It’s nice to have a well-thought plan, but sometimes life forces your hand. After a string of sucky life events (a national tragedy, a disappearing job, and a breakup!), my guest Christy Goldfeder knew she needed a change. She set out on a global journey to heal but what she found was a perspective shift that expanded her world and her business. Listen now to find out how to open up your business to a world of possibility.
When heartache knocks on your door, sometimes the best thing you can do is pack your bags and get the hell out of dodge. That’s what Christy and I both did. In pre-Pandemic times, Christy set off solo to Southeast Asia. When she was ready to return to the States, one principal guided her: “I can probably figure that out.” Listen now to find out what happens when you stop placing artificial limitations on yourself.
Can’t-Miss Moments From This Episode:
Don’t miss out - listen now!
Christy’s Bio:
Christy Goldfeder is a marketing strategist, email and YouTube copywriter, and coach. She works with high-growth brands and thought leaders in the health and wellness, coaching, and personal development fields.
Christy started her career as an editor at the Wall Street Journal online. She transitioned into marketing communications and worked at leading Madison Avenue agencies before launching her own business.
When she and her husband Steve are not traveling as digital nomads, they live in Austin, Texas.
Resources and links mentioned:
Come kick ass with me:
Download this episode
Angie Colee (00:02):
Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass. A podcast about leaving self-doubt in the dust, punching fear in the face and taking bold action toward your biggest dreams. I'm Angie Colee, and let's get to it. Hey there. And welcome back to Permission to Kick Ass. With me today is my new friend Christy Goldfeder. Christy say hi.
Christy Goldfeder (00:28):
Hey, great to be here, Angie.
Angie Colee (00:31):
I know. It's funny. LIke I don't even know why I said new friends cause you and I have met several times and we have hugged at conferences, but apparently new is the word that I'm going to use today. So you can be everybody's new friend, Christy
Christy Goldfeder (00:42):
That's cool. We don't hug anymore though, because COVID
Angie Colee (00:47):
Yeah, I got my shots though. I am looking forward to tackle hugging the fuck damn out of everybody. When, when this, somehow I know that when time passes, all of this will be a distant memory and I will get all of the hugs and I will enjoy them very, very much until then I torment the cat and I virtual hug people through zoom, which is not quite the same thing, but, um, yeah, can't wait to get back to the conferences. I know that you travel like me too. So I think this is going to be a great conversation. Um, before the call, we were talking a little bit about your journey, which I think is a little bit similar to mine cause you started in corporate. Um, and what I thought was really interesting about your story was this idea of talking yourself into doing stuff before you felt ready. I love that because I don't think I've ever felt ready for a damn thing in my life. And I think more people need to hear this. So, so take it away. Tell us more about this.
Christy Goldfeder (01:45):
All right. Well, so I haven't always been that brave, but I decided at one point that something just had to change and you know, I couldn't just kind of wait for things to happen for me. Um, and so the first time I did it, I was, I was actually traveling by myself solo, um, in Southeast Asia and, and uh, Australia and New Zealand. And it was, this is a long time ago, actually it was after, uh, 9/11. So it was like my healing journey after going through all of that, which was not very fun. Um, fortunately I
Angie Colee (02:22):
Did you live in New York at the time that that happened?
Christy Goldfeder (02:24):
I had not only lived in New York at that time. I was about two blocks away from that.
Angie Colee (02:30):
Oh my goodness.
Christy Goldfeder (02:31):
So I lived down there and I had just moved down there with, um, a boyfriend and we lived down there for about three days and then the thing happened and then we couldn't go back to the apartment. So after that it was like, there were a lot of things just changed like rapidly. I didn't have a place to live. I was freelancing and then my freelance job kind of disappeared. So, and then the relationship broke up. So it was like, okay, maybe something else needs to change. So I went on this trip once I kinda got my act together, which took a while, but it worked out okay. So I was traveling for like four months by myself, um, and meeting all kinds of cool people and doing all kinds of things that I never thought I would do. Um, like, uh, bungee jumping and traveling, like doing caving, caves, you know, repelling and all kinds of stuff like that.
Angie Colee (03:31):
Oh that sounds awesome.
Christy Goldfeder (03:32):
It was really awesome. Yeah, it was, it was really fun. It was really good. And then the time, and then by the time I was ready to come back, I had no job and I didn't have a place to live and I wanted to come back to New York and randomly, one of my friends reached out to me and she's like, uh, I'm working at this company or my friend's working at this company and I think they need somebody to like manage editorial for marketing. And I was like, I could probably do that. I'm like, you know, I'm, I used to be a journalist, but, um, this is similar. This is going to be marketing, marketing communications. So I could probably do that. So I kind of applied for the job while I was on the road and got an interview. So by the time I got back, like all of a sudden was in marketing communications. And so I started this new, yeah this new career. And I was like, yeah, I can probably figure this out. Um,
Angie Colee (04:27):
I love that. I wanna, you know, I really want to highlight that and I think that's really smart and that a lot of people don't think that way. I think that really makes you special. And I, I hope that people pay attention to that because I think a lot of people look at an opportunity like that and they measure themselves in a way that always makes sure that they fall short. Like they don't feel qualified enough for that. They judge themselves ahead of time and they go, I'm not even going to try it because I think they're going to say no. So I'm going to reject this first. So I thought it was really cool that you said, well, I think that's similar enough to what I did my background. I could probably figure it out like, yeah, Hey, what the hell? Throw the hat in the ring. So,
Christy Goldfeder (05:04):
Well, I mean, like what's the worst that can happen? Like it doesn't work out. It's like, well, I didn't have a job to begin with. So
Angie Colee (05:11):
I love that perspective on it. I've told that to people that I coached before too, like throw your hat in the ring. What's the worst that happens in the end. You don't have the job that you already don't have
Christy Goldfeder (05:20):
Exactly.
Angie Colee (05:22):
Might as well try. All right. So keep going. Sorry to interrupt.
Christy Goldfeder (05:25):
No problem. So eventually I got to the point where I was working with writers and I was interested in doing the writing, but where I was they're like, oh, you can't do the writing because we have to hire out outsourced writers. I was like, kind of like a CYA kind of move from, you know, the position that I was in. Like they wanted to, if something went wrong, blame it on the outside writer rather than have it in-house it was kind of weird.
Angie Colee (05:53):
Such a weird way to look at it. But
Christy Goldfeder (05:55):
But yeah, that's kind of how they operated, and so eventually it was like, well, if I ever want to get into a writing position, I'm going to have to work my way into some sort of writing position somewhere else. Cause they're not going to let me do that there. Um, so eventually one day I got an opportunity to apply for a copywriting job. And so I said, I was a copywriter and I applied and I got the job.
Angie Colee (06:24):
And you had the writing experience in the background, like-
Christy Goldfeder (06:27):
Basically yeah.
Angie Colee (06:28):
See, I think that's the smart thing to like, instead of looking for what you lack, especially as a creative person, if you're looking for an opportunity, see that as a creative exercise, like how can I connect my past experience to what these people are asking for in a way that has them saying, yes, I like this person. I really wish more creative people saw that as a challenge versus a disqualification.
Christy Goldfeder (06:50):
I think one of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that they can take all of their experiences and put them together and mix and match them. And that can really create a whole new position that they didn't even know is possible or open up new doors that they didn't even realize are available to them.
Angie Colee (07:07):
Yeah cause I had like zero writing experience when I decided I was a copywriter. I, I mean, I had like some, some writing classes and some screenwriting courses and I thought I was going to work in TV development. I was living out in LA, then I got laid off and I found a book and that's how I fell into copywriting by accident. But at the same thing, like when I started applying for copy jobs to get good at writing copy, I had waiting tables and being a firefighter and being a lifeguard instructor and being an intern at Warner Brothers, like all of this disconnected disjointing stuff that has nothing really to do with writing. So I just got creative with it. Same, same thing. I was like, oh, I wrote this sales menu and like scripted the dessert questions for the restaurant, which I did.
Christy Goldfeder (07:50):
I mean, that works, you know, like one of the ways that I decided that I was going to get into direct response copywriting was that we needed a piece to show that I could actually get a response on what I was writing. So I wrote for my Toastmasters club, it was a renewal letter to get people to renew and pay their dues. And I got like 75% of people to renew and pay on time.
Angie Colee (08:14):
Hell yeah. That's amazing.
Christy Goldfeder (08:16):
So, you know, then look, I have a piece that proves that I can actually do this.
Angie Colee (08:21):
Okay. Everybody out here listening. I want you to know you can overcome your excuses, that stupid little voice in your brain that looks at something and says, no, I'm going to fail this sucks. I'm not going to try. Like listen to everything that Christy just said, listen to it and take it to heart. Like you can just connect all of your experience in the past or create something that shows, you know, what you're talking about and create your own damn opportunity. Don't wait for someone to give you one, come on. Oh God, I love this. I love everything about this. Um, so you apply for this role as a, you say you're a copywriter, you invent a piece that shows that you can do this thing and you get in the door.
Christy Goldfeder (09:02):
And I had some other pieces that were more markcom, you know, but I kind of connected the dots so that they saw that, oh yes, it looks like she can actually do what she says she can do. And I got a raise because I asked for a lot more money.
Angie Colee (09:18):
Nice. I'm always about asking for way more money than you think you can get, like just ask ask for it. See what they say.
Christy Goldfeder (09:24):
Exactly. And I was, you know, I was just, I decided that I should be making, I should be making like this much more. So I asked for it and I got it.
Angie Colee (09:33):
Nice.
Christy Goldfeder (09:35):
Yeah.
Angie Colee (09:35):
Well, I love this. And you know, to circle back to what we were talking about with feeling ready, like, how did you get into this mindset of, I'm just going to go for it, even though there is this pressure here, right. To meet all, to check off all the boxes on this job application and be the perfect candidate. Like what inspired you to go for it?
Christy Goldfeder (09:56):
I think when I started seeing that I could basically script what I wanted to happen before it happened.
Angie Colee (10:08):
That's an interesting take, tell me more about that.
Christy Goldfeder (10:10):
Yeah. So, um, like for example, when I started thinking about like, what does my, what do I want my life to look like? Um, like after 9/11, for example, I started like writing out exactly what I wanted and the more that I scripted it on more detailed, I got about it and this is kind of like getting into manifestation stuff. But the more detailed I got, the more of what I wanted showed up, it would just start showing up. Yeah.
Angie Colee (10:40):
Are you comfortable sharing some of the specifics of what you were writing out?
Christy Goldfeder (10:45):
Um, let me think.
Angie Colee (10:48):
You don't have to share the whole internal working. I totally get it, but I would love like, I mean, you've, you've already mentioned so much of what you've done since that tragedy occurred. And like, if that was something that you were thinking about as you were writing, like what I want my life to look like, and then you just went out and did it. Like, I love that.
Christy Goldfeder (11:05):
Well, so I can tell you that when my husband and I started thinking about what do we want to do, or what do we want life to look like? Um, and started thinking about wanting to travel and how how's that going to look. It was kind of hard to visualize at first because we were both working in corporate. We were living in New York City, New York City's really expensive. How do you, how can you actually do all of that and have the time to travel? Cause you really have to be in a full-time job, um, to be able to just pay your rent or your mortgage and deal with just regular, everyday expenses. So
Angie Colee (11:45):
Or independently wealthy. Wouldn't that be nice?
Christy Goldfeder (11:47):
I mean, yeah, if you get to that point. Sure. That's great. But not everyone's there. That's right.
Angie Colee (11:53):
Most of us have to work it's okay.
Christy Goldfeder (11:55):
So the whole digital nomad thing started coming up and then we started thinking about, well, how can we create jobs for ourselves where we don't have to necessarily be in New York or at a desk or, you know, in corporate or whatever. Um, my husband started creating, um, apps for iPhones, like games and things like that for a while. And I started doing some freelance writing on the side and also I was doing some coaching. That's another thing that I do some of the time. Um, so I started to envision what life would look like if I could actually go freelance and create my own business. The biggest challenge I had with that was my own mindset about this belief that I had, that I could never be able to make any money if I didn't work at a desktop.
Angie Colee (12:51):
Oh yes. Uh, you know, I love that you brought this up. I don't think it's, I, I think that there's a place for both like, you know, brain science and manifestation and woo and stuff like that. Like I think we're all approaching the same kind of concept because I'm, I don't identify as very woo, but I understand this power of being able to see the end result, being able to visualize it. Uh, and I challenge people that I coach to, to that all the time. Like, so what's the end result? Where, where do you picture yourself? Is it, you know, working for six months and then taking six months off and still being able to pay the bills, that's a possibility, but you have to articulate that specific thing so that you can reverse engineer how to get from here to there. But if you don't have that specific outcome in mind, like I want to be able to travel the world without being tied to a desk, then how do you expect it? Like any road will get you there if you don't actually have a destination, you know?
Christy Goldfeder (13:44):
Exactly.
Angie Colee (13:46):
So I love that like recognizing what you want, um, and actually articulating it so that you can start that process of figuring out how to get there. Cause I think I went through a similar, you know, not going to compare the, uh, the demolition of my relationship to a national tragedy, but, um, after the Pandemic, you know, I got through the Pandemic relatively well. I was in a really great position with a fantastic team. My partner at the time was an engineer with Boeing. And since he was on a defensive contracts, like he was, he wasn't going anywhere. We, we rode out the pandemic if relative comfort, if not isolation, but then after the pandemic, when I really started getting serious about, I want to leave my role and I want to start this podcast and I want to see what I can do. I'm writing this book. Like I'm really fascinated with this thing. I really think there's legs here. I literally gave notice with my old team. And then he drops the whammy on me and was like, "I don't love you the way that you love me." And I was like, what? We just finished watching The Great British Bake-off what is happening. I don't even understand. Um, and I had kind of a similar like, okay, I don't know what to do now. I really, I just don't know what to do with my life. Like this whole thing just dropped in my lap and I'm, I'm surprised and I'm a little shocked and I'm a little hurt and I don't know what's going on. And so I started this process of just like weighing my options. I'm very fortunate. We live in a fantastic country, full of riches. They have a, a family nearby, uh, and I was like, okay, mom and dad each offered to let me live with them. Don't really like that option. I'm a grown ass adult. We don't need to live together. You know? And, and fortunately I make enough money right now to where that doesn't have to be a thing, but I'll just keep that in the back of the list as an option, if we need to go there and I will thank my parents and love them from a distance. Um, I could get an apartment here in town. I don't really like that idea cause I don't really like this town, like aside from being in my family, I didn't really like being in Houston. Um, and I could buy a house, same thing, a lot of brisk moving really fast post breakup. Don't really like this opportunity. Plus the housing market has gone crazy this past year. Um, all right. So all of these and I could stay in the house that I used to rent with my ex, but I really don't like that option for multiple reasons, including he was moving just down the road.
Angie Colee (16:02):
So, okay. I don't like all of my options. What the hell next? Where, where do I go? I don't even know. So I wound up choosing okay, if I don't know where I want to go, but I know I don't want to be here. I guess we go explore the country and see what's available and see what feels like home. And so now I'm a digital nomad too, and mine is slightly different because I haven't gone all the way around the world, but I'm looking forward to it. I will definitely be pinging you for questions and recommendations, but like I'm on a road trip with my cat, moving from Airbnb to Airbnb and figuring out how to run a business at the same time. And I think I don't like I talk about it in terms of realities. Like sometimes a reality isn't even real until you meet someone who's doing the thing and shows you that the possibility is there.
Christy Goldfeder (16:49):
Absolutely. I mean, that's really the big thing. So can you imagine where, you know, living in New York City and we are surrounded by people that work at corporate, there's an expectation of like owning your own place or like working your way up the corporate ladder. You don't know if you don't know anybody at all, it's doing something that you're dreaming about or I would articulate it to somebody and they would look at me like I have three heads. Like, how the hell are you going to do that? Exactly.
Angie Colee (17:17):
You're crazy. Does not compute.
Christy Goldfeder (17:17):
Well, and then the other, another dream we had was like having multiple places. So like a place at the beach and like maybe a place in the mountains or you go snowboarding and then, you know, a city place. And I said that to somebody once a long time ago. And they're like, "how can you think like that? Like that's so arrogant" or "that's so it's so ostentatious of you wanting to have so many different things." So guess what though, what I was actually maybe seeing the future was the possibility of living in different Airbnbs and like that, that just didn't exist back when I was imagining it.
Angie Colee (17:58):
I'm going to totally take a moment to go off on a side rant. Cause I love these rants, but okay. If you're listening to this and you are like that person who shits on someone else's dreams, because you see it as arrogant, do me a favor and shut your fucking mouth. If you don't believe in someone else's dreams that doesn't give you the right to tell them that their dreams are impossible. Like, why don't you just go sit in the corner and be miserable by yourself because you're a dream killer. Why would you? Uh, I, I dunno, I get frustrated with that because I remember, and this is from people that love me. So I don't hate them and I don't wish them ill, but like I wasted too much of my damn life believing that I couldn't be a writer or a musician. I couldn't make a living at this because other people were scared that I wouldn't be successful at my dream. Hmm. Nope. If you can't see the vision, cool. I'm going to go follow the vision. And like, there are so many people now that when I told them, you know, post breakup, I'm going to hit the road. They couldn't see that. Well, guess what they can see now because I'm actually doing it. Like, and I showed them a different reality from what they believe to be possible. So I don't know, rant over, but stop shitting on people's dreams. Don't do it. Just listen. And if you don't agree, be like, "Hey, you know what, let me know how that goes. I'm curious to see how that goes."
Christy Goldfeder (19:13):
Right? Exactly.
Angie Colee (19:15):
With them all the best don't shit on the dreams. Don't do it.
Christy Goldfeder (19:19):
Yeah. I mean, you never know what's going to happen.
Angie Colee (19:22):
I would rather, you know, if somebody tells me that there's some weird dream I would be like, "you know what? I don't know how that's possible." I don't see a path to it for, from right now. But I totally believe anything that you set your mind to. You can figure out a way to do it. So like, if, if you want to, uh, breed parakeets in Guatemala and make a living doing that, Hey, try it. Let's see how it goes. It could be a fun little experiment. And then you could go to Guatemala and be like, no, this is not for me. And try something else. That's a reality too. I told you we were going to get ranty.
Christy Goldfeder (20:00):
It's funny.
Angie Colee (20:03):
Oh no. Like that happened to me when I was stuck in corporate as a copywriter too. Cause I met another person who was a freelancer. And for some reason, like there was just a wall between me and the reality that somebody didn't need to be at a desk and just meeting this person and getting insight into their life was mindblowing in a way, like, I didn't even know how to handle. I couldn't figure out how to get from where I was feeling trapped and overworked and underappreciated to this person who literally walked into their bosses office and was like, I'm going to go to Spain. I really hope that we keep working together. But like, this is my plan. You're allowed to tell people like, this is what I want to do. Are you down? You're not down. Okay, cool. By the way, you can, you can always walk away.
Christy Goldfeder (21:01):
It's so funny though. It's so funny. The way we limit our thinking or the way we allow people to put limitations on our, on, on ourselves and the way we think things are supposed to be.
Angie Colee (21:15):
That's so smart. I just, I want to say that again, the way we allow other people to place limitations on our thinking, because you don't have to.
Christy Goldfeder (21:26):
Right. It's all programming through.
Angie Colee (21:28):
And you could, you know, like this concept of realities, you could expand your reality by deliberately seeking out people that are doing what you want to do or have done something similar to what you want to do so that they can show you just how real this is. Versus like you said, all the people that were at the corporate office, owning a house, telling you, you have to, you have to follow the steps. You have to work your way up the line. I bought into that bullshit for way too long too. But you know,
Christy Goldfeder (21:54):
It's so easy to though. You know, we've been fed that line for how many years? Probably since school.
Angie Colee (22:02):
And then people wind up being miserable and confused as to why they're unhappy because they never tried anything. You know, that friend that said, I'm going to go to Spain. I wound up pulling her aside and being like, how do you even do that? Where do you like? It just seems overwhelming. And then she invited me to go to Columbia and then I wound up a few months later in Columbia with a bunch of friends. Like just, just asking the questions, finding someone that could show me how saying yes to the opportunities that pop up and seeing what happens.
Christy Goldfeder (22:31):
Yeah. That's awesome.
Angie Colee (22:33):
Let's see. So how did you wind up? You said Thailand for New York or like where did you start on this journey?
Christy Goldfeder (22:42):
Which one?
Angie Colee (22:44):
Any of them let's just follow all the rabbit holes.
Christy Goldfeder (22:47):
Um, like there's so many I could tell you about. Um, so the first one was I, oh God this is going to make me sound so old. All right. I'll just say it anyway. So the first, the first trip I went on, um, there were no smartphones. Um, the, actually, I don't even know if I had a cell phone back then. And so everything I used was like guidebooks and I called the travel agent to get a, a circle Asia ticket. So, um, that's how I did my first trip. And so everything was already ticketed out and they, I guess the way they do it for, to make a cheaper ticket is they just buy it from different carriers in different currencies. So I just had like a stack of tickets that I carried with me also. Yeah. I'm like, I'm trying to think like how long ago it was. Oh, so I was, so that was when I did my first blog and I would have to go to internet cafes. Do you remember those?
Angie Colee (23:45):
Yes. Oh God. I used to go to those when like the first time I went to Europe, I remember trying to find an internet cafe and buying long distance cards.
Christy Goldfeder (23:53):
That too. Yeah. And then I would have to call home at like really weird hours because I was so far away and just say like, Hey, I'm alive. You know, I only have like two seconds to talk because my cards about to run out.
Angie Colee (24:06):
Yeah. Oh God, those of you that are doing digital nomad travels. Now you have no idea how easy you've got it. It was a lot harder back in the day. Go uphill both ways in the snow with no feet.
Christy Goldfeder (24:22):
With heavy backpack. Yeah. And then see if somebody had a room or not that's so, so long ago. Um, but like, I'm trying to think the second time, the second big trip was like when we finally left New York. So we had sold our place and packed up all of our stuff into a, um, moving cube. I forgot what they're called now.
Angie Colee (24:48):
Like the pod things that they pick up?
Christy Goldfeder (24:50):
Yes. So we've packed it into a pod where like, this is going to Austin, Texas eventually, but we're going to take a four month trip. So we went to Malaysia and Thailand and Bali and Cambodia, and just had this like four month tropical vacation, basically.
Angie Colee (25:12):
That sounds amazing. Like after, woo there's, there was like one particularly bad breakup several years ago where, uh, the ex and I had always talked about traveling and just always found an excuse not to. So when we split, I was like, fuck it, going to Fiji, putting it on the credit card. Don't even like just going. And, and then right after I booked the flight to Fiji, my friend came back with the Columbia plan. So I literally wound up flying all the way across the world to go to Fiji, staying there for, for a couple of weeks and then flying back and going straight to Columbia, Columbia for a little while with a bunch of buddies. And it was probably the best thing I could've done for myself in terms of a healing experience. Like just be experiencing another culture, reminding yourself that the world is a great big place and I'm a small piece of it.
Christy Goldfeder (26:04):
Yeah. That's, that was a big thing. Was like really just seeing that there's so much more to the world than just like the little rock that you're living on before or the tiny little, you know, microscopic environment that you're living in, that the world is a really big place. There are tons of people in it. There's all kinds of experiences you can have. And it's good to get out there and just start meeting people and doing things.
Angie Colee (26:28):
I really wish a lot more people would be. I don't know how to get people less intimidated by travel, but just like try it out and, and try on another culture. In particular, if you have an opportunity to go to another country, don't just go to like a sandals resort in another country, but like actually put yourself out there, meet local people, talk, use Google translate. You've got smartphones these days. So you can literally have another conversation in depth conversation with another person. Uh, even if you haven't learned the language, get to know people in customs. And I don't know, like this has helped so much with my mindset and with my general outlook on life too, because I've found every time that I'm getting depressed or like I'm struggling with coping. Usually my world has gotten really, really small. It's like a bubble that's right around me and all my problems and that's all I can see. And so when I expand the bubble and I include a lot of other people in it and my world gets a lot bigger, suddenly it puts all the problems in perspective. And it's like, this thing I've been freaking out about for three months, is that really going to matter five years from now? Probably not best let it go.
Christy Goldfeder (27:35):
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, it's just so grounding when you get into being in the world and like seeing things and smelling things and feeling things and just being and experiencing, you're like, oh, there's so much more here
Angie Colee (27:52):
And trying all the new foods.
Christy Goldfeder (27:55):
Oh yeah. That's one of the things that we're really into. We both cook a lot. So one of the things we try to do whenever we go to another country is find the local market farmer's market and just see what we can find in there.
Angie Colee (28:08):
Have you tried any of the, like the weird foods?
Christy Goldfeder (28:11):
Yeah. Yeah. We ate like, um, bugs in, um, Thailand. That's the really creepy one. Not literally scorpions, but crickets it's, I mean, we've had crickets in, um, in Mexico cause that's like specialty in Wahaca and um, yeah. I mean, we, we try to, you know, expand our palates a lot, try spicy things, scary looking things, things we don't know exactly what they are. There are a couple of things that we eat and I think Vietnam where like, these are weird, like some weird salad with, I think they call them sea grapes or something like that. Or like, this is weird texture. I'm like, it's kind of interesting. So yeah.
Angie Colee (28:57):
It was, uh, I grew up a really picky kid and I blame, I blame growing up poor and like too many Hamburger Helper meals, but I didn't have very much of a refined palate growing up. And I definitely looked, you know, gave a side-eye to anything that was kind of exotic looking. And when I first moved to LA, I remember in the office, they decided they were going to order Indian food one day. And they were like, Hey, where do you want? And I was like, I don't, I don't know. I grew up in south Texas is a foreign concept to me. Like high cuisine was going to Olive Garden on date night, um, Indian food, I don't even know. And so they recommended butter chicken to me. And I was like, okay, well they're buying me lunch. I have to try this thing. I can't pull my I'm picky. I'm not going to eat the free food. I'm poor living in LA of course I'm going to eat the free food. Um, and then I tried this thing that I was scared of and finicky about. And it was so delicious with all of these flavors that I had never experienced before in my life. And thus created a new rule for myself where like I had to try it before I say, I don't like it, no matter how weird it looks, no matter how frightening or disgusting it might be a have to try it at least once before I say, I don't like it.
Christy Goldfeder (30:08):
That's pretty brave Angie.
Angie Colee (30:10):
Yeah but it's introduced me to a whole world of flavors that I don't know, I would have known otherwise. Like I've discovered that one of my favorite cuisines ever is just like, dimsum just give me all the dumplings, give them all to me. I will take them.
Christy Goldfeder (30:26):
That's funny.
Angie Colee (30:27):
I don't even know what's in them, but if it's a dumpling, give it to me.
Christy Goldfeder (30:31):
I dare you to try the chicken feet. Next time.
Angie Colee (30:35):
Challenge accepted, heard and witnessed by everybody on the podcast. I'm going to have to try this when a world travel is possible again, and I'm not just roaming around the United States. I will try.
Christy Goldfeder (30:47):
They have it at dimsum if you're really brave, you just got to go to the right dimsum.
Angie Colee (30:51):
How do you even eat a chicken foot?
Christy Goldfeder (30:51):
Yeah. It's a little weird. Honestly, probably my husband's dad really likes them.
Angie Colee (31:01):
Oh man. Like, see, we didn't even plan on talking about chicken feet when we started recording this podcast.
Christy Goldfeder (31:07):
I know. You never know what's going to come up
Angie Colee (31:09):
I love following where it goes, because like everybody's experience to me, it just opens up this world of possibility. And I really hope that people are kind of taking this serious about, you know, seeing only one reality and being a corporate person, having your world disrupted by something outside of your control, Pandemic, 9/11, and you're still alive. So you've got to figure out what happens next. Like that's not the end of your world to sound callous. And I hope it doesn't come across that way. Like I hope the heart comes across too, but like, that's not the end. If you're still alive, you've got to continue on. You've got to live and find a way to enjoy the life you've got.
Christy Goldfeder (31:47):
I think when you go through an experience like that, any of them, and you find that you're really much more resilient than you are than you thought, then a lot of possibilities just start opening up because you're like, wow, well, if I can go through that, what else can I do?
Angie Colee (32:04):
I love that. Like, uh, one of my friends who's a psychotherapist constantly makes reference to, um, I don't know if you've ever heard of this book, Man's Search for Meaning.
Christy Goldfeder (32:13):
Oh yeah. I've heard of it. I haven't read it though.
Angie Colee (32:15):
I haven't read it either. And I it's on my list. My long list of books that I need to read, but just this concept of somebody writing about finding joy in a concentration camp, like when you would think that there's no possibility for hope for joy. Um, wow. Like that just that whole idea is mind blowing to me. And so when I get wrapped up in my fears and I'm too afraid to try something and I'm convinced everybody's going to hate me. Like when I get too involved in myself and the world gets small, go out and remind myself that my problems are, are small. And that in the scheme of things, I'm relatively blessed and Hey, there's a lot of joy out there to be had. If you go find it,
Christy Goldfeder (32:56):
There really is. But also, I don't know how people could hate you. You're so likeable
Angie Colee (33:03):
I am very blunt and piss a lot of people off and that's okay. You know what? There are a lot of people out there whose company I don't enjoy either. And that's fine. There's 7 billion people out there. It's okay not to like me. It's fine. Totally fine.
Angie Colee (33:20):
Well, Christie, this has been like, I totally again, had no idea that we were even going to go here, but we're definitely going to have, you know what, I'm going to challenge you. You're going to challenge me to chicken feet. I'm going to challenge us to meet up in some exotic location and film, like a podcast together in the same place in another country as just like a follow up. Hell yeah. We're going to do it. Tell us more about where to, to learn about you.
Christy Goldfeder (33:46):
Um, you can find me at goldfeathercopywriting.com. So that is, oh, so there's a little story behind that name.
Angie Colee (33:57):
Go for it.
Christy Goldfeder (33:58):
Um, it's real quick. Just cause when I started freelancing, I was still working in corporate. So I didn't want people to know that I was actually freelancing. So I'm like, I'll just alter the name a little bit so that people can't find me on the internet.
Angie Colee (34:15):
So gold feather like feathers, feathers in your hair.
Christy Goldfeder (34:18):
Exactly.
Angie Colee (34:19):
Right. Love it. It's so unique. And see, look guys, there's always a reason. There's always a way to get around the little limitations that you place on yourself. Just invent another name and do what you want to do and then find out what happens. It's fantastic. So, all right. I'm going to make sure that they have a clickable link in the show notes. Thank you so much for being on the show. See you in another country, my friend.
Christy Goldfeder (34:44):
All right, I'll see you then.
Angie Colee (34:49):
So that is it. Another awesome episode of Permission to Kick Ass on the books. If you want to know more about the show or if you want to know more about me, Angie Colee and the mission I'm on to help entrepreneurs punch fear in the face and do big bold things, then head on over to permissiontokickass.com. That is all one word together, permissiontokickass.com. Make sure to sign up for my email list so that you know whenever there's a hot, fresh and ready podcast episode out for you. And also on Mondays, I like to send out a little newsletter called Kick Monday's Ass. I'm sure you're totally, totally surprised by that. So thank you for being here with me today. I'm Angie Colee. Make sure that you share this with a friend that needs to hear this message today. Like it, share it. Comment wherever you're listening to this today and let's go kick some ass.