Last week, Palm Springs was beaming with energy, inspiration, and GIRL POWER as Alt Summit hosted their 10th anniversary conference filled with panels, roundtables, speeches, and fashion shows celebrating women and their passions around creativity, business and entrepreneurship. Dani crushed her speech at the Parker, which went over what it means to truly OWN your phone and Dazey even pulled together a last minute fashion show that turned out to be a HIT! We ran into so many amazing Dazey ladies throughout the summit and honestly just felt so free being there. Alt was truly a magical space void of judgement and negativity, and overflowing with pure sisterhood, overwhelming support, and inspiring spirits. After a week chalk full of education, collaboration, and fun we’ve put together 5 major boss babe hacks and takeaways we got from our newly dubbed Dazey work retreat, Alt Summit:

1. OWN Your Phone 

This NECESSARY hack every boss babe should start now is taken directly from Dani’s speech Own Your Phone that was presented on the first day of Alt at the Parker. It’s available to view on IG stories too if you want to take a peek at that! In sum: Your phone is your #1 tool and if you haven’t already, it’s time you create healthy boundaries and optimize your relationship with your digital space. This means diving into your social media space with MINDFULNESS > MINDLESSNESS, reflecting what you want your digital space to do for you and CURATE that, blocking or muting whatever doesn’t inform, inspire, or empower you, and learning to post for LOVE and not for likes. Once you’re able to stop the scroll, block the bullshit, and really FOCUS on creating a digital space that serves you, you’ll see your relationship with your digital space transform into one that you OWN rather it owning you.

2. Pinterest Is Underrated! Use it To Drive Your Business & Brand! (Tips Below)

Okay, we knew Pinterest was amazing for moodboards and endless inspo, but we didn’t realize all the STRATEGY you can do on the backend to drive your business and brand?! We’ve totally got Instagram down, but Pinterest is a whole new game for us! If you’re creating content in any capacity for your business, THIS IS FOR YOU! The #1 actionable tip we got from the Pinterest guru Anstasia Casey of the Identite Collective is name your files before you pin! It’s an easy way to OPTIMIZE and make all of your content instantly SEARCHABLE on Pinterest and Google! 

Example: Instead of keeping the file name that comes in camera like 0P439585.jpg, change it to DazeyLA-brave-babe-graphic-tee.jpg. This allows your content to automatically pop up when these words are searched on Pinterest or Google! She recommends keeping a consistent naming routine such as, brand-style-item.jpg, too!

4. Prioritize IRL Connection

Yes, we are all for digital communities but sometimes it’s important to stop the scroll and find connection IRL. Ending every day with genuine connection, insightful conversation, and dance parties was probably one of our favorite things of Alt. When you can lean into likeminded people, laugh about the ups and downs of life and HYPE each other up in real life, everything just gets a little bit brighter. It’s things like spending time in IRL that fill our cups back up after long work days. 

Looking for opportunity to connect IRL? Check out this upcoming Dazey LA / Biz Babez event! 

3. Be a HYPE Woman

In the office, on the street, at the store, and any other space you may be YOU have the opportunity to radiate positive energy and HYPE people up. At Dazey’s runway show we were blessed with tons of hype ladies who, in the end, made the experience WAY more fun and gave models the confidence to WERK the runway. If you don’t practice it already, a little “YASSSS QUEEN” here and there can go a long way and create positive IMPACT and instant community. As our ultimate hype bae Lizzo says, “If I’m shining, everybody gonna SHINE!”. Let’s spread those hype affirmations babes!

5. Create Systems to Strengthen Your Workflow! (FREEBIE ALERT!)

Running a business, brand, and being a working woman in general is tough work to balance, ESPECIALLY when you have a creative mind and don’t quite operate on a systematic level. Luckily, we sat down with the organization masters Katy Krupnik and Jessica Litman at the How To Stay Organized When You Have A Creative Mind roundtable and brought back an amazing, simple freebie all of you can try! A quick and effective hack to get your files, priorities, and endless to-do lists ORGANIZED once and for all is desktop organizer backgrounds!! Has anyone tried these?! Personally, my desktop always looks like a wreck and I’m so ready to change that and tidy up my digital life! Click here to get a download! 

Fear Not - Learn how to Combat Fear with Kasey

The is the second installment of our new Self-Care Series! As I've been working with our Biz Babez strategy coach, Kasey, we have been uncovering and tackling a lot of the stresses that come with owning a business and just being a human being in this day and age. Ever since I started Dazey I have neglected practicing self-care and Kasey really helped me realize that. In response, I’ve decided to be very transparent about my self-care journey so others can learn too. We also launched a weekly boss support group at Biz Babez called BIZZY (you can snag your tix HERE) that Kasey, Taryn, and I teach! It's been so cool to hear the perspectives of other women who are going through the same things we are and support one another. One of the biggest topics being brought up in our group has been FEAR. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of just about anything. This topic was so fitting as it was something I have been struggling with to the point of not sleeping as of late.

In my session with Kasey I shared with her how I was feeling and she taught me a really cool technique to really pinpoint why I was so afraid and how to stop it. In the name of utter transparency I had Kasey share exactly what happened in our session, down to the specific anxiety I was going through.

Read below to really get into my head and maybe learn something about tackling your own fears! Hope you enjoy and leave a little comment below if you want these posts to keep coming!  

Find the Fear and Slay It

Wanna play a game?!

Great! It’s called “Find the Fear!” I love to play this game with my clients, and with myself, whenever I’m feeling anxious about something. I played this game with Dani a couple weeks ago and she asked me to share it with all of you! See, anxiety is really just a derivative of fear. We usually feel it when we’re afraid of something that hasn’t happened yet; is very unlikely to happen at all; and wouldn’t be the end of the world even if it did happen (literally, the world would keep spinning on its axis).

Before we start, go grab a piece of paper and a pen. No, really. I’ll wait. Got it? Amazing, let’s get started! First thing you do is scan your big ol’ brain for whatever is causing you the most worry right now. Write that thing at the top of your paper. Skip a couple of lines and write, “Why am I worried about this? What am I afraid is going to happen?” Look at you go, sister! Alright, now answer it. You’re really really good at this! Now skip a couple of lines and write this question, “Okay, what if this actually did happen? What would happen next and why am I afraid of that?” Now, answer it. Get the jist? I had a feeling you might.

Keep repeating this step until you get to the worst-case scenario possibility that you can imagine. You’ll know when you’ve gotten there when one of the following happens: you feel a pit; you break into tears; you break into laughter. Once you find your worst-case, circle it and take a deep breath! Now, skip a few more lines and write these two questions:

1. How likely is it that this will happen?

2. If this happened, would it be the end of the world?    

99 times of out of 100 the answers to these two questions are “not likely” and “no, the world wouldn’t end.” So then, what is there to really be afraid of? Oh, that’s right, nothing! Fear is a great trickster. It masterfully convinces us that supremely improbable events are going to happen. And when they do we will be left without money, without love, or that we’ll die a failure. But fear can only run the show and cause mini-meltdowns when it operates in the shadows. The second we shine a flashlight on it and expose its ridiculousness, it instantly becomes less scary. It’s kind of like realizing that the Great and Powerful Oz is just a man behind a curtain. That’s why I love to play “Find the Fear.” It shines a big old spotlight on fear.

 

Dani did something really scary this month. She bought a house! She has spent years saving and mentally preparing for this exact moment! Yet, when we sat down for our business/self-care coaching session this month, she couldn’t help but feel afraid. So we played “Find the Fear.” Dani asked me to share it with you as an example of how the game works!

“I’m afraid of buying a house, even though it’s what I want to do and what I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

“I’m afraid of buying a house because I’m waiting for the appraisal to come back. If the appraisal comes back too low, lower than asking price, I either won’t be able to buy the house or I’ll have to put more money down than I was expecting in order to buy the house.”

“How likely is it that I won’t be able to by the house? 50/50.”

“Would it be the end of the world if I couldn’t buy a home? No. I’ll feel disappointed, especially after getting so many people excited about buying a house. But nothing would really change about my life.”

“What If I the appraisal comes in low, I still decide to buy the house, and I have to put more money down than I want to, what would happen? I’ll have less money in my savings account.”

“What if I have less money in my savings account, what would happen? If something big comes up I won’t have cash on hand to pay it.”

“What if something big happens and I don’t have liquid assets to pay for it, what would happen? I’d have to get a credit line or loan.”

“What if I had to get a credit line or loan, what what would happen? I’d be indebted to someone and have to pay the money back.”

“What if you had to pay the money back, what would happen? I’d either pay it back or I’d go bankrupt.”

“What would happen if I went bankrupt? I’d have to move back in with my parents and start a new business.”

There it is! There is Dani’s worst-case scenario. Now, it’s important to note that the entire time Dani and I were doing this exercise, we were laughing. It turns out humor is a great antidote to fear!

To finish the exercise Dani asked herself:

“How likely is that I will go bankrupt and have to move in with my parents? Very, very, very unlikely.”

“Would it be the end of the world if it did happen. Yes! But, no, not really. I’d survive and my parents would totally let me do it.”

Look at Dani slaying that fear! Now here’s where the story gets even cooler. Five days after we did this exercise, Dani got the appraisal back and it was much lower than she originally thought it was going to be. Too low for her to buy the house. And, as she predicted, she was very disappointed. But, because she is Dani and she is so good at manifesting her dreams, she decided to get a second appraisal. Now, I’m not going to share the numbers, but suffice it to say the first appraisal was no bueno. The second appraisal was Dani’s “Hail Mary” attempt to salvage her dream and it was a real long-shot. Guess what?! Dani got a call yesterday and the second appraisal came in much higher than they expected, even before they commissioned the first one!

She’s getting the house!!!!!!!!!!!!! The crowd goes wild!

Did any of the things Dani was afraid of come true? Yes! She almost couldn’t buy the house. Was it the end of the world? No way! Did she find a way around it? Yes, because she’s dope! Dani got thrown unexpected curveballs. She handled them like a boss. Just like she will handle any challenges that life throws her way.

Fear is our brain’s way of keeping us safe. It tries to paralyze us in our comfort zone so that we stay there. Because ultimately, it’s our brain’s job to keep us alive. It’s easier for our brain to do that when we stick to the familiar. If we want to create the business and life of our dreams we have to get really great at challenging fear and believing in our ability to handle life’s inevitable hiccups. Doesn’t that sound like a much healthier, saner, happier way to go about crushing your goals? I couldn’t agree more! That’s why I created this cute little Find the Fear Worksheet. That way you can play this game as many times as you want! My hope is that you play it as often as you need to until you have as much confidence in your own badassery as Dani and I have in you. Then you’ll hardly need to play it at all!

Go HERE to get a free FIND THE FEAR worksheet from Kasey!

Strategy & self-care with Kasey Drier 

Amidst the craziness of running a business a lot of things can fall by the wayside. Self care is usually the first thing to go along with your sanity haha. This year started off strong for Dazey which is amazing, but took a toll on me in other ways. I had a to-do list miles long and didn’t know how to handle it. I started to feel major anxiety but kept brushing it aside to get stuff done. I was starting to feel the beginnings signs of burn out, something had to be done.

Luckily Kasey Drier came to the rescue! Kasey was our very first Biz Babez member and became so involved in the community straight from the beginning. Taryn, my Biz Babez business partner, and I quickly began to rely on her and made her our Community Manager. She’s part genius, part camp counselor, and a F/T self help coach for boss babes. Kasey was literally made to do this job. She’s helped shape Biz Babez so much that Taryn and I basically consider her our third founder! We are now working with her on a new Biz Babez project, Bizzy, and she’s become an irreplaceable member of our team. 

Kasey graduated from Stanford with a degree in engineering and worked doing project management for a fortune 500 company for many years. She herself went through burnout and realized while she was very accomplished, she wasn’t happy. She dramatically changed her life and is now a self care and strategy coach for female entrepreneurs!

Kasey has been working with Taryn and a few of our members on coaching and it has been helping so much. I thought it was so cool, but had been skeptical it would do anything for me. I was still deeply in denial that I needed any help until I word vomited all over her when we were getting coffee one day. The advice she had was incredible. She takes a very practical engineering approach mixed with some new age practices. It’s great for me as someone who isn’t super 'woo woo' but could use a little more meditation in my life! The very next day I told her I needed to actually hire her to help me manage and plan for Dazey as well as myself! We had two coaching sessions, one with just her and I and then one with my little team. I told her all I had on my mind and on my plate and she was able to write it all down and make a game plan on what my priorities are and how to get them done. Sometimes as a self employed person you really just need someone else to tell you what to do for a change! With her experience managing large teams for big companies she’s well versed in business planning. On the other end of the spectrum is learning when to relax and take time out for yourself. She taught me some great ways to prioritize my self care and make a lifestyle that’s sustainable over time. They were transformational and such a huge help to my business, schedule, and sanity. 

As you know Dazey is all about transparency so I decided to share with you guys exactly what Kasey and I worked on and talked about during our coaching session. I hope by sharing this it can give you guys some insight on how you can better prioritize self care and manage your to-do list! We hope to do these “Private Goes Public” sessions on a monthly basis as I learn with Kasey! Also everyone in the world should hire her haha ;)

Below read Kasey’s notes and stories from our sessions along with some photos of her around Biz Babez. We also got some group shots of the 'Head Babez' I thought would be fun to throw in! 

Kasey tells ALL:

Ladies, I LOVE Dazey LA! I love what it stands for; I love how it started; I love how it’s operated, and I love its founder. I found Dani, or rather Dani found me, through one of her famous Insta-story advertisements. She smiled at me through her big glasses and said something along the lines of, “You’ve just been targeted for this ad, because you believe in female empowerment and I think you’ll like my brand, Dazey LA.”

I followed her account, and it’s been love ever since. About two months later I became the very first member of Biz Babez, a Pinterest perfect workspace for girls who gram and female business owners who want to work for themselves, but not by themselves. I’ve become so obsessed with Biz Babez that I’m now the Community Manager and Strategy Babe. (BTW, we have BIG plans for Biz Babez, more details coming soon!).

One day Dani and I went out to a casual coffee at Verve, right around the corner of Biz Babez. As fate would have it, it turned into a mini-coaching session. Which makes sense, because I’m a self-care coach and business strategist who helps boss influencers, like Dani, set outrageously audacious goals; meet them, and IMPROVE their well-being along the way. One thing led to another, and the next thing we knew, we were working together to help Dani feel more energized; carve out more room in her day to do the creative and content work that she breathes for, and set DazeyLA and Biz Babez on awesome growth trajectories.

 Sounds impossible, huh?

I promise you; it’s not. But, I understand why it seems that way. We’re great, especially in the U.S., at selling the idea that excellent business achievement has to come at the cost of sleep, sanity, health, and relationships. The funny thing is, and the thing that I help my boss clients reframe, we often have to narrow our focus; say no more often, and do less to make a big impact and big bucks! And that’s precisely what I’m helping Dani and Dazey do. It’s a privilege, and I count it as a blessing every night before I go to bed. (For real: every night I say 108 things I’m grateful for on my mala beads and Dani and Dazey are always two of them!).

As a coach, it’s a good practice to keep my client's information and sessions private. But one of the things that makes Dani so authentic, accessible, and lovable is her vulnerability. So when she asked me to write a guest blog about our work together, I felt comfortable lifting the veil for a very rare and candid look at what it’s like to prioritize your self-care while building two empires. At Dani’s request and with her permission, here are some of her self-care challenges and highlights.

First, Dani is genuinely one of the most confident people I have ever met. It is contagious and inspiring. She has an eye for design, detail, and marketing and the sister know it!

She is also a perfectionist. This personality trait has served her very well and turned her side hustle into the solid foundation of an empire. But, it also makes it difficult to let go of low-priority tasks that someone else can and should do.

That’s why the first thing we did together was discussed her goals for DazeyLA, Biz Babez, and her personal goals AND looked at her To-Do List. It’s a lot easier to let go of control, delegate To-Dos, and just straight up say “NO!” when we look at our To-Do List in the context of our audacious, amazing goals.

Dani and Dazey have HUGE goals. And I have no doubt they will crush them. Together, we prioritized the To-Dos and focused areas most likely to help her successfully achieve these goals. We reduced her To-Do List by about 25% through that exercise alone. But, there were still more To-Do’s than any one person, even someone as badass as Dani could accomplish in one year. So we started delegating.

Dani and Dazey thrive when Dani is spending her time being creative, big picture, and activating her Dazey Ladies across the globe. That made it pretty easy to figure out what needed to stay on her To-Do List vs. what things were ripe for delegation.

Once we got a sense for what we needed to get off Dani’s plate and onto someone else’s, we met with her DazeyLA teammates. One of the many things Dani has done well over the last year is to build a kick butt team. When we took a collective look at the things that still needed to get done and needed a new, non-Dani owner, as magic would have it, the activities aligned with strengths and growth opportunities for her team. Not only did Dani shrink her To-Do List, but she also increased her employee engagement. That is what GREAT LEADERS DO! Way to go, Dani!

Okay, so we slayed her To-Do List, what next? We added a new To-Do to the top of her list: sleep! Luckily, Dani is a pro-sleeper, so we didn’t have to make any drastic changes to her sleep routine.

However, despite getting enough sleep, and loving what she does, she didn’t always feel a spring in her step when it came to waking up. There’s nothing wrong with not being a morning person. But Dani wanted to feel more energized and excited about getting up in the morning. She admitted that she dreaded getting ready for her Dazey Everyday Instagram Stories. She also felt guilty that even though she loves Biz Babez, sometimes she still just wanted to work in a local coffee shop.

You wouldn’t believe the number of influencers and goal-crushers I work with who love being ready in the morning but don’t love the act of getting ready! Dani is in good company. Fortunately or unfortunately, getting dressed; doing her hair, and putting on makeup is part of Dani’s job. So rather than resenting that, I encouraged Dani to start owning that. I suggested that she think of getting ready as “clocking-in” it's part of her job….she’s getting paid for it! It didn’t reduce the amount of time she needed to spend on the activity. But it made her feel better about it, which is more than half the battle!

Finally, we addressed the guilt. I wish I got a dime every time one of my sweet clients said, “I feel guilty,” “I have to,” “I should,” or “I need to.” I’d be a wealthy woman if I did. Guilt is the nastiest energy vampire in the human feelings spectrum. It makes us feel bad and overcompensate for the silliest, most ridiculous things. Don’t get me wrong; I’m as guilty of experiencing unnecessarily guilty as the next boss babe. I am consistently working on it with my coach and therapist. That's why I am so passionate about helping my clients banish it!

It turns out Dani is allowed to love working quietly at a coffee shop and at the bustling Biz Babez. In fact, she prefers working at a coffee shop in the morning to help her clear her head and start her morning on a creative note. Then she loves getting an energy injection at Biz Babez in the afternoon when it’s time to collaborate and create content. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. She doesn’t have to be at Biz Babez all day, every day. It doesn’t mean she loves the community or the concept any less. The relief she felt when we determined this was instantaneous and very palpable. It was such a fun and rewarding coaching moment for me!

I’m so proud of and inspired by Dani. She is such a courageous woman. She is living her brand and carving a name for herself. It is a treat to be a part of her journey.

There are so many other things that Dani and I are working on together. This will not be my last post. But, it is the end of this one.

In the meantime, if you’d like to work on your self-care, here are three options:

1. Follow me on Instagram for actionable tips and tricks @kaseydreier
2. Take a deep breath
3. Sign-up for free 30-minute self-care check-in with me (offering specially for friends of Dazey!) 

Until the next blog, be well lovelies!

Love, Kasey Dreier

When you think of "Jeans and a tee" you likely imagine a very casual run-of-the-mill outfit. Not here at Dazey! I’ve partnered with one of my favorite denim brands, AG Jeans, to show you four fun ways to dress up your Dazey & denim. As you may know I’ve been challenging myself to wear #dazeyeveryday and it’s helped me discover so many fun ways to wear a graphic tee. It just requires a little thinking outside the box and some fun accessorizing! 

Top Tips:

1. Try an overall and tee combo! The AG jeans with suspenders are great for showing off the graphic! I have become obsessed with this style. Leaving one strap down allows the graphic to peak out a bit which gives the usually “cutesie” overalls and edge.

2. Wear unexpected shoes. One easy way to dress up denim is with a funky heel. Here I’m keeping it semi-summer casual with wedges and mules, but they really do the trick!

3. An accessory is key. I love dressing up my Dazey with playful accessories. Try a scarf, hat, funky earrings (like our macrame or pom earrings), or a statement necklace or choker. You don’t need a ton, but one or two looks great.

4. Denim dresses for the win! Nothing screams summer like a nice denim dress. By pairing it with a simple text tee it makes this look more casual, perfect for a BBQ. 

Hope these tips are helpful and give you some fun ideas! Be sure to try out some of these looks and also put your spin on it!

Below are some photos showing how I styled AG & Dazey: