Ep 112: Pain to Purpose with Amber Hagberg

You ever wonder what success actually means?

How do you get it?

And how do you keep it?

We all want it yet sometimes it feels only some of us get to have it.

Hi, Theresa and Blair here. We are two badass entrepreneurs, best selling authors, coaches and business mentors who have had success, built success, questioned our own success and reclaimed it. Let's be real for a hot minute. 2020 has been a roller coaster ride, and many of us a start to wonder if they'll lose the things that made them successful. So we got curious, Ron real about what success is truly about?

Can you put it in a box?

How can you get it?

Can people take it away? Or are you the one with the power?

Does it mean the same to all of us? Or are we the ones that create it?

From PGA golf pros to doctors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and spiritual mentors. We get together to meet with successful people from around the globe to dissect success for vibrant conversations and interviews. Make sure you click the subscribe button on the app store because each week we will drop a new episode to bust through the myths around success and dissect its true meaning.

Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of dissecting success. I am here with the fabulous Blair Kaplan Venables and we are having a very, very special guest today Amber Hagberg, Amber is a multi passionate jungle mama, her and I actually met through the world of Instagram, we connected we had a chat. We were on each other's podcasts. And then I was like Amber's gotta come back. Because I love the life lifestyle that she lives, the business that she has, how she mentors and guides women deep into the hubs to connect that big vision to impact more lives and make more money, which is awesome. And she also lives a nomad life, like me, but with a family, which is so freakin impressive. And she just has such a wonderful energy. So Amber, welcome to this podcast. I am so excited. We're so excited to have this conversation with you today. Oh my gosh, thank

Oh my gosh thank you so so much for having me. I'm excited to be here, especially when it comes to talking about all things success. And yeah, coming from you live in the jungle.

I love it. It's so good. And if you hear jungle noises like this is literally life. I love that Amber, let's dive in, like success is such a wide topic. But what does success mean to you?

I love this question so much. Because graduating high school, my dad had just died of cancer. And I was like, I'm going to be successful. I'm going to college, I'm getting a degree and I'm going to make him proud. And a year and a half into college. I was like, Hi, I'm so sad and depressed. I don't know what I'm going to do. And so I did a big thing. I dropped out of college, and I went to study yoga. And what I discovered along the way is success for me is the freedom to really express myself to go where I want when I want with who I want. And I had to be okay with creating a new definition of success when everyone was like who is this crazy wildflower child going to study yoga when she's supposed to be getting a college degree. And so there I was like being the for the outcasts. And then 10 years later here, I am still in Costa Rica living the nomadic lifestyle. And everyone's like, Amber, where are you, I actually want to come and go to your retreat, and I want to learn and grow from you. And so it really took me being brave to listen to my heart. And let my definition of success be founded for me. And I know that we all have our own unique definition of success. So it's important for you to ask yourself, like, what does success look like to you? Because it's money and it's so much more than money. It's a career and it's so much more than a career. I think it's a feeling of freedom to have the choice to be who you want to be.

That's so beautiful. And you know, it's it's really interesting, because a common theme is this concept of freedom in correlation to success. But you said something really interesting and it was about being brave. Like you did what you weren't supposed to do which was dropped out of college and you went on your own path. Do you think bravery has a lot to do with success or is it an individual case by case?

I don't know I want to say that it takes bravery to be successful because it's having a desire feeling a little bit of afraid. I think that we all feel afraid when we have a desire and we want to go for something and create something that we haven't created so it's like fear of like not knowing how it's gonna work out fear of being judged fearing like What if this crazy wild idea that I have doesn't go the way I desire it to, and that takes bravery to listen to what it is that you want, with the willingness to like, go for it and not know what's going to happen. So I think that you have to be brave to create.

And I love that. And I've actually never really thought about bravery with success, but it makes complete sense. I just want to say I'm so sorry about the loss of your father, it's I can't imagine being that young and going through it. Over the last few years, I lost my mom, my dad and my father in law. So I'm a little bit older than high school age, so I understand that pain. How is your relationship with your father's energy changed from going to college to make him proud to being a successful nomadic yogi? Like, what is that relationship with him now? Like,

they love us, I'm holding you so deeply, because it doesn't matter when you lose your family. You never actually heal from the loss of wanting them the hair to celebrate you along the way. And the first time that I traveled out of the country, I went to Thailand, I was 23 years old by myself with no plan. And I was just like, Okay, I'm going to travel and I was sitting on the beach and my boyfriend at the time sent me this song called toes in the sand. And it was a Zac Brown Band. And I just felt my dad's energy there with me. And I was like, I'm living through him. And my dad's been to Costa Rica over 70 times to fish. And he worked his life away, he worked 90 hours a week, to provide for his future. And I think that he would be so proud of me that I'm living the life, he always wished he could have lived. And I think he would have been like, I'm glad you're doing in a way that I didn't desire you to do it. And it's been so hard to not have that confirmation, like from his voice and his hugs and, but I know like, as proud of myself as I am, I know how proud he would be of Me, even though he's not here in the physical flesh, like I feel his support and everything that I've really created, because I'm so successful in a way that like, he probably thought I was crazy and all these moves. But like what I've built for myself going into my 33rd year of this world, and having a child and a family. And you know something about my dad is that he stayed in a relationship because of when we go to college, he would be alone. And yet this marriage killed him. Really, it did overworking in this marriage killed him. But I chose like a partner that was gonna love me for me. And I think that what I'm doing now is all the things that my dad wishes he would have done, I think.

Thank you for sharing that Amber. I love that. And one thing that struck me about what you just shared is that this bravery that you tapped into, to redefine success for you travel, to go where you want and do what you want, but whom you want it like all those things, really is almost it to me, it feels like you are brave enough to rewrite your family story. You were brave enough to rewrite your relationship stories. You saw what unhealthy relationship and behavioral patterns can do for us and our own lives through your dad and you chose to, to write a new story. And that takes bravery. And I have like, full like goosebumps right now. Saying that. And you know, I think that it's amazing how we often think of bravery like going down this like hero's journey and people don't often realize that. That requires us to take risk and make choices we've never made before and do it without knowing what's coming. But it's not always like you know, when I think of hero like when I hear that word, my initial instinct is save somebody or do this, you know, but like really I feel like listening to you. You've been on this hero's journey that was about redefining redefining life, redefining success redefining what it means to live redefining relationships, and coming out on the other side of it. Living your success.

Yeah, and something that you said there too is so strong for me is like I knew that my mission in this world was so big when I discovered that I was rewriting my ancestral history, you know, on both sides and like what heard that takes because you, I feel like we want to make our parents proud. And when we're doing it in a way that they didn't advise us to do expecially when they're not still around, oh, that's so challenging, but that's what I think like when it comes to creating SAS, it's like trusting what your soul is calling you to do. And sometimes that means something that there isn't an x, y, z, this is how you do it. But there's just that whisper of like, what if I do this? Like, what if I leave my marriage? What if I drop out of college? What if I leave this career, I just spent 20 years and, and that is for me, like what creates success is like, it's this feeling inside of us that we're on the path of our souls journey.

I absolutely love

that. And I'm someone who, like, I know, we're just getting to know each other Amber, but I'm an innovator. I started my PR company 15 years ago, and I became a social media marketing expert before it was a term before it was a thing. So I've always been in this place of innovation, and the global Resilience Project came out of a lot of the trauma that I've been through, and I'm paving away, and creating this thing that there is no blueprint for. So I completely understand that because I'm embodying it right now. And it's interesting, because the stuff that goes on the inside, the trauma, the pain, I find that people like us who go through such significant loss, we turn our pain into purpose. And so you just, you know, I want to dive into more about like, what do you do like your you run retreats, like I want to talk about how your purpose is fueling what you're doing right now.

You set us up and down my entire body all the way to my ankles, because pain to purpose, right? When I talk about my business is turning your story into your message. So that it's like not what what you're going through isn't just for you. It's for the impact that you have on the world. And when you're able to turn your pain into this purpose, you're able to help other people who are going through it. And when my dad died, I was drinking, doing drugs over eating 40 pounds heavier in a relationship that I wasn't happy and and I found yoga, yoga came into my life and it changed everything. I found who I was meant to be through all of that pain. And that's where I said, I'm going to give back to yoga yoga gave to me It saved my life. If it's cliche yoga changed my life. But no, it saved my life. It gave me purpose. And so I started teaching yoga. And that took me to Colorado. That took me to Costa Rica, where I started running leadership retreats. And as I started running my business, I was teaching women how to love themselves, because that's what yoga helped me do. It helped me love myself through all the pain and everything that I had to grow through. And then I realized how much we put into loving other people first and seeking other people's validation when it doesn't matter. If you change relationship career, here you how far you travel, you end up with yourself. And if you learn how to love yourself, it doesn't matter what's happening on the outside, because at the end of the day, you can sit with who you are. And so when I started changing people's lives through this practice, I found my own confidence and I really started to see that my pain become my purpose. And not only did I go through that for myself, but it was for all these women that were like Amer yoga changed my life has helped me with the reason that I'm doing what I'm doing now is because I used to be a struggling yoga teacher, I was hustling, teaching 16 yoga classes a week and just begging people to come to my retreats wanting to be more seen. And so this big desire to be more seen allowed me to see the potential of creating an online business, which gave me the confidence to start sharing my story and realizing that my story really didn't matter. And I was like wait a minute, more people that are passionate about things that they've gone through things that they've mastered, need to turn their gifts, their passions, their skills, their story into an online business, that's going to change the world. So not only did my yoga change my life, but now I get to help others create their craft, create their story and turn their pain like us that into a purpose by running an online business where we have the potential to reach hundreds and 1000s of people. And you don't have to turn your time into money. I taught 16 yoga classes a week and I got paid $6,000 a year, I went to create an online program where I encompassed everything that had made me who I was, and I started charging $1,500 to $2,000. For a three month experience. I served over 120 people in that program generating over $200,000 from turning my story, my gifts, my skills into an online program that I was like, wait a minute, I'm going to teach other people how to do this. And now what I say is like you get to be the ripple that makes waves so turning everything that you've gone through everything that you mastered everything that you studied into an online business, we're now your impact just making a ripple. And that ripple is making a wave.

I love that turn everything into a ripple that turns into a wave. Ah, it's so powerful. And I just I always love chatting with you. Like we've had so many like incredible conversations every time like, again, we talked today. And it's like, as if it's the first time we're having a conversation, like, it's beautiful and powerful. And I think that so many of us, when we go into entrepreneurship, don't really think about the power of our own stories, what we've gone through or how that can really fuel our purpose. And I, you know, personally having been on this wild journey in the last seven months, eight months, I mean, even know how many months it's been off stepping, like really using my bravery and Audacity and courage to make huge life changes and how that has actually come into my brand and into my why and how relevant that is to how I'm creating success now in my business, and how I show up and how I lead and guide. I feel like it's been this growing learning, like, it's been like a growth that you even learn the power of our story. And the power of just showing up as we are in our businesses and sharing authentically and transparently. And that's something that blades actually always inspired me to do. And now it's created, like the wave is going is like I'm like, well, like what is happening right now, like in terms of where my business is going, while being at a more grounded, peaceful rooted place without having a home base without having a relationship status that is considered successful, no longer married, you know, like all these like, external circumstances that I used to feel a part of fallen off. And through my story, I found freedom and liberation that has led me to the most beautiful, peaceful place, while creating more abundance than I even saw coming so quickly. And I saw I love that this is what you do, because they think we don't often understand the power in the story, the power in the pain, the power and the transparency, off our message and the vulnerability share.

Yeah, and how that story, those stories, the things where you thought you couldn't get to the other side of her that you would be judged for is the exact thing that connects you heart to heart into the soul of your clients, which is like, why it's so important that we share our story. And that's how we actually become a magnet for our dream soulmate clients is it's because of the stories I mean, there's so many social media managers, so many business coaches, so many yoga teachers, the market is saturated, but there's no one with your essence, your story, your mission. And the more that you show up and you share the parts and pieces of your story. Like, what I like to talk about is like defining your brand with the stories that you want to lead with. And what are those five most pivotal moments in your life that created and crafted who you are today, like you never thought you would get to the other side of and here you are on the other side of that. And that's exactly why you want to lead your brand with your story. Because it's how you attract people into your world. Like we're sitting here today because of like, what you went through and how that like connected our hearts to hearts. I just found that why me and Blair connecting, you know, it's like, we attract these people, these stories, whether it's a best friend or a client, because of sharing our stories and the energy that that holds and who we become along the way through these like devastating moments.

Yeah, and I mean that that's so beautiful. And we're all on this journey. And everything that's happened to us and everything we've gone through has led to this very moment, this very moment in time. And I love what you said about coming up with you know, your story, because that's that's definitely something that I empower people to do in my social media business, and through the Global Resilience Project. And I want to take that one step further. Like, I don't know how you approach this, but going through all the stuff I went through, I now think about what is the legacy I want to leave behind. So not just my story, but when I'm no longer here, what's my legacy? And I'm building that path. What's your legacy? What are you working towards?

Yeah, for me, it's being completely devoted to who I'm becoming and being remembered as some One that like went for her dreams no matter what the cost was because she really wanted to do the inner work not just for herself, but for the impact that it had on. If I look at my life and where I was, and other people that are in those same exact situations, it's a choice to turn as we were speaking like your power in, in your pain into your power, and really stepping into owning your story and letting like the traumatic things that happen to you be what motivates you to keep going so that you can help and inspire others. For me, it's like I'm so devoted to helping others because I know what it's like to be in such a down place. And I also know what it means to be so devoted to becoming a better person and and what it takes to really look at yourself and to sit with yourself and to be committed to creating a life of success no matter what the cause, but it's not so much for me like success as it is like who you become along the way and how just like your smile, your voice can change the whole room. And for me, it's like I want to be remembered as someone who was fully devoted to being the best version she could be for the impact that she has on other people's lives.

That's beautiful. I love that. Let's fast forward until like 30 years from now. Check in. So this has been so much fun. Amber, couple last questions. One, where can people find you? Where can people enter the world of Amber? And to what is one final piece of advice for someone who is on the path to success?

Yes, thank you. Thank you so much Blair Teresa for giving me this opportunity to connect. It's been so hard opening and many tears and goose bumps along the way. And to keep this conversation going you can find me on Instagram is behind the scenes of a mompreneur surfer girl in Costa Rica living her best life, surfing and creating and yeah, just devoted to having a bigger impact in the world. So find me on Instagram at Amber Hagberg. If you love podcasts, as you're listening here, I have amplified impact for multi passionate entrepreneurs, we go behind the scenes of what it means to be a devoted entrepreneur, how to be devoted to your inner human, and all the tips along the way that I've learned in my life of just continuously becoming the best version of me. And you can find a interview that I did with Theresa just a couple of weeks back, which is super exciting. And then also if you want to connect in another deeper way, you can always send me an email if you want a more personalized way to just let me know where you're at what you're growing through and what really resonated with you send me an email. And we're hagberg@gmail.com. To me, success is being devoted to the lifelong journey that failure doesn't exist. So on your journey to becoming wildly successful or wildly free. Just know that if you're in it, and you're not in a place where you're feeling successful, you're not at the end, keep going or like I say, keep growing, continue to grow and evolve. stay committed to the path and maybe you find 10,000 ways that didn't work. Failure is just an opportunity to continue to keep on learning. Again, if you're not in a place right now where you feel wildly successful and free. You haven't finished the journey yet. You were born to be wildly successful. Keep on growing, and continue to find what works for you. What lights your heart your soul on fire.

Amber, that's amazing. Thank you so much for being a guest. Theresa, thank you so much for being a co host, everyone listening thank you so much for your dedication and letting us into your ears your mind your soul, your body, your purpose, your success path. This has been such an awesome episode. And we can't wait to do this again with you next week. Peace