I’m so excited you’re here to listen to my very first full Episode 001 of the Dream Doers Podcast.
Thanks for joining in on the fun with me and celebrating the rainbow after the storms! I will be having a LAUNCH PARTY April 18, 2025 if you would like to join in and have a few drinks and appetizers with me and everyone who wants to be a part of all the good energy. RSVP here to join in on the party.
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You can now find me on Spotify and Apple Podcast amongst a few others.
đ¤ Ready to thrive and not just survive too? Hit play now to listen in.
⨠Subscribe to Dream Doerâs YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@dreamdoers.podcast
đ Follow Jana with the Dream Doers Podcast on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook: @thedreamdoers.podcast
đŹ What, or who do you feel is holding you back that you can begin untethering you from to begin a life youâve always dreamed of? Drop it in the comments below.
đ Visit my website at www.thedreamdoers.com
Episode Highlights:
⢠Why you need to listen to me anyway.
⢠How to believe in yourself.. you can make it through storms too.
⢠Why you should embrace the changing tides by my story.
⢠How I saw the world differently, and then moved differently.
⢠Courage to begin untethering from toxic people and things.
⢠The magic of letting them and letting go.
⢠Hearing how much healthy boundaries matter.
Episode breakdowns:
[00:00] Maybe we were meant to sink.
[03:05] Who is this Jana chick anyway?
[05:00] Unveiling the mask of sunshine, to seeing all the pain.
[08:39] My tides were already changing.
[10:23] My dream for this podcast.
[13:33] Letting go so you can grow!
[17:30] Having healthy boundaries to get you out of survival mode.
[23:20] Join in with me. Some future episode ideas.
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[00:00] Maybe we were meant to sink.
Life is unpredictable. One moment, youâre building something beautifulâa business, a family, your dreams. But the next? A storm hits. And suddenly, youâre fighting just to keep your head above water.
I know that feeling. Iâve lived it. In the past 5-10 years, Iâve faced more than I ever thought I could handleâlosing family and friends, betrayal, trauma, deaths, shootings, robbery⌠Moments that could have broken me.
But hereâs what Iâve learned: storms donât have to sink you. But then again⌠maybe they do. Maybe we spend so much time patching holes in a sinking boat when we were never meant to stay on that boat to begin with. Maybe we were meant to sink, to start overâto discover a whole new world waiting beneath the surface. Or maybe you were meant to be a mermaid, who knows? Just trust the process. Look I can say this now with a smile, but it was the most aggravating thing to hear all the time, in the midst of it all.
One of the best pieces of advice I received these past years was: âJana, youâd be surprised what treasure might be waiting for you at the bottom. Just let the boat sink.â And when I finally stopped fighting the process, I found something betterâa whole new world of color, life, connection, freedom. I found ME again. But I spent so much time trying to stop the process, trying to fix it, when it wasnât even fixable.
Hereâs one thing I do know friends: You WILL rise, you can rebuild, and you can thrive through lifeâs hardest seasons. Itâs true. Iâm living proof itâs true. And thatâs exactly what this podcast is all about.
Welcome to Dream Doers. Iâm your host, JanaâJana Marie, Jana Banana, whatever works. Iâm not a professional speaker at all, Iâm just a real person whoâs been through the fire, and in some ways, still coming out on the other side. This is a space for the raw, untouchable conversations we SHOULD be havingâthe truth about sustaining your personal and your business dreams through lifeâs hardest seasons.
So if youâve ever wondered, âHow do I keep going when everything is falling apart?ââyou are definitely in the right place. Because Iâve been there. And Iâm going to show you exactly how I made it throughâwithout losing myself, my true loved ones, OR my businesses.
[03:05] Who is this Jana chick anyway?
But before we dive in, you might be wondering, why in the world does another person need a microphone to add more chaos to this noisy world? Who is this Jana chick anyway? If youâre interested in the dorky girl behind the mic, let me introduce myself properly. I have been a photographer and graphic designer since 2008 right out of college. Entrepreneurship runs super deep in me. I launched a photo booth company in 2012, helped build a brick-and-mortar business in 2017, and now, Iâm in the process of launching multiple new venturesâincluding this very podcast. Whew. Iâm also a mom who fostered kiddos, adopted and have two beautiful boys, 3 fur babies and would have a whole farm if I had the money maybe, and some help. I live in a 117-year-old home I bought and renovated right in the middle of the map of the U.S.A. And believe it or not, I have been a basketball official since 1999 working with the NCAA for about 15 years, and shortly after that I began reffing volleyball too. Iâve traveled the world for outreach and work, I played college volleyball in Missouri and Iowa, I ran a vending machine business with my dad during college also, I was a double art major, coached at the college and the club level, and now? Iâm onto coaching my little rascals in basketball and soccer. Ohâand Iâve also been married, divorced, and through more fiery storms than I ever imagined. There is never a dull moment being a mom and entrepreneur thatâs for sure.
Ok, now that weâve got the proper meet and greet out of the way, lets dive in
[05:00] Unveiling the mask of sunshine, to seeing all the pain.
Ok so Letâs rewind for a second. Before everything went sideways, I had not only lived but also built a life I thought that I knew and I really loved it. I had thriving businesses, I was building a family, dreams that felt so real and graspable. I was in my own personal grooveâdoing all the things, goal getting, dream doing.. I guess I sort of thought it was what we were all doing. ⌠It was about 15 years ago during my younger adult life in small groups that I began to realize my childhood was quite different than most. I didnât realize how many rough experiences so many people had as children. How much trauma people had endured. I was hearing it everywhere. And then seeing what so many children now were going through in foster care and in neighbors homes… My heart started really, to shatter little by little knowing I had it so good and that was not normal. My eyes were unveiled and I began to see more and more people hurting over the next decade. And it sucked. Empathetic people know what I mean. You begin to really feel it, carry it all, and most of it isnât even ours to carry. You see I come from a long line of helpers and doers. And while this is such a gift and a blessing Gods given me, it can also be such a curse. I want to help and fix and a lot of times that comes at a cost of pushing others away when they donât want help or to be âfixed.â I was building my businesses and learning to love systems and the growth I was seeing in me. I just wanted others to have that same excitement for life and business. I was loving the friendships I was building. But I began to see all of these things through the lens of correction and fixing. The curse of performance based everything from my birth to present ran so deep in my blood. Everything from sports practices over and over to fix your form, to hanging art on a wall for the entire class to critique, to watching film of us reffing to see if our body language and mechanics are on point⌠always correction based, fixing, doing better and performing better the next time.
Really, what a treasure it is to be able to learn, mold yourself into your truest strengths and grow, but also, what a curse it became as I started seeing the hurting and imperfect world everywhere around me and people just needed love, not fixing.. Life wasnât sunshine and rainbows after all.
[08:39] My tides were already changing.
I remember being at a womenâs conference about a decade ago and the woman who was speaking was a business woman whose husband had been having affairs. Her tears and quivering voice I remember were such proof of her pain. But she laughed, smiled, and shared of her experience and how it made her and her husband stronger. How they got through it. I saw the effects it was having on the women in the whole room. On me too. And I couldnât even relate. I spoke to her after and I told her, âSo, many of my friends, especially Christians, say they want to go do a bunch of stupid things so they can have a better testimony and be able to relate to more people. I just donât have a testimony and people wonât listen to me if I havenât been through it or been in their shoes.â I remember her response to me like it was yesterday. She said, â Maybe you need to let your joy and your light be what loves on people.â Ok. So I knew that but I still didnât feel like people could come to me through their deepest pains because I hadnât walked through it like they had. So I took what she said, and little did I know, I had no idea that while I wasnât praying for Storms to hit, the tide was already changing.
But honestly can we just agree that the most beautiful thing is the rainbow after the storms anyway?
[10:23] My dream for this podcast.
Shortly after that, God had drastically different plans for my life. And when I say the storms came, I mean, they came hard, like a monsoon hard. Some of the hardest of this season was experiencing multiple deaths, multiple loved ones addictions and affairs, figuring out how to handle trauma, violence, shooting, on top of getting licensed to take in children all at once. It was, a lot. And to say it outloud sounds so WILD and a little unreal. Whew. Lets just say Iâm paying a few therapists light bills at this point for all of us. And if I can be completely honest with you, a lot of these wounds can still feel pretty fresh. So thank you for letting me be real and honest here. Itâs the only thing I know how to do is just to be authentically me. Now please donât hear me wrong here either. I am not starting a podcast or.. saying any of this to get sympathy or pity from anyone. Iâm saying it because I know Iâm not the only one whoâs been blindsided by life. I know what itâs like to feel like the ground is crumbling beneath you. And when Iâve told even glimpses of my story to others, I started to hear a pattern over and over, âOh my gosh, how are you standing here?â âOh Jana, how are you managing all of that.â âHow?â âOh my gosh you need to write a book.â ⌠and the more I began praying about how I could make my mess my message and turn my pain into a bigger purpose, I started feeling Godâs push for me to keep speaking up. So I was given a microphone. If I can do anything at all with this platform, I pray this podcast is a survival guide for just one person. It would make it all worth it. There were so many things I wish I knew starting a business, starting a marriage, starting a family and navigating all the things. But I see something bigger.. a thriving community, educated women, self sustaining single moms, thriving businesses and balanced families. The literal dreams and images I have in my head for the future are so beautiful. And Iâll keep dreaming and doing and see where this specific journey takes me with you all.
[13:33] Letting go so you can grow!
SoâŚ. In the midst of this new season of craziness, I had two choices to make: let these storms destroy me⌠or figure out how to survive them and come out stronger. I was single parenting for years and I had to ensure I had a business or businesses to sustain us all. I began to become obsessed with systems and management. It was really the only way to make it all happen. I was an insta new mom of a newborn and a five year old, while helping build a brand new brick and mortar and lo and behold, letâs just have my dad fall off a roof on a job, land on his head, break damn near every bone In his body, somehow survive it after about 30 days in the ICU and intubated, oh and, thatâs not enough so⌠letâs just throw in a world pandemic, shall we? 2020 was a sh** storm in itself. Now Iâm stuck in my house, a stay at home teacher too, and an only income provider. Everyone and everything was literally falling apart around me. And the fixer and helper that I was, was trying to hold it all together for everyone. To help everyone. Which led me to unwillingly fighting in the middle of a battle of 5-10 people all cross firing, me being hit over and over and being told on repeat to just get up and get over it. I quickly saw my empathy, allowing the pain of others to affect me, which affects everything else: my kids, my job. And itâs just me taking care of my entire unit so⌠this really began the very hardest season of them all and that was slowly untethering from anything and anyone that wasnât feeding me life, that wasnât a support for me and my boys, anything built on lies, hatred, cruelty, betrayal. Sadly, that was an entire life I had to let go of that I was never prepared for. Days, weeks and months I spent.. without most people knowing.. well, what I felt like was, alone. Not understanding that God was stripping everything back, to not only teach me to solely rely on God alone, but to find my worth in God alone too. Iâm a recovering people pleaser here. I was planted in a pot with walls that was limiting me. Tethered to poisonous plants slowly killing me off. And let me tell you, when you pray to God and say, âGod send me. Iâll go where you need me to go,â you better buckle up buttercup. Because that never means anywhere luxurious. God had to rip me right out of that little pot with walls and replant me in his firm foundation with unlimited space to grow. Let me tell you, when I say it was God and my dog that got me through this decade of hell on earth, I mean it. Thereâs a reason why God and dog are spelled the same thing backwards.. I wouldnât have survived without that and also the army of truly angelic support and true love, accountability, mentorship and friendships in my very shrinking circle. My friends became my family. When they say you find out who your real people are in the midst of tragedy. They mean it. There were days waking up alone to get the kids fed and off to school, barely able to get out of the bed, hardly sleeping, body in shock with PTSD and so much bodily, emotional, mental and financial trauma, I hardly had anything left to give. I remember showing up to ref basketball games, eyes swollen and red from crying all day. I was just depleted. I know they can see my distress, it was embarrassing but I had to keep working.. Photographing weddings emotionally tore me up inside. So many of my friends’ marriages were ending so horribly it was just so hard. Regrafting myself to the source of life was all the strength I had left. Just get me through the day and get the kids to bed to figure out how to do it all again tomorrow. Some of the help and support I thought I had, was honestly nowhere. I am, and so many of us are raising our children in a villageless society, and during covid.
One by one I began cutting off all my roots tethered to others I shouldnât be tethered to. In business and in my personal life.
[17:30] Having healthy boundaries to get you out of survival mode.
I was surviving. And that was a damn miracle. I learned as I began rebuilding myself, my children and creating a safe and loving safe haven again, that I never really had been taught how to have boundaries. So I learned how to set them. I learned how to say no. I learned how to cut back, to stop working so much. My entire life shifted. Kids will do that to you (and all the moms listening in saying, âmmmhmmm.â My ministry was now at home. My kids needed the healthiest and most loving version of me and I knew that. So, many, things, had to go to get me here. I am our protector. We will rebuild stronger. I will protect my peace, my childrenâs peace. I found out who my true loved ones were. Who carried me when I couldnât carry myself. Who believed me, believed in me when I finally stepped up and started telling the truth. Who poured into me, spoke life into me, did life with me. The ones who supported my kids, who helped, the ones who truly cared and fought with me, who stepped up to the plate. Being on the receiving end of needing care was one of the hardest and most beautiful things Iâve ever experienced. I relied heavily on those in the event industry to keep sending business my way. Those who saw me hurting and they stepped up. I relied on my support systems and was told how wrong I was for not only utilizing support and mentorship but how dare I tell any of my story. The silencing went and the silencing of women, from friends to family to higher positions. And continued. But I will continue fighting for good, for a healthy balance between personal and work life for all. Iâll continue fighting for healthy dialogue between tough clients, and tough families, and how to have the inevitable conformational conversations whether in personal life or in business. Iâll continue speaking up for those who fear being rejected, those being further harmed by telling their truth. Iâll continue to teach systems and sustainability so that when you too enter a hard season where you need space to grieve, mourn and rest, that your businesses youâve built can carry you through. And not only you, your entire crew. Iâll continue to advocate for education on this well rounded life weâre dreaming up doing. Iâll continue growing myself, continuing my work on being a better listener, more patient, to continue to build resilience, and I pray I continue to love people in spite of others’ wrongdoings. And I pray that for you too.
So dear baby Jesus, bring the people who need to hear this today.
[23:20] Join in with me. Some future episode ideas.
Here is what I can tell you: I didnât do it alone. And I didnât do it by accident. In the next episodes, Iâm breaking it all downâhow I built a business that worked FOR me, while I mourned, how I made sure my family was taken care of, and how I protected my peace through all of it. I definitely didnât do it all perfectly. But, I hope to give you some insight before your storm comes. Because itâs inevitable weâre all going to experience hard things. So how will we handle it when it comes? And are we prepared? Here are some ideas of future topics I hope to be covering. How to build a well-oiled machine of a business that runs itself. How to heal while still showing up for your responsibilities. How to set boundaries with toxic relationships & protect your peace. How to create a healthy work life balance. And so much more.
listen – If youâre in a shitty storm right now, I want you to hear this: you are not alone. And no matter how impossible it feels, you CAN make it through. You ARE worthy. You DO matter. What you bring and provide to the world DOES matter. You can still build something beautiful. Flowers grow in the valley my friends. You will rise. I promise you.
So mama, you are exhausted, youâre wearing all the hats, thereâs never enough time in a day, youâve got baby barf going into a zoom meeting and you can’t remember what day it is. Your event last night got you home at 2 A.M. and your kid is up at 4 A.M. with a fever, just great. There are too many unread books, unread texts and a never ending list of podcasts. But if you’re trying to be the octopus that does it all but wants to do it with a little less stress, and more joy for life, more balance… Or maybe youâre a single mom forced to do it all, please stick with me. Because Iâm here to show you another way.
In the next episodes, weâre diving into the real, raw, and practical steps that will help you create a life that doesnât just survive the stormsâbut SOARS you through them.
Are you in? Hit that subscribe button, share this with someone who needs to hear it, and letâs start DOING the damn thing. See you in episode 002 of the Dream Doers Podcast.
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đ¤ Ready to thrive and not just survive too? Hit play now to listen in.
⨠Subscribe to Dream Doerâs YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@dreamdoers.podcast
đ Follow Jana with the Dream Doers Podcast on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook: @thedreamdoers.podcast
đŹ What, or who do you feel is holding you back that you can begin untethering you from to begin a life youâve always dreamed of? Drop it in the comments below.
đ Visit my website at www.thedreamdoers.com
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