Mature Preneurs Talk With Diana Todd-banks

In her 51st year Deezelmama, Birthed A Record Label Named Underfoot. Born out of her frustration that the fabulous music her Producer husband was creating wasn’t being released. Deanne recognised the artists were struggling to take their music to the next step, while working day jobs and playing nights, in an industry full of fads, bright new things, and everchanging approaches to how music is delivered and distributed.  Possessing a quick mind, unique skills, lots of available time, De as she is known by her friends, was up for a challenge. Marrying a musician in 1986, she ran away from the nine-to-five-world in the late 90's, parking her Economics Degree for the practicality of the family Removals business. Three decades of marriage, music, raising children & burying parents – plus another 20 years of various career incarnations, experiments and creative sidetracks gave De the diverse skills needed to own and manage the record label.  Getting a kick out of nurturing creativity, the times of performances

Shortly after retiring Deb began thinking what she wanted to do next, and it didn’t take long for an idea to emerge.  Inspiration can emerge from any day-to-day activity just keep your ‘senses’ open, and watching a TV Program “Say Yes to the Dress” she said, “I love weddings, I love cosplay (costume play), am a self-proclaimed “geeky girl,” I love sci/fi, comic book, fantasy, steam punk, all vastly different from her former job as a Senior Executive with the US Federal Government. Not wasting time, Deb researched wedding officiants in her area, and discovered there was a void for couples interested in cosplay for weddings.  Studying she became ordained as a wedding officiant, then combined her love of weddings and cosplay then started her company, An Unusual Affair, LLC, focusing on creating unusual ceremonies, but she did include traditional wedding ceremonies and writing custom wedding ceremonies. Cosplay is dressing up as a character from a film, book, or video game. Deb has 4 tips for those seeking a new

Dr John McGrail the renowned clinical hypnotherapist, success coach, spirituality teacher, is the founder and president of A Better You, Inc. and a leading media expert on the topic of personal improvement. His book, The Synthesis Effect, (Career Press) shares and teaches his unique Synthesis techniques for creating personal change and transformation, quickly and profoundly, which result in him receiving rave reviews and media coverage. As with so many over 50’s who started their work life in totally different fields, John began his career seeking adventure in professional aviation, first for the U.S. Coast Guard, then with a major airline. After13 years flying, he left to start Creative Media Services in Boston, specializing in the development and production of training and motivational programs for major corporate clients, which led to many new opportunities including on-camera and voiceover work. After several years, he followed his muse to Los Angeles to pursue acting and screenwriting continuing his crea

Peter Mehit decided, “I don’t need this any more,” - a bold decision after a bad corporate review. Nearing 50, leaving his six-figure corporate job Peter started his own consulting business realising there are times in life when a bold step is needed. That move, turned Peter’s life into an exciting new journey. The story of people consciously leaving corporate life about 50 is not new but what happens after can become an exciting new journey, or perhaps the opposite where many flounder wondering what to do with their life. The over 50’s have a lot of knowledge and skills which they often ignore, listen to the podcast to hear Peter explain more. At the start Peter decided to help people plan, fund and launch their businesses, so they can get the most out of their ongoing companies. By making every possible mistake you can make, that made Peter a hugely valuable resource to his clients. The following years have been the challenging and rewarding, enabling him to grow in ways he didn’t think possible, but Peter

Professor Brian Wilson says John E. Fetzer was a fascinating man who kept himself mentally alert and young by constantly exploring anything new and is why Brian wrote about him in the book ‘Quest for the New Age’. But that’s not the only reason. As professor of American religious history in the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Brian explored John Fetzer’s as he had two extremely contrasting sides to his life. A media mogul and the owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team for almost thirty years beginning in 1956, when he died John Fetzer was one of the wealthiest people in the US. But the other side Professor Wilson says, is the most interesting aspect one that was not well known – John’s life-long spiritual search that led him from traditional forms of Christianity to an exploration of a variety of metaphysical religions culminating in the New Age a term that was just beginning to emerge. The result of Brian’s search was Fetzer ultimately used his wea

As the Clinical Director of the Family Therapy Institute of Santa Barbara and before that a child psychologist for forty years, Dr Mac has helped a lot of kids and families, but there came a point asking the question above of himself, sent him on a new trajectory, which continues today. Looking back on his endeavours Don, says he treasures the value of humour in bringing about change and as he found out later, music can too.   When parents have problems with their kids, the docs tell them to call the “child whisperer,” a nickname Dr Mac acquired over the years and after 30 years he decided it was time to extend his influence and share with the world the knowledge he had acquired. A question many adults can ask themselves as Don did, what are the things you know now that are valuable for the public? With that Dr Mac and his wife co-authored two highly acclaimed parenting books - How’s Your Family Really Doing? Also, Who’s the Boss?  Inspired by his meditations and study of the Course in Miracles, Don says he’s

David talks about his own depression, his own healing, and how he has helped thousands around the world. How he came to achieve that is an amazing story of discovery, persistence, ... and much more. David answers a lot of questions in this podcast even those quizzed by the host.  What makes his story, his healing, and his work different is that he was part of this 40 million group of individuals struggling, for years, without understanding why. Despite his success in 1990 everything came crashing down he was living directly on the beach, doing the work he loved, and yet he became suicidal. For many people as with David, asking for help with their depression and anxiety was out of the question. After all, they were or are super successful, doing the work they love… they couldn’t ask for help. Since those days, it’s important to understand for years now David has garnered huge acclaim and credentials verifying his knowledge in the field – he’s even viewed as one of the top Counsellors and Life Coaches in the US

Lorraine Reguly deserves all the success that comes her way, because as a fourteen-year-old virgin she was raped, quit school and turned to drugs and prostitution for solace. How do you turn your life around from all that at such a young age? Showing her fortitude she went back to school and with great zeal approached many other positive tasks successfully, which Lorraine describes during her conversation with Host Diana Todd-Banks. But the wrong side of life stepped in again and because the money was better the young woman who changed her life returned to prostitution and drugs. Adopting that approach ruined her self-esteem, which resulted in an accident where she nearly lost her right leg. The resulting scar and deformity to her leg contributed to not only furthering deepening depression along with a continuing feeling to commit suicide, adding to that downward spiral her son moved out not happy with his Mother. It’s often said in this loose phrase, one needs a ‘bigger thump in life’ before taking serious n

As a high-powered criminal defence attorney specializing in sex offenses and domestic violence she says her years in the profession aged her especially as not many women are involved in the field. After discovering a brain tumour, she decided to get off the hamster wheel and leave the criminal justice system so she pondered what could she do. The catch cry of so many people in midlife when they decide a new direction is needed.  Wisdom kicked in and she looked at her passions and there was one that stood out – she always loved and was attracted to horses.  She had done numerous years of personal coaching with Personal Success Institute prior to getting certified as an Equine Gestalt Coach, which is why Andrea founded her business Withers Whisper, LLC in 2017. Gestalt means “wholeness”. Starting her new business has been a little bit more of a challenge than starting her law practice.  In the law business people need you they want to stay out of jail.  Her new business is considered a luxury option not a neces

Michelle Beber’s own personal experience with After Death Communications was foreign to her. Nearing 50, an emotional breakdown put her on a path of spiritual awakening starting with her life-changing after-death communication or ADC from her mom. ADC is a direct and spontaneous communication from a deceased loved one, importantly without the use of a medium.  Researching signs from deceased loved ones Michelle discovered the book, Hello From Heaven, which helped her to understand how we remain connected to those who have died. As Michelle discovered there are different forms of communication, which can appear in different ways, explaining this during the podcast. ADC is not strange it is a real experience. By now with her experiences and research, Michelle went on to write her first manuscript entitled My Mommy Is a Butterfly, a picture book to help children cope with grief. But the universe blocked her path to publishing it for several years and for reasons unknown to her. During those years, she developed

Change is not a mental battleground, but we’re conditioned to believe it is and despite change happening every second and constantly it won’t stop. On a personal level change tends to frighten people all the time. Why because it instantly appears to mean a time of major upheaval even trauma. For Diana having experienced change in many forms throughout her life, she knows that moving beyond change can bring joy and a positive new beginning and it can for you too. Listen to Diana’s list of amazingly diverse and extreme, often traumatic change experiences and you do come to understand why this Life Change Specialist can coach others so effectively. She had to take a cold hard look at herself and what she found was a tragic young woman who carried with her for decades, the feeling she simply wasn’t good enough, she was an utter failure and that was the reason many things didn’t work out for her. Diana describes that truly pathetic experience during her early childhood, which for 3 decades had a profound affect on

Lindsey Agness is one of the foremost experts in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) a certified Master Trainer of NLP, and the first woman certified by the American Board of NLP in the UK. But before that heading toward midlife Lindsey made the scary move into entrepreneurship by starting her own business, feeling she could make a bigger impact on people’s lives by taking control of her own destiny first which she has now proven. Having written four books on the topic of organizational and personal development, including the international best seller ‘Change Your Life with NLP’ and ‘Still 25 Inside’, she believes everyone has the ability to change their life and that it’s never too late to change. Whatever happened to all those dreams you once had? Remember the time when you thought anything was possible, but now you've reached the mid-point of your life and you feel you've left it too late? Many women, (men too) reach a stage in their lives when they begin questioning the direction in which they are heading

Bron Williams is a creative communicator passionate about helping people reach their full potential by tapping into the resources of their past. With over 3 decades of experience in the education, in her early 50’s she left her husband and joined the Salvation Army, got an honors degree in theology, ran a church and worked with asylum seekers on Nauru for a long time. Later after turning 60, now was the time to take her wisdom and experience and share it as a speaker and coach through Backstory Consultancy. It can be tempting to want to lock the past away, says Bron, yet the past is really a treasure trove of power and resources just waiting to be tapped into which she first discovered when confronted by some of the unconscious factors driving her life - her latent racism and unacknowledged white privilege that emerged when working with asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru. These insights enabled her to work through her own backstory of domestic abuse enabled her to bring clarity, power and focus to helping p

Hans Schwedler is extremely focused on Health and Wellness and although seriously cynical he was keen to find out about the health benefits of Laughter. So he trotted off to a Laughter Demonstration at a large Health Expo, and it wasn’t too long before he ended up on stage laughing his head off completely convinced about the techniques demonstrated. Hans said what he discovered was this form of laughter club is vastly different from the laughter clubs that existed some years ago. This originated in Mumbia, India, as a result he participated in a Laughter Leader training course then started community based Laughter Clubs, where many people have since benefited. But given his earlier training in mental health and wellbeing he decided to donate his time to Aged Care Homes, Retiree Villages, Corporate Organisations and Community Service Organisations like Probus to promote the values of Laughter. Patients and staff at Aged Care Homes derive enormous benefits particularly in mental health, but so does the communit

Damien Lee views himself as a disrupter, the half Australian half-Singaporean serial entrepreneur, and cancer survivor has a continual natural risk reward mentality with a firm belief life gets increasingly better in your mature years. Of all the businesses he has ever built from the ground up, in Australia to Denmark, Singapore, France and Afghanistan, they were in industries in which he had no experience; listen to him discuss why. But his businesses came to a grinding halt in 2014 when he was diagnosed with stage 4-chest cancer and given weeks. Focusing on cleaning up his eating to only consuming healthy foods and drinks he miraculously recovered from the disease. Damian describes an interesting story about instant noodles in which there’s a big but simple business and life lesson that set him on a new path creating a new business producing the healthiest instant noodle available. Mr Lee’s Noodles was born including an innovative, interactive digital ‘Noodle Kiosk’ vending machine providing a 24/7 healthy

JULIAN MATHER says the day the school system taught conventional career planning he missed it. In fact the school system must have recognised Julian was a chronic truant. As his life progressed he self-educated reading between the lines of books to find secrets to turning his obsession into his profession. From high school failure to Army sniper to globe trotting TV cameraman to professional magician to accidental You Tube personality to online entrepreneur he hasn’t felt he’s worked a day in his life. Now at 57 Julian says he’s just beginning. His pivotal moment was in the UK at the same school celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay went. It’s a tough school with tough problems and Julian was filming a documentary for Australian TV, in which an inspiring policeman was talking to a tough bunch of fifteen year olds about the dangers of aerosol sniffing. Their bravado melted they were inspired. When three boys left, silently they removed aerosol cans from their bags and left them on the teacher’s desk. Something went off

Anne McKeown says it’s not an uncommon feeling for stay at home mums, when children become more independent and less needed. Feeling lost, alone and fearful of the future, it’s the plight of many women, especially for those who have not kept up a career, they lack confidence, their self-esteem is dented, and they view themselves as irrelevant in society. That was the case for Ann.  Recognising she was at a turning point in life Anne had a choice to either retire quietly or reclaim her identity.  Meeting with a few ladies for conversation (not gossip) but growth, to help build one another up and deal with these issues, her small group has grown into a gathering of over 400 members in only two years.  Inspired by this response, Anne started her own Life Coaching business incorporating NLP skills, as years ago she worked as a Corporate Coach and as a chaplain in a high school in the UK. Many women, and men too have no idea what to do and Anne suggests look at You Tube, it’s so easy to learn a new skill watching

Jeff Rasley left his successful law practice of 30 years to take a hike! His wife knew he was as an avid adventure traveller in his earlier life and when he began manifesting mid-life crisis symptoms she suggested he go take a hike on the other side of the world. The cure suggested by his wife was to go trekking in the Himalayas on the Mt. Everest Base Camp Trail at the age of 42.  Trekking the Himalayas as therapy seemed to work.  Taking up Himalayan Mountaineering and solo sea kayaking he wrote several articles about those experiences from a spiritual/psychological perspective.  A few years later on his fourth mountaineering expedition his climbing team barely escaped an avalanche although tragically three Nepalese porters carrying equipment for Western climbers were killed.  Deeply affected, Jeff reconsidered the purpose of his adventure travel and found the answer was to combine adventure travel with culturally sensitive development work in remote villages in the Nepal Himalayas and to write and teach abo

Cheryl Ilov surprised not only herself, but everyone who knew her when she began her martial arts training in the Art of the Ninja at the age of 47. Sure she likes tutus and toe shoes, Pilates and pedicures, but martial arts, this was never ever on her radar. But the Universe had other plans for her. Her Sensei was her acupuncturist and her friend long before he became her teacher. It took him 3 years to get her to train with him, and she did not go willingly. He literally had to drag her onto the mat, kicking and screaming, not in a good way. Finally agreeing to take a few classes, just to prove to him how much she was going to hate it, to her surprise, she fell in love with the art and the training, and the sense of strength, empowerment, and confidence she gained from training. Her friends were horrified. They told Cheryl she was too old, too frail, she would get injured, and she should quit. She ignored them and kept going to class. Ten years later, at the age of 57, Cheryl earned the high honour of becom

Beverley became determined to dedicate her life’s work to alleviating mental disorders caused by trauma; now she’s achieved that with documented scientific evidence being released now. The attempted rape experience triggered off flashbacks of horrendous abuse as a child, which had been locked away in her deep sub-conscious. Those flashbacks caused extreme anxiety/panic/depression; the psychiatrists said she was hallucinating and prescribed heavy medication. Finally able to get collaboration for some of her flashbacks, she knew what she saw was real, but the medical model could not provide answers, and this became the trigger to search for a way to get well. It took 10 years. A story of sheer tenacity and perseverance, Beverley researched, attended conferences on PTSD and volunteered for 7 years in mental health organisations. Listen to Beverley’s podcast as she describes a profound meeting she had that became the catalyst for her to develop a 9 step formula called ‘My Envisioned Mind’ (My.EM) which now many p