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The VO BOSS podcast blends solid, actionable business advice with a dose of inspiration for today’s voiceover talent. Each week, host Anne Ganguzza focuses on a specific topic to help you grow your #VO Business. Featuring guest interviews with industry movers & shakers, VO BOSS covers every facet of the voice landscape, from creating your business plan to choosing the best marketing tactics & tools. So tune in, listen up, and learn how to further your VO career!

Nov 9, 2021

Is your yoga instructor on your business expense list? How about an ENT? If not, perhaps they should be. In this episode, Anne & Laya explore the role diet + exercise play in their businesses, how to take a break, and why you should try face yoga (really, it’s a thing!). If you're feeling a sense of business burnout , listen for tips and ideas to help overcome the overwhelming.

More at https://voboss.com/modern-wellness-with-laya-hoffman

Transcript

​​>> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.

Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza, and I am pleased to welcome back to the show special guest cohost, Laya Hoffman. Hey Laya, how are you today?

Laya: Awesome. Thanks, Anne, it's so good to be back. I've been loving our conversations so far. You've given so much to the voiceover community.

Anne: Thank you.

Laya: I have received from you before. So it's just an honor and a pleasure to join you on the show again and continue to share some knowledge of a modern mindset and this business we have.

Anne: Absolutely, for sure. So we got into some really amazing conversation in our last episodes about how to prepare ourselves and get ourselves into a modern mindset. And I want to get a little bit deeper into that focus, in regards to vocal health or our actual physical health. Because, you know, with the seasons changing, I know that I need to be able to do a few things to get my voice prepped and ready for being able to perform at my very best. And I know that I have a certain ritual of things that I do to prepare my voice, to be able to have the very best voice that I can. And I was hoping we could have a discussion about that today.

Laya: Of course, of course, I totally believe that full body wellness is key to creating a, you know, a sustainable voiceover business, but also to come from the right mindset holistically all, all the way. It's a 360 approach to your wellness, you know. While our vocal chords and our voice is our tool on our instrument, it doesn't happen naturally with flow and with the essence that you need to deliver, if your full body isn't in tune and it really takes a proactive approach --

Anne: Sure.

Laya: -- and not a reactive approach to doing that.

Anne: So very important.

Laya: I have learned the hard way. I'm sure we all have, especially during this high anxiety time that we're living in right now, whether, you know, you're on edge from everything that is the pandemic, or the political space, or whatever it is, we need to keep all those things in check so that we can deliver from the right emotional point, and do it in a healthy way, body, mind, soul, emotionally, and all of those things. So I definitely have incorporated some techniques that I keep in my ritual, in my toolkit to continue to, you know, work effectively and keep that balance.

Anne: You know what's interesting is that when I'm working with students who are just entering into the business, I give homework, you know, 'cause I'm a teacher.

Laya: Sure.

Anne: And I love to give homework and I find it --

Laya: I hate giving homework.

Anne: -- so interesting because people will tend to -- there's two types of people, right? There's people who will just be very diligent and good about doing their homework. And then there's those people who will wait until the night before and then do all their homework at once. And I'm constantly telling my students that it's important for you to get to know your body, to get to know your performance level and how you are at different times of the day. How do you feel in the morning? How do you feel in the afternoon, or how do you feel in the evening when you're performing in the booth after you've had a full day of stress, because I think it's super important that you get to know your body and how it reacts to stress to, if you're tired, whatever.

And it's important for you to get to know that so that when you are a full-time working voice actor, that you can understand, this is a great time, if I can get in the booth now. I'm feeling good, mentally healthy, physically healthy, and I'm in great performance, that you can take advantage of that, and really try to keep yourself in that tip-top shape for whenever you step into the booth. So I think it would be great to talk about what sort of things do you do to get yourself ready for that, Laya?

Laya: Yeah. Well, thanks. I feel like I'm a generally healthy person. I'm, uh, in my early forties, I've always been active, always tried to eat fairly clean, be aware. Of course I love to indulge just like everybody else. And I'm not always on my best, but going the distance with voice work in the last few years and being a working mom as well, having a young daughter to tend to, and all the stresses that come with everything around us, I felt the difference between walking in stressed and --

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: -- and coming from a place where the mind isn't dialed in. And on the opposite side of that, the difference between walking in, in a, in a fully centered and balanced place. And so I really started to insulate myself and make sure to put up the boundaries that will protect this work and doing that from a multitude of ways. I had a few like little ailments going on that wouldn't allow me to sit or stand for a long time because I had an inflammation in my body and there -- my back would hurt. And then instead of focusing on the copy and the emotional point and the client and the connection with the vibration that's coming out of my soul, it was coming from a place of ache or --

Anne: Yup.

Laya: -- pain or in the back of my mind, this nagging feeling that, oh, you know, you're just kind of half focused on whatever that is. So to me, it's eating clean. My daughter's got a gluten intolerance, and so we're mostly gluten-free here, but I've also noticed that the grains and the gluten definitely contribute to inflammation in my body --

Anne: Oh my, yes.

Laya: -- is, you know --

Anne: There with you.

Laya: Yeah, it's all part of the swelling.

Anne: Sure.

Laya: So, you know, I know when to indulge, but during the week when I'm working, and I create those boundaries where I try to compartmentalize my voice work to a Monday through Friday scenario whenever possible, to give myself vocal rest, also to, you know, have a cheat day and to go off the rails, as my husband would say, or drink a few glasses of wine or whatever.

Anne: Sure.

Laya: but it's keeping -- it's fueling the body from within, because this is our vessel. You know, a doctor or a carpenter keeps his tools clean, and we need to do the same for our, for our vocal cords in our vocal health. So to me, that starts with eating because it also gives me the clarity. When I'm really firing on all cylinders, I'll eat more of a low carb or ketogenic based diet because the clarity that I'm able to get without -- you know, there's no fog, there's no inflammation. It contributes to motivation and proactivity or productivity that continues to push me forward. You know, it also gives me the clarity to say, hey, it's time to take a break. You need rest. I didn't get enough sleep. You know, go get some fresh air, bust up the day a little bit. And don't grind so hard. Without those things, I'm not making the best decisions. So that's part of my modern mindset when it comes to wellness. It definitely starts with the fuel. Right?

Anne: Well --

Laya: -- and then we go from there.

Anne: Very, very interesting though that you say that because as I get older, it really makes a difference, the food that I put into my body and especially, I think, as we are progressing, I think there's more and more maybe additives or whatever it is --

Laya: Oh yes.

Anne: -- that's being put into the food that is maybe foreign to our bodies. And our bodies might be not used to it, rejecting it, whatever that is. But I do know that I feel a lot better when I'm not eating my beloved carbs. Ah...

Laya: For sure, for sure.

Anne: I love my carbs, but they do not love me as I've gotten older, and I definitely have inflammation. And that's not comfortable, you know, it's just not comfortable, and I need to be at my best and, and I need to, to perform. And I think it absolutely, you need to fuel your body with nutritious things that can help feed your energy, feed your soul, make you feel good.

Laya: Definitely.

Anne: And that, coming from that place starting there, then you can perform well.

Laya: Yeah. And then I take it a little bit of a step further, and I know you and I share the same passion of going to -- I go to an integrated health practitioner that balances both the Eastern and Western medicine, uh, use my chiropractor, uses kinesiology based muscle testing --

Anne: Oh yes.

Laya: -- to dial in my organs, my hormones, my allergies, and I get super, hyper focused or personalized supplements that are very high quality that my body is testing well. And that they're are both beneficial and really positive for what I am lacking in any given month or nutrient deficiency. And he does some cool stuff to get my body ready. Like this ear adjustment that I was struggling with for so long. I didn't know I had a click going on in my ear from TMJ, you know?

Anne: Wow. Now I can't say I've had my ears tested, but tell me --

Laya: No?

Anne: -- about that. No, I, for TMJ, I've had my jaw adjusted by my chiropractor, which I think is phenomenal.

Laya: Yes, it is such a release, right?

Anne: He's not adjusted my ear. Maybe I'm going to have to ask him, but tell me about it first.

Laya: I didn't know it was a thing, but I just sit there. It's very simple. He puts his thumb in your ear and I turn one way, and he does a little bit of a yank, and it's like all of the tiny little microscopic bones in the ear, it's like sparks are flying out.

Anne: A dance!

Laya: Yes, it is so -- I was like, ohh! the angels saying, when that happened. You've got to get your guy to do it. It's remarkable. And I think the combination of that and the modality in the jaw --

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: -- really started to alleviate some of TMJ and this click I couldn't get rid of. So that was super helpful for me.

Anne: Wow. Speaking of TMJ, I think that might be, uh, an issue for maybe a lot of our listeners.

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: And I know that my dentist of course prescribed a mouth guard, which does help with that. And I think here, we're doing all this work during the day when we're conscious and breathing and relaxing and meditating. And then all of a sudden, we go to bed at night and then we grind our teeth.

Laya: Yeah, why do we do that? I don't know.

Anne: And I'm like, why is that? But anyways, I think that that's a super helpful thing, but another thing that my chiropractor does -- and, and again, this is not necessarily the show about chiropractors, but whatever works for you -- my chiropractor, when I get an adjustment, I feel like I've now cleared pathways.

Laya: Yes.

Anne: And when I clear pathways, it allows me to breathe better, and you talk ears, I talk wrist. So there is a spot on my wrist that I had no idea about that when he adjusts my wrist, I am just, whoa, the angels, you know?

Laya: Yes.

Anne: The angels sing.

Laya: You use it a lot. So it makes sense. Right?

Anne: True.

Laya: We're editing. We forget about like our ergonomical position and that --

Anne: Absolutely.

Laya: -- our wrists, forearms, fingers probably take as much stress if not more as our jaw. So I'm, I'm going to go into mine and ask for a wrist adjustment next time.

Anne: And I'll ask for the ear adjustment.

Laya: Do it.

Anne: And I think also what's important, speaking of ears, is I have a ENT. And to me it's so important I think if you're going to be in this industry. I think it's a great idea to have a doctor that you trust, an ENT that can go -- and, you know, for me, I use them primarily for my ears because for those people that don't know, I've really tiny, tiny ears, and they tend, um, baby ears, actually they have to use pediatric tools to look in my ears.

Laya: So funny, like Anne "Baby Ears" --

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: -- Ganguzza, I think, is your new nickname.

Anne: Well, I tend to get a buildup of wax. So I have to go into him every three months.

Laya: Sure, makes sense.

Anne: And I have him just check things out. You know, if, if you've got issues with your vocal chords, you've got issues -- all of stuff, right?

Laya: And the inflammation there is going to affect your delivery, absolutely.

Anne: So I say a good ENT is also something that I think that BOSSes should consider in terms of maybe a regular, you know, kind of wellness program for the instrument that you use every day.

Laya: Absolutely right.

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: I also go to a massage therapist once a month because --

Anne: Yes.

Laya: -- that tension, body, mind -- in fact, both my integrated wellness doctor slash chiropractor and my therapist, those are budgeted into my business and --

Anne: Absolutely!

Laya: -- they're, in a way, part of the write-off, because this is my tool, and it's very important that I protect that space so that you can have fitness. And what we do --

Anne: Oh my gosh, yes.

Laya: -- is a marathon. So you gotta stay healthy all the way through.

Anne: I am going to plus one, plus 21, 21,000 for that massage therapist.

Laya: Yes.

Anne: And as a matter of fact, once a month, I'm part of a membership --

Laya: Same, yeah.

Anne: -- where I will go once a week even, because for me, it's important because I've been working a lot during this pandemic. And I'm very grateful and thankful for that. However, it's, it causes me to be a little bit more at my desk than I want to be. So massage, it really helps to keep my body in alignment, keep my muscles stretched and just engaged. I know that a lot of times, like my neck, my upper back suffers because I'm in the chair longer and a massage therapist, it absolutely is considered an investment for me, for my business.

Laya: Absolutely.

Anne: Yeah, yeah.

Laya: And that's how I kind of, you know, quantify that in my business structure as well. It was like, this is part of the integral part of, you know, just running the business. It's like, I've got to do that. I've got to make time for the gym, for exercise, for stretch, for breath work. Now, when it comes to like vocal therapy, you have an awesome product that I think we should talk about. But then -- and then talk about other things that you use for your throat and how to get that going.

Anne: Why, thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Well, actually, I know there's a lot of products that people use, and, and I'm the first to say, whatever works for you in terms of like sprays or throat coat, that sort of thing. But I do have a product that I developed because I was into essential oils, and I had started to become allergic. The, you know, allergy season was upon me, and my voice was getting very raspy. And so I was looking for something that would help. And there's an essential oil that was really helpful to me that I started to check out other products that used use this oil, or just, I started searching on Google for like throat sprays. And I found a recipe for singers vocal spray, and I actually, it was made of essential oils. So I kind of took our essential oils and kind of, you know, adjusted the recipe just a little bit in terms of taste for me, but kept a lot of some of the same ingredients. And so now I make this vocal throat spray, and I have three other products in that line that are made from the essential oils that I sell on all of my websites at Anne Ganguzza, at VO BOSS. So they're all essential oils and distilled water.

Laya: I love that.

Anne: So the ingredients are listed on the website, all natural listed on the website. I can make no claims that they will make you healthy. However, they help me, and they've helped a lot of people. I have a lot of fans that buy the vocal spray and the other products that I have too. I also have something, an essential oil mixture that you can put a couple of drops in your water to help you, you know, if you've not a water drinker, a lot of people they're like, "oh, I just don't like the taste of water," you can add a couple of drops of this. It gives you a little bit of flavor and it helps to keep you hydrated, so.

Laya: Yeah, yeah.

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: And that's really the key, right? I mean, you can't just drink water --

Anne: Oh my goodness, yes.

Laya: -- before your session, right? You've got to drink -- I'll keep a 32-ounce tumbler with me at all times. Throughout the day, I probably drink three or four of them. I go to the bathroom a lot, but I mean --

Anne: So do I.

Laya: -- it's good, 'cause it's flushing out the toxins.

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: It's also keeping you incredibly lubricated. I did make a misstep early on in my career. I was, you know, following other wellness people in an effort to reduce the inflammation and improve my digestive track. I was doing warm water and apple cider vinegar or warm water and lemon in the morning. And I noticed after a week or so, it really strained my vocal cords, stripped the lubricant. And you think, of course --

Anne: Well, it's acidic.

Laya: -- that makes sense -- right, of course! And like now it makes sense, but at the time I thought, "well, I'm just centering my body, I'm --

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: -- having a intermittent fasting. And this is kind of soothing my breaking, oh, not really breaking my fast, but warming up my intestines and all of that.

Anne: Sure.

Laya: Nope. Not the thing to do. So I stopped doing that, and I'm going to have to try your additive, the essential oils, because I love essential oils on the body, to put in the space and make your room what it needs to be. So that's awesome.

Anne: I have those too. Yeah. I have, uh, something called the Booth Breeze --

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: -- which is a combination of lavender --

Laya: We all need one of those.

Anne: -- and peppermint. Can you imagine lavender and peppermint? Lavender to calm you down, peppermint to kind of like spice you up. And the two of them together are really interesting. So there's lavender, peppermint, I think spearmint in there.

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: And in reality, I call it the Booth Breeze because you can spray it in your booth for the aroma essence of it to calm you down in -- or to pump you up. But it's also to make you not so hot in the booth. And you know, it's been a hot summer. You can literally, with the spearmint, you know, I mean, and it's not all spear -- you're not spraying spearmint. It's a combination along with the majority of it distilled water, but you can spray that on the back of your neck, and it's a cooling agent, so.

Laya: Oh, very cool.

Anne: Yeah. So you can use it --

Laya: Literally.

Anne: -- for multiple, multiple things.

Laya: That's awesome.

Anne: So one note that I wanted to talk to you about, the lemon, I -- absolutely lemon is an acid. I love a good glass of lemon water, but I think, yeah, in excess, you probably don't want to do too much of that.

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: But I don't think they're, for me, I've never had a problem 'cause I haven't done it consistently and a lot. But I will have a day or two where I'll drink lemon water.

Laya: Sure.

Anne: If I need to, you know, if I'm inflamed, and I need to kind of flush toxins out of my system, it helps me a whole lot. But as long as I chase it with like regular water. You know, they say not to drink coffee, but I love coffee. And so I'm a big drink coffee and chase it with a good, you know, 16 ounces of water.

Laya: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's key, that's key. You know, what I also use is a, I've tried a bunch of nebulizers out there. I don't know if you're familiar with any or you like to use any. They're fun, interesting. Nobody uses -- maybe this is an idea for somebody, hey, maybe you. You're the BOSS that will put this in motion. We need to brand one for voice actors, but the vocal mist nebulizer is a cool portable system that I use, especially after, you know, a long weekend or you go to a concert, you really straining your voice for some reason.

Anne: Sure.

Laya: Or it's just been a really intense week on the mic. It's so soothing to have that nebulizer and that warm kind of neutral mist in the back of the cords. I found a lot of relief with that. So you need to BOSS brand one for sure.

Anne: Maybe, maybe.

Laya: VO BOSS brand nebulizer.

Anne: I'm going to talk about somebody who I absolute love is, is Nic Redmond --

Laya: Yeah, she has some great exercises.

Anne: -- who has -- oh my God, she has wonderful, wonderful things. So if you've not checked her out, she has -- I believe she has a new podcast, right, on it?

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: Yeah, she's got a -- outside of the VO Social that she does with Laya, she has her own podcast, all about vocal health, so -- and she's a true geek about it and she's amazing. So --

Laya: Yeah, talented, yeah, what a talented --

Anne: Strongly --

Laya: -- individual.

Anne: Yeah. Strongly suggest checking out her podcast, and her exercises, and, and remedies as well.

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: So she's, she's amazing. So I think that's a great resource for everybody. What about physical -- I know you said you do yoga, but what about, is there any physical exercises that you do in the booth, like right before you're going to perform? Because I have a couple of neck exercises that I do.

Laya: Interesting.

Anne: I'm wondering about you.

Laya: I'm always doing some sort of movement and some sort of stretch because we are so kind of complacent in our bodies. I mean, unless you're doing like a high action, a video game or something like that, where you're really moving around, we don't usually have the opportunity to bend and stretch and move. I do a lot of face stretching and exercises, you know, like kind of face yoga where, you know, you're doing the chin stretch --

Anne: Yes.

Laya: -- or you're really opening up your mouth and kind of blowing air into your cheeks and rubbing your temples, your jaw, your ears, those types of things. I feel like I'm, I'm constantly with my hands all over my face, just, you know, feeling into the modalities there to keep it fluid and keep everything moving. How about you?

Anne: Yeah, no, I absolutely. I have some really good -- and of course this, it was my chiropractor -- but also these are not neck stretches that you probably have -- I mean, they're very simple, to take your right hand and put it over your left ear and then, you know, bring your head to your right shoulder. And as you do, as you advance, you know, closer to your shoulder, breathe in. And then when you exhale, go ahead and bring it a little bit closer to your shoulder. I'm actually doing it now.

Laya: I can hear it.

Anne: And then so as you are exhaling, you're going to be able to stretch that neck even further towards your shoulder. And I do that, you know, to the right, to the left, forward and back, and everything that's, you know, muscles around those vocal cords, I think really is an excellent exercise for you to do because I mean, that's, that's what we need to have warmed up for sure.

Laya: Oh yeah, neck rolls all day, every day, I'm here for it. And you forget, you forget how tight or how much tension, how much stress we're holding in there.

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: What about like affirmations? And do you use any of that, any, any love self-love talk around you visually to kind of keep the mental stimulation?

Anne: Why, yes. Absolutely. There's so much to be said for post-it notes.

Laya: Yes.

Anne: I know we're in a digital world, but --

Laya: No, you've got to see it to believe it, baby.

Anne: It's so true! I mean, post-it notes, if, especially if, if you're trying to think performance wise, like maybe you have a, a habit that you're trying to break, a post-it note stuck up in your booth right up in front of you, and you're always looking at it. Or a booth buddy, you know, there's a lot of great coaches out there that will recommend to have a booth buddy. So if you want to feel like you're talking to someone or you've got somebody that you're focusing on, have a picture of someone close to your monitor so that you can be talking to them or talking to your booth buddy, but I think affirmations, absolutely, so that they're constantly there in front of you.

Laya: Yeah. Definitely. People feel like a little awkward if you've not done that before, like tell yourself you're kick-ass. But really what I love to do is pull, you know, you mentioned the post-it notes. You can get them in all cute shapes. They don't have to just be squares all over your space, but you know, if you're ever talking, you're in a webinar, or you're talking to a coach, you're talking to a friend, you know, you scribble something down, you can almost turn anything into an affirmation.

Anne: So true.

Laya: One I've got sitting in front of me is from one of my coaches, Nancy Wolfson. She says, your cool is cool enough. And like, that means so much to me because of our --

Anne: So true.

Laya: -- back history. But you know, I don't need to try to be something else when what I've got is already the good -- I've already got the goods because it's uniquely mine, and nobody else has the life experience that brings to this, this voice, in this delivery and this emotional point. And so those little notes give you some like a little gut check, you know, that you're on the right track, and even when you're having a low day, and it's good to see that to believe in and feel it, you know?

Anne: I love that we're really delving into the mental aspect of this because whereas we might not have thought about the mental aspect, it really is so -- I don't want to say -- the physical aspect of your vocal cords and that you're warmed up is important, but I'm going to say sometimes the mental could be even more important --

Laya: Absolutely.

Anne: -- to your performance and your health. And that is so very important that we're open, and we're okay with spending time on our mental health, so that we can be the best that we can be, and whatever that takes. And it could be post-it notes in the studio, as well as -- and we spoke about this in a previous episode -- you know, having that group of colleagues or friends or accountability buddies --

Laya: Yeah.

Anne: -- that can, you know --

Laya: Your tribe.

Anne: -- help keep you -- yeah, your tribe that can keep you in a great, positive mental state, because it's so prevalent in this industry where we deal, I mean, almost rejection, rejection, rejection.

Laya: Or comparison.

Anne: And that is -- yeah.

Laya: And then you know, when you see others on social and there's a lot of -- you start to really second guess things.

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: It's a mind game.

Anne: It is.

Laya: But if you're going to be strong in anything, you've got to have that mental mindset, and the modern way to approach that is do it for you first --

Anne: Yeah.

Laya: -- but like get yourself good. And then also know when to take a break, right? Like give yourself the grace to chill and to relax into if you're not having a good day or, you know, you're really tired or you need to listen to your body and give yourself the courtesy and the respect to know when to take it easy, right? Like...

Anne: Yeah, know, your body. And I'm giving permission that you do not have to do every single last audition.

Laya: Oh gosh.

Anne: That, I think, is something --

Laya: Say it again for the people in the back, Anne. Say it again.

Anne: One more time. You do not have to do every single audition. I know for a fact, I tell my students this too, that they try to do every -- all their homework at the very last minute. My students are always doing that. And I'm like, you need to get to know your body. You need to get to know your mental state. You need to know "I'm good in the morning after I've exercised or after I've done mental affirmations" or however it is, or maybe after a day of homeschooling, right? How is your body, how is your mental state? Are you able to perform? And I think it's wonderful to be able to do something in the booth every single day at a different time of the day, to get yourself aware of where your performance is good. And then if it's not, what are you going to do to fix that? Right?

Laya: Exactly right. Have like a tool bag, right? Like how can you fix it?

Anne: Yup, yup.

Laya: When you know you're feeling low here, what do you need to do? You got to pull a lever and, you know, deep into that bag and give yourself a break or go out in nature and ground down.

Anne: Exactly.

Laya: Use your throat spray or drink --

Anne: Or your body hurts?

Laya: -- some water, exactly.

Anne: -- get a massage or go walk around. I'm constantly telling people, you know what, because it takes such focus to do what we do. And it takes such, you know, to really tell the story, like we're always supposed to do, and we need to really connect. And we're connecting with the copy. That takes a lot of mental effort and that also physically can take a toll on you. So if you need to hop out of the booth for five minutes, shake it off, go pet your fur babies, or, you know what I mean, go have a cracker with, with your child or whatever it is --

Laya: A cracker.

Anne: -- that's a carb, sorry.

Laya: Don't have the cracker.

Anne: Go have a vegetable with your loved one. And you know, there's a lot to be said for that, that, that getting out of the booth and just resetting, getting out into nature, taking a walk, like you were saying. It's such a, such a wonderful way to, to just reset and come back fresh.

Laya: Yeah. I think the foundational part of wellness and modern minded approach to this business now is, is that taking care of yourself first is key because that's, you know, that is everything. That applies to, you know, we're in a pandemic. Yes. And so we're always, we're careful and innately careful about germs and cross-contamination and all that stuff now. But you know, keeping those things in mind is that like one down day, because you weren't taking care could cost you money.

Anne: Sure.

Laya: But it's also important to take it a down day when you need it so that you can go the distance when you need it to.

Anne: And you'd be surprised at how understanding your clients can be.

Laya: For sure.

Anne: If you're human. I mean, we're all human, right?

Laya: That's absolutely true.

Anne: And so if you need that time, and I know you mentioned before that, you know, if you need that time and you don't -- we try not to work on the weekends and you send that email saying, "hey, thanks so much. I'm out of the booth right now. And I'll get back to you tomorrow morning, you know, I'm spending time on family and I'd be happy to get back to you," I think I love that approach, um, because we all need to reset. We all need to reset that creative compass.

Laya: Yeah, absolutely.

Anne: To be our best.

Laya: I think in a future episode, I'd love to talk to you more about, you know, how do you compartmentalize when you vacation? Do you take a rig with you? What does that look like? When you set those boundaries? Because that's part of the wellness and the mentality too. So --

Anne: Absolutely.

Laya: -- maybe more on that later.

Anne: Absolutely. Well, excellent conversation, Laya, as always.

Laya: Thanks again, Anne. Thank you.

Anne: Yeah. This has been great. BOSSes, take care of yourself.

Laya: Yes.

Anne: You know, mental, physical wellness is, is important for your performance, for your business. We all want you guys around for a very long time, so.

Laya: Health is wealth. Absolutely.

Anne: That's it, absolutely. So big shout-out to ipDTL that allows me to connect, uh, with BOSSes like Laya, and you too can do the same. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week and be well, and we'll see you next week.

Laya: See ya. Thanks, everybody.

Anne: Bye!

Laya: Bye!

>> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to Coast connectivity via ipDTL.