different way, and we're like wow, like I did that, you know what I'm saying.

Jennifer Loehding:

So it almost kind of just puts it, refreshes it for us, and so that's kind of part of my one of my, my old co-hosts. I say, oh my, my co-host that was on before she used to laugh. She's like, hey, if you need an MC, call Jennifer. She's like a really good intro.

Dominick. Domasky:

MC. That's a great point. And just to to double down on that, all of us are on this journey, right? And each day we're trying to get better, better, better and grow and get to this next platform. And you forget how hard you work to get to all those other platforms. And then when you say again hey, I did work hard for that. Yeah, you know, and we should celebrate those little wins, I agree.

Jennifer Loehding:

I agree. Well, I'm excited to chat with you. I know this is going to be a lot of fun today and, you know, in doing what you're doing, your platform, the inspiration, but also the publishing part of things, because I know writing a book is no easy feat and getting people to get their stories. You know there's so many people out there that have stories that just you know, don't really know where to start with that and how to bring that to this forward place. So I kind of want to start with you, your story. I want to back up a little bit and talk about how we got, you know, how you got to where you are at this point, like what got you to writing and all this good stuff. So give us kind of a little bit of a background on that.

Dominick. Domasky:

Okay, I can do that for you, number one, I would start with a lot of failure, a lot of getting knocked down, and as you pick yourself up you start to realize that you can overcome a couple things. And I went broke in the restaurant business when I was 25, lost half a million dollars and had to get into the corporate world at that point. So I was trying to. I was broke, I'm out of a job, have no money, getting everything repossessed. But I started to think that I had something to say. So I got a job selling yellow page ads and they were big on writing your goals down and I would write in these little notebooks pay off produce guy got him $5,000. So I'd go like every Saturday and pay the produce guy or pay the IRS for years and I started writing my own notes Well, do this, write this, build this. And they became more personal goals.

Dominick. Domasky:

And then I wrote on the front of that little notebook first book because I was a student of Og M andino and Zig Ziglar and Jeffrey Gittimer and I'm reading all these people and they helped me get through these tough times. But I started thinking I got something to say. It's a little bit different. It's about going broke or getting beat up and I started writing those little terribly writing in my notebooks those kinds of stories. And it took years and years and I wrote and published my first book and I have since retired that book because it wasn't any good. I made a million mistakes. I learned as I was promoting it and developing it like man I sold all my rights.

Dominick. Domasky:

I wrote an underdeveloped book. It wasn't edited enough, the cover was silly, the name was silly, but I did it. I got that first one out. I started to get some experience, but as I would be out speaking or trying to get the word out, people started to tell me their stories and very early on they told me their stories or they told me they wanted to write a book. And I learned wait a minute if I really want to share inspiration.

Dominick. Domasky:

Really early in my journey I started thinking well, it's less about me and it's more about how do I help other people share their story.

Dominick. Domasky:

And so it happened at the same time Like wait a minute, this is the path I'm going isn't really the path. Wait a minute, this is the path I'm going isn't really the path. I've been on stages and got paid to speak on all the stages, but the path I wanted to go was well, to get out to as many people as I could to help other people like me and you talking today. I'll be able to share you on my platform and people find the Starter Girls podcast and then I'll maybe meet some new people being on your podcast and together we help more people share their story, and so that's what my company is called Motivation Champs. And to help more people share, we do a lot on social media, a lot through publishing, but the root is how, every day, can I help one more person share their, which maybe helps one more person get through a hard time, or, if they're going through whatever they're going through, maybe we have the story or message that helps them get through that day, and then the next, and then the next.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, it's good we're kind of doing. It's funny we're doing similar things, just different media platforms.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right and it's so crazy because I was something that stuck out in my mind when you said you were a student of Zig Ziegler, because Zig Ziegler is the one that said we can get what we want when we help enough other people get what they want. Right, 27 years of network marketing. Zig Ziegler was like in our space a lot. Funny enough, there's a guy here named Brian Flanagan that worked with Zig Ziegler, traveled with him on stage for 20 something years, and so I've gotten to work with him a little bit and he was actually on the podcast a while back. And I laugh about it because I think about how, when we talk about these stories, how our life evolves.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know, having been when I was in Mary Kay, I was kind of secluded in the Mary Kay world, like I didn't really network outside of Mary Kay, and then when I moved out of that, I thought how ironic is it that I meet the guy that traveled with Zig Ziglar for 20 years on stage with him and I got to actually work with him, you know, do a presentation and I've got him on my podcast and I get to see him all the time, I networking all the time, you know. So I just think it's funny how, how life is. But you're right too on your point about these stories. Is that one thing I always tell people I'm like a sucker for a good story and I think it's because I've been through a lot of hard things myself. And you know I joke all the time. I say that you know God doesn't give you anything he doesn't think you can't handle. But sometimes I think he just keeps piling the things on, so that I will have more stories to talk about.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know, and sometimes I'm just like I'm good, I've had enough stories, I enough stories, I'm trying to tell everybody else's down, I have plenty you know, but I think there's a reason we have a voice.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yours is books, mine's the podcast, it's the platform, and I and I share the things through this medium and I and I'm like you. I think so many people have great stories and if we can help one person, if they hear or read or see something that makes a difference in their life, that's what this is about right At the end of the day.

Jennifer Loehding:

That's what it is for me is that I just want to show people that there are amazing people in this world doing amazing things, and a lot of them have come from hard situations. They haven't been given the little crystal ball with all the you know, the silver platter. They had to work to get to where they are, you know.

Dominick. Domasky:

There's a quote by Lou Holtz that used to coach Notre Dame back in the day and he said the greatest gift I was ever given was I wasn't granted a silver spoon. And not being given the silver spoon gave him the motivation. And I think those hard times, all those things, they build your character, they build your resolve and you and me are trying to show people that yeah, they definitely humble you.

Jennifer Loehding:

They'll bring you to your knees sometimes and make your reassess for sure, but no, I think it's great what you're doing and you know. To point back to your book, when you said you retired your book, I kind of chuckled about that because I wrote my. I've only written one book and it was hard. I mean it might be easier the second time now because I've done it, but I wrote it in 2019 and it was by no means. I mean I laugh about it now. It's such a simple read. It's probably cheesy. At one point I'll get like you, I'll be like maybe just retire that thing, but it was.

Jennifer Loehding:

For me it was kind of a cathartic release, like. It was like ask me, like are you going to promote this thing? And I'm like no, it's just like I just wanted to write. I wanted to write a book and tell my story and put it out there. And it's funny because I I go on other people's podcasts sometimes and when I go on their podcasts and I tell them my story, they go oh, cause they don't know this. It's funnier when they read my book, because the book is fresher, because it's detailed. And then they read it and they go. I never knew that Like. I never knew like that that's what was going on in your world, you know, and so I think it can be a very powerful thing for us to share our stories right and get them out there, not only because it allows other people to resonate and find maybe something in that that will help them, but also it's good for us right. It gives us a place to get that out and almost release that, you know.

Dominick. Domasky:

In the publishing world, we always try to find out why somebody is writing the book, right. And if you're writing it catharticallyically to give to your family to sit on a table there, that's so honorable. Nobody said that you need to go on a podcast tour or try to get in the newspaper or speak at the on the college tour, right. You don't need to do all that things or set up at craft shows on the weekend.

Jennifer Loehding:

You might be smarter, though, if you do all that I will tell you.

Dominick. Domasky:

That's funny because I have, uh like tips on how to sell books. You cannot do those things. Or you could do those things like each one of those, like posting on social media, posting a link on social media. Each one would help you. Right, there isn't one answer, that is right. But except when people say I'm not going to do anything. Well maybe you get lucky and the right person, but I would try these other 30 things.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, you definitely need to listen to you to make to do the right thing. Like I said, I think it. I think it just gets back to like what are your objectives?

Dominick. Domasky:

are right.

Jennifer Loehding:

At that time, mine was not, I don't know. I think if I were to do one now, I probably would approach it differently. But it's the same thing, even when I talk about this podcast too, because, you know, for me, the podcast, this is a labor of love project. I really I I enjoy the conversations and I enjoy sharing the stories, I enjoy sharing the light on you guys that come on the show. Um, but obviously you got to think, you got to think smart sometimes, and it's so funny because I finally, you know, after five years of doing it, it's it's. It's interesting because now, like the YouTube page, we're up to about 14,000 followers now on YouTube, which is like yay, hallelujah. And the YouTube world. We're like, yes, we're growing, right, cause we sat at like 3000 for a long time, you know, and now I'm actually I sent in this week an application to trademark Starter Girls to actually get it trademarked, and I'm actually I started my email campaign.

Jennifer Loehding:

I'm telling you all this to say that I'm actually now in this process of saying, okay, yes, we want this to be a labor of love project, right, but we need to be working smart too, like we need to be thinking smart here, and so there's nothing wrong with what you're saying here. As far as you know, if you write a book, yeah, I mean there's nothing wrong with saying I want to make, I want to do something with this, you know. I just think it's where we are in our journey of all of this. We have to decide, and for me it's always been like this. I got to go through this whole little let's do it this way, and then I'm going to be like no, we need to work a little smarter we need to be a little smarter now right, right, there's levels, there's levels and you'll you learn along the way and then you find out what you're comfortable doing.

Dominick. Domasky:

somebody might say I hate going to a craft show, I hate trying to get sponsors, whatever. Whatever it is that your business encompasses, right? Sometimes you have to embrace those things, or sometimes you can say, nah, that's not for me, I'm going to keep it. I have an author that goes to two shows a year around. She goes at Christmas time and goes probably one other time a year. She's completely comfortable with that and it's a beautiful thing.

Jennifer Loehding:

So when a client comes to you, I want to give maybe our audience kind of view of this because there may be somebody sitting here right now with that and it's a beautiful thing. So when a client comes to you, I want to give, maybe you know, our audience kind of view of this, because there may be somebody sitting here right now. That's like hey, I'm on the verge. I mean, I know people that are always talking about writing books and then getting them to that next step, you know. But let's say, somebody is coming to you and they got sort of a concept, this idea of what they want to do. What's like that first thing you do with them, like to help them kind of get. You know, in that let's get this going, let's make, let's make something happen?

Dominick. Domasky:

Well, one I love to hear. I love to sit down one-on-one and hear what their concept is and I could be completely captivated by concept. So first step is hearing, hearing it, seeing it one-on-one Wow, that's amazing. It might be like I, we tend the business is motivation chips. I believe in the project. The book has to do the world some greater good make you smile, make you think, make you grow, elevate you in some skill All those things would be motivational. You know it could be faith, it could be business. Those things would be motivational. You know it could be faith, it could be business. That's inspiration, motivation, and so does it fit that. But then, is it riveted? Is it captivating? So now here's where it gets, where we can lose a lot of people.

Dominick. Domasky:

The second thing I want to do after we have this nice talk is I would like to see what you have. Okay, now you can send me a page. You could send me a word doc. You could send me a Google doc. You could send me something, uh, trademarked, whatever. I just want to see what are we working with at this point.

Dominick. Domasky:

Some people send me 140,000 words edited and you're like oh it, you know some 60 000 clean, concise. Some send four pages with um emojis on it. Okay, so now there's nothing wrong with that, but it shows me four pages with emojis is in the book. If somebody wants to write it. You can't put out four pages and that might turn into six. We should write that book. It'd probably do great, but I'm wrong. I just realized. Okay, so once we have that, then we can see from that point oh, you need editing, you need developing, you need coaching, you need ghostwriting, you need to go back and give yourself an honest six months. Okay, you need outline, you need story structure, you need all these things. From that point, it is hearing stories, seeing and now helping you get by whatever resource. And this is what a hybrid like. There's all forms of publishing self-publishing, traditional hybrid. So I source. And this is what a hybrid like. There's all forms of publishing, self-publishing, traditional hybrid. So I consider myself in this hybrid world because we're looking at what you have at that point and now saying what services do you need to get you to where you want to go?

Dominick. Domasky:

One part it is not one size fits all because everybody comes in completely and with a a different timeline. Like some people, I hate artificial timelines. Somebody will say I want to publish this book by my birthday. Why, now? If you're speaking to Congress in six months or three months, well, that changes things too. But if there isn't an artificial deadline, we have this talk and I say, okay, now go back and set a realistic date, whether it's one month, three months, two months and see if you can get it to where you want to be, even if it's a week. Somebody might say I've already worked on this here. Take it, okay, but give yourself. You owe it to yourself to give it your all. Once you've done that, then we can take it, and a team of people different editors, different developers, formatters, cover designers they'll all together help you build the book that lays the foundation to get you to wherever you want to go.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I love this and I love that you're talking about meeting them where they need or where they are, because I do think that's important is that I feel like that's when we're in this world of, like working with people. I think really, no matter what you do, you almost always got to meet people where they are. You know what I'm saying, because if you're trying to I mean think of it even from a sales perspective if you have something and you're selling your goods to them and they're not at this space where they one need what you have to offer, we're at a great place because we have services where we can sort of fit them a little bit right, mold, where you know kind of. But even in sales, if you think about it, like when people are selling things, you know products to somebody, if the person, the client's not really where they need to be for that particular thing, then it's not, it's not beneficial and they may need to go back and either they got to find a different thing or they got on your case, like go back and assess and and you know, come up to where they need to be.

Jennifer Loehding:

But I love that you're meeting them where they are, because I think that's so instrumental in creating the success that they need. You know, instead of saying this is a one size fits all, this is where we started and I don't think there's anything wrong if that's the way you want to do it, but I think if you really want to see people successful, you got to meet them where they are. You know, that's fair. I love that. There was something else I was gonna you mentioned that stuck out, but I lost and it'll probably come back to me in a few minutes. Oh, oh, I know what I was gonna tell you when you were talking about, like you know, finding you to get the outline or whatever. And I know, like when I was personally, when I was writing my book, the outline was like the hardest thing for me to put together, because, being I feel like I'm an organized person, but I'm kind of one of those people that when I start to write, I just kind of start, like you know, writing.

Jennifer Loehding:

And then I'm like okay, now I got this great idea. Now I got organized this idea. Like you know, once I had somebody help me with the outline part of it. It was actually easier for me because now I knew what I needed to write about and I could organize it like I could get the stuff, but I didn't write like in a flow, if that makes sense.

Dominick. Domasky:

Oh, no, yeah, absolutely. Many people write in stream of conscious and they'll just this is what's coming out. This is what's coming out, so we can take stream of consciousness and put it into outline or put it into. I study story structure ad nauseum and my wife will get mad if we're watching a show and I'm looking at Netflix. Rather than a three-act structure, netflix has a five-act structure because there's a hook at the end. There's a hook at the beginning and a hook at the end, so that's different than a three-act. So I am into the structure of memoirs, the structures of how-to books, all those things, understanding Even more. I'll take your outline and go one step further and say, oh, which of these are you trying to do? Right, right, yeah, no, where are you?

Jennifer Loehding:

Which of these are you trying to do?

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, Right, yeah, no, that's good. That's good, yeah, Because it can. I think you know everybody, we all have our sort of our little gifts. You know areas that we're really good at, but for me that I remember that being the biggest, I guess the trickiest part for me was and that, oh, I know what it was we were going to talk about the deadlines. When you're talking about artificial deadlines I don't know about you, but you're probably figuring this you probably, after all the books you've done, I've learned that you can set a deadline and it never happens on that and you've got to have a little room for grace. You know like right now I'm building out a program that's actually going to be tied to Starter Girls. That's why we were having this conversation about, like the trademark and everything.

Jennifer Loehding:

So my initial goal was let me back you up and tell you how this worked. I worked with a mentor for two years. I built a high ticket course, Like it is a beast. It's like a Netflix experience. Basically, taking a client from all my years of Mary Kay, which are immersion type experiences, but take what I learned in all the personal development, merge those together. It's like watching a movie, basically. So you're going to go through an experience in this course and so I build this out and I get done with it and I'm like this thing is huge.

Jennifer Loehding:

Like who is going to buy this? Somebody like me. But what's going to convince somebody like me to want to buy that? Okay, what I want to do is I want to take the person over here and get them to this level. So I'm like, how am I going to do that? These people aren't ready to this, they're not going to pay for this because they're not in that space yet. So then I get another.

Jennifer Loehding:

I work in another mastermind. I did that over the summer and she helped me to back I say backpedal but engineer it backwards on how to take the client from point A to here, to get them to this place. And I'm like like, oh my gosh, the light bulb goes off. I'm like, okay, now that makes sense. Now I have a plan of action. I'm just telling you that we're two years into this now. So I'm finally. I built out like my introductory thing. Now I'm building out this micro niche course and I'm finally I'm almost done with it.

Jennifer Loehding:

But here's a funny thing, don't it? The whole thing is about subconscious blocks and in the middle of this I realized perfectionism is my massive subconscious block and I keep talking about this on the podcast because it is making me so mad, right? So I set deadlines. Right, because if I set a deadline, then the deadline gets me off the perfectionism. It says, okay, you got to get this done by the end of the month. Stop read, stop editing a hundred times, right? So what I've learned is, yes, I have to set those, but I also have to give myself grace, because this program was supposed to be done at the end of november. Now I'm crunching to do it for the end of december, right, and so to your point.

Jennifer Loehding:

We do, I think, have to give ourselves a little bit of grace when we're doing that. You know, and um, just know, that it may not happen on the day that you say it is, but as long as you keep working, you're going to get it there. You know, but just don't beat yourself up if it doesn't fall out on that particular day.

Dominick. Domasky:

You know you have to do the best that you can with what? You have at that time, because they see some star who has millions of photographers and videographers following them all day and so much money to do. I call that jumping the line Some people can. You have finances or other skills that allowed you to jump the line in a way, and so sometimes you just got to put in the blood, sweat and tears and understand that. Don't compare yourself to those people that jumped the line for whatever reason.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, right. Well, I want to ask you a question kind of about mindset, because you've been doing this for a while and you've said a lot of really good things in here and I know that a lot of where you are today is because you've had to overcome, you know, adversity and things and some really hard things, and I think it does, it teaches us grit and resilience and grace, and all the things that you know make us like be able to do these things. And so I'd love to know just kind of like you know what your headspace is when you're because even my back, even as business owners today, we still deal with things. We still have things that come up that frustrate us somebody doesn't sign a contract, somebody doesn't go through whatever. I would just love to know like what you're, you know how you stay focused in those moments and like what the mindset is around, that kind of you know when you get into that.

Dominick. Domasky:

I guess get into that rut yeah, what it happens every day to all of us. So you, you, oh, this guy's, guy's never down. No, that's not true. I choose not to share those kinds of things. I have a goal to share inspiration, positivity and smiles and help other people do the same. So I believe, and I work hard, I work my butt off to never be off message with inspiration, positivity and smiles. So I live in a world. Message with inspiration, positivity and smiles. So I live in a world Sometimes I'll kid that it's for puppies and rainbows because I choose to remove myself from toxic people, toxic situations, things that are going to lead me astray.

Dominick. Domasky:

So in those days now back to the days of like, the days, the hard days we talked about helping one person, making a difference to one person, like with your show. What if it's one listener? What if you write something? What if you help somebody share the story that helps another person? Okay, so, at my root, if my mission is to share inspiration, positivity and smiles, if I did that to one person by the end of today, I did a pretty good job. So, even if I can remember the goal sure, I wish it was a thousand, I wish it's a million. Maybe tomorrow it'll be a million people because this happens and that happens, and maybe because we put out so much content that all that day, a million people see, because we put out so much content that all that day, a million people say, who knows?

Dominick. Domasky:

But if my mission was to start out one, one person, so on that day where everything goes wrong, I still believe in the mission. I'm true to the mission. I'm on the mission. Yeah, bad things happen, but the mission is pure. And that's where, like we talked about the catharticness of writing books, where people go awry is they get caught in the metrics. They get caught in. I want to sell a million books tomorrow. Well, you might sell a million books. I know people that sold millions of books. You might. But if the mission's pure, on your way there, even if you're not doing those kinds of things yet, you'll be happy. So sure, this stunk today. That stunk. This guy yelled at me. This didn't go right, whatever. Yeah, that's part of the journey and, like you said earlier, that's what makes the stories better. Those hard times make the berries sweeter.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, no, it's good, I like it and I was going to say I did all of this because I think it's so powerful that you be purposeful about the people that you put in your space. I don't know about you, but I pick up on people's energy and I physically do not feel well when I'm around people that are negative and and I feel like they're sucking just like they are Say the words like you are sucking life out of me like a vampire Like.

Dominick. Domasky:

I just cannot.

Jennifer Loehding:

I have such a hard time. So I have to be very purposeful, like you, about. You know the people that I allow into my space because it really affects me a lot, and so you know, and I love this that you're purposeful about this, because I think that, yeah, we all deal with things, but one of the things I always say is that, you know, chasing happiness is not the goal but in your overall, if you're happy most of the time you wake up, for the most part, you're having a pretty good day and you can find the blessing in the day, you're living a pretty good life. That's what I think You're living a pretty good life. Is it happy every single moment of the day? No, no, never. But I think I think this idea of waking up and being content is good and I think it comes from what you're talking about this purposeful, like purposeful living, this purposeful movement, right, and it's not getting. You said a word that I often use metrics, because people do.

Jennifer Loehding:

They put these ideas. You know, like they'll do it with exercise. It's like I have to go to the gym, I'm okay. So I work out pretty much every day. I've been. I was an aerobics instructor for many years. I'd see it every every year. You know January. They all pile in and they would add these insane metrics. I'm going to work out for two hours a day, five days this week, and they never been in the gym consistently and I'm like why?

Dominick. Domasky:

why would you do?

Jennifer Loehding:

that You're setting yourself up for failure. Why would you even do that? Stop with the dumb metrics, right? We have to come from a different place. It should be. How do I figure out how to incorporate, incorporate fitness into my day where I actually enjoy it so?

Jennifer Loehding:

maybe you go dancing, go take dancing lessons. Or maybe you go join a kickball league or a softball league or I don't know. I had a client one day that was actually going to like those game places like Dave and Buster and Dave and Buster's and doing the dance revolution thing. I'm like, ok, so go for it, you're moving Right. It's these, these unnecessary metrics that we put on ourself that, I think, actually restrict us and bind us and make us miserable.

Dominick. Domasky:

Yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know. So I love what you said about that. I just wanted to hone in on that, because that's where I talk. A lot is that it's just being realistic about how we can show up in the world and how do we find this fulfillment. But I think, you know, I think you're kind of doing some of the things that I always talk about, which is really growth and contribution. It's this idea of I'm continuing to grow and I'm contributing, I'm giving back in a way, and when you figure out how to put those two things into your world, I think you can sort of live purposefully.

Dominick. Domasky:

You know what I mean. You lay the blocks, lay the foundation of whatever you want to do. If you have this dream, what if you could do it 10 minutes a day? What if you could do it 10 minutes a week? 10 minutes is better than none. Then you get to 10 minutes a day. Then you get to one episode a month.

Jennifer Loehding:

And how many?

Dominick. Domasky:

episodes do you do, Adele?

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yeah, it is. It's what it is you just keep building.

Dominick. Domasky:

And then you get to. Hey, you look around and all of a sudden you're right in the middle of where you want to be. That doesn't mean that every day is perfect or that you're not still trying to grow, yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

And the one. I tell people even that with this podcast because I mean we put out, I think, the 500th video on Starter Girls last week or the week before I didn't realize we did that many, that doesn't count. Like I had another show, we did probably 150, 170 episodes on there. So I've had a lot of people. But it's funny because you know, now I'm looking at it going okay, now it's growing like the I don't know what is going on with that youtube page. Like I wake up, there'll be 200 more subscribers. I'm like, yes, I'm not complaining, hell yeah you know.

Jennifer Loehding:

But the point I'm trying to make in this is that, yeah, I had to start that thing in the beginning in 2019. If you go back and you look at that show in the very beginning I mean I was I leave an episode of go check them out. They're fun to watch because you can you can kind of see the the rawness of it.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know we didn't know what we were doing and even how much I've evolved as a as a top speaker over that time. You know I've done a lot of talking since then. So, yeah, I mean, it's that one little thing at a time that you do and you've got to do it, I think, from a place of heart centeredness, I think, is that you have to like what you're doing and be willing to do it for free, and be willing to do it a little bit in a grind to reap the benefits that you're wanting to get, it doesn't mean you don't do what you're talking about.

Jennifer Loehding:

Work and lay things out and put yourself in opportunities where you can. You know excel, but you've got to be willing to know it's going to take some time to do all these things that you're trying to do. Good stuff.

Dominick. Domasky:

You're right on. I got nothing to add. That was beautiful.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's good, I love what you're doing. It's good, I love what you're doing, I think it's good. So I had another question for you and then we got off onto that. This is what happens to me I get so excited about what we're talking about and I'll have a question. I'm like we were having a good conversation there and I got to come back to it in a minute. So I want to ask you kind of some fun questions and we'll wrap this up. I was going to ask you what do you do when you're not writing books, like what's the other fun things in the world, but I have a feeling this might be one of them, okay.

Dominick. Domasky:

So this is interesting because, like in a in a bubble, if we're talking about this I I love riding my bike, so I love going out and it wasn't something my dad's in the landscape business, but the outdoors was not something I understood growing up. I grew up playing basketball and probably in gyms, so I have more of an appreciation now, and so me and a buddy go out and bike and hike the local trails of Western Pennsylvania and try to show the world that right outside your door that there's places you've never been that don't cost a lot of money, that you can go out and enjoy. So me and a dear friend, we goof around. I will tell you when things aren't always good.

Dominick. Domasky:

I fell off my bike, hit a manhole this year and broke a rib, hurt my elbow, hurt my wrist that hurt like heck, and then recently I had, uh, six hernias fixed. So it's life so, but I enjoy the bikes and hikes and we have. We have a great time and and it's really trying to show people that memories here's our slogan that we go with. Memories are just a biker, hike away, so get out there and see the world yeah, yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

Well, I think we all have to have kind of a little fun passion project on the side too, and so that actually airs in about eight states on armstrong.

Dominick. Domasky:

It's a, it's a regional, regional cable company. So so in rural areas, somewhere you might see me, somewhere you'll never see me.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I might be traveling through somewhere. I'll be like hey, I know that person.

Dominick. Domasky:

And somewhere in rural Ohio I'm on six times a day.

Jennifer Loehding:

I have to tell my husband about it, though this is funny because, well, he's from Montana. He's from a really small town in Montana. So there is a likelihood we could be traveling through and stop at some motel somewhere, get a cable station and you're on there. Because we do that, we will drive from here to there and we end up stopping in some really rustic places in these little motels, and you never know. So there's that. But also he likes to ride his bike too, and so he does.

Dominick. Domasky:

Um, he's a former endurance athlete, so he was a runner.

Jennifer Loehding:

And now he right, he doesn't run near as much because we're older now, so he rides his bike a lot, but he'll he'll do it to work, like he'll ride a street bike to work pedal, then he cleans up at work and then rides his bike home. And when you talked about hitting the hole, I'm like he's had a couple little run-ins so I was wondering, like because I know he's flipped his bike.

Jennifer Loehding:

He had a woman in a parking lot, hit him coming out of a parking lot, knocked his laptop off the back, I mean you know, he's wearing a helmet and I haven't always been a helmet wearer and I am a reborn believer in helmets.

Dominick. Domasky:

I I grew up in the 90s where it wasn't as cool to wear helmets. And so it was a miss on my part. Wear your helmet.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yeah, I'm an 80s, 70s, 80s kid, so I know we didn't have I mean we didn't have seatbelts back then. You know we sat in the back of our parents' car trucks going down the highway, you know. So, yes, he does wear a helmet, thank goodness. But I'm going to tell him about this because he's probably going to check that out, see what that's all about. So good for you. And to that point, I think that you know, like having those fun projects, I think everybody should kind of have like something that they, if you're not able to do it within your work, like you know, like you love what you get to do in your work. Not everybody ends up doing that in life. I think it's good that if you can find something, an outlet, something you really enjoy doing, because I think that inspires creativity and ingenuity and you know it makes life a lot more fun for sure.

Dominick. Domasky:

Yeah, to speak to that like I spent 20 years in insurance and pharmaceuticals trying to get to the point where I could take the leap again after I had my business failures. So it wasn't, it was incremental, it was metrics. But I have so much respect for somebody that says I want to get off at four o'clock every day so I can coach my son's baseball, and their passion is to be a baseball coach Well, you are doing exactly what you're doing so that you can do exactly what you want to do Beautiful thing. So the only issue I would have is if somebody isn't happy If you're not happy, well then we need to make some changes. But if you are happy with where you're at, because it allows you to go watch baseball games or be off so you can watch the Steelers, like me on a Sunday, whatever that is, well, more power to you.

Jennifer Loehding:

I'm with you, Amen. I agree. You got to figure out what makes you happy in life for sure. It's going to be miserable if you don't find something for sure. So this has been great, Dominick. If our audience listening to this hopefully somebody hearing this is saying, hey, I'm like sitting there and need to write a book, or maybe they want to follow you, you know, in your social media, maybe they want that, you know some additional inspiration, I think we all could use that.

Jennifer Loehding:

right, there's a lot of negativity in the world. We definitely could all use inspiration. Where would you like us to send them?

Dominick. Domasky:

Well, Jennifer, first, thank you for being so graceful and having me on and conversation. I'm loving it. I could talk to you all day long. I would welcome anybody to check out Motivation Champs across the internet websites, facebook pages, instagram pages. If you look up Motivation Champs, we will be sharing 24-7. The goal is to share uplifting content that maybe you'll check it out and be like, hey, maybe today wasn't that bad or maybe tomorrow is going to be a better day and hopefully we can be putting out those kind of books, that kind of content, those kind of videos, these kind of shows. I am on here today like Starter Girls sharing that kind of beautiful content.

Jennifer Loehding:

Absolutely. I think sometimes it's good to put the rose-colored glasses on. I like mine. I used to actually have some really, really good. I had some pink glasses, I like. I like putting those on. I will say the world is full of all the stuff. That's happening every day doesn't mean we don't see it. We just choose whether or not we want to sit in it, and that's how I live every day. It's like I will put my rose colored glasses on. I'm cool with it. Dominick, this has been amazing. We'll make sure, when this goes out, we'll get the website in there so that people can find you, and usually we put something on the video that has, like, the social links so that people that are watching it can actually see it too. So we'll get all that in there. And so I appreciate all your wisdom and thank you for your time and your contribution and all that you're doing in the world to make it a better place.

Dominick. Domasky:

Thank you, we're trying, my friend.

Jennifer Loehding:

Absolutely, and, of course, to our audience. We hope that you found this episode inspiring and informative and, if you did, be sure you check out Dominick, go to his website, but also go, hit all of our social platforms and share, like, subscribe, you can comment. Do all the things so that we can keep sharing all these fabulous stories and bringing the content to you. And, as I always say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start. Every start begins with a decision. You guys, take care, be safe, be kind to one another and we will see you next time.

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