Worms, Sprouts, and Laughter For Health and Wellness with Cathy Nesbitt

Cathy Nesbitt: [00:00:00] Are you a work at home rockstar or do you dream of becoming one? Then you found the right podcast. Your host, Tim Lanson, talks with successful work at home rock stars to learn their secrets and help you in your journey. Are you ready to rock?

Tim Melanson: Here’s Tim. Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Work at Home Rockstar podcast.

Very excited to be talking to a fellow Canadian. She is a health and wellness, uh, advocate. And what she does is she helps people with simple solutions for today’s challenges, worms for mending the soil, sprouts for eating, and laughter for overall health and wellness. Very intriguing stuff there. So excited to be rocking out today with Kathy nsbe.

Hey, Kathy, you ready to rock?

Cathy Nesbitt: Woo woo. You know I am. Woo woo woo. Awesome.

Tim Melanson: So we always start off here on a good note. So tell me a story of success in your business so we can be

Cathy Nesbitt: inspired by. Yeah, so it’s the 21st anniversary of my worm business. So I’ve had a lot of success in 21 years. It, it didn’t start that way, but, [00:01:00] um, I would say my biggest, or one of my biggest successes is, um, I.

Media. So in, in 2002, we had a garbage strike. Um, I’m located north of Toronto. Mm-hmm. So in Toronto there was a garbage strike and if you’re gonna have a garbage strike, it might as well be in the summer. Right. So, um, I was like, I have a solution. It’s indoor composting. I know we haven’t got there yet, but it’s indoor composting with worms.

And so I was like, I have a, a solution for the 6 million people that live in Toronto, half living in condos and townhouses without outdoor space to do composting outside. And so I. I thought, let me go on a road trip with my worm. So I sent press releases to the Toronto outlets and five minutes after sending my press re press release, uh, reporter from the Toronto Star contacted me and said, thank you for your press release.

Last week I wrote an article about composting and I forgot about the apartment dwellers. When you, when you’re finished at the [00:02:00] transfer station, can you come down to the star? I wanna interview you. I was like, you be, I could go right to the star. That was my agenda, but then I was like, I have a psych degree, so I’m curious about people.

So I wanted to do the process. So I went, and that could be a whole episode talking about what happened at the, uh, I almost lost my life that day, but that’s okay. Um, here I am. Oh, wow. Right. The mob mentality. So there I was, I was, um, like in causing trouble, right? For the, for the union. I was asking the people that were there to line up, lining up to drop off their garbage.

Why they weren’t. Composting, why, why not compost? Do you have, you know, do you know about all these things? And then they called the police and I left today, I’d stay to be arrested. Wow. But you know, I didn’t wanna cause trouble. I just wanted to, I was curious. And so I made my way to the star and I got my first article in Toronto Star January or July 20.

Uh, July 18th, 2002, I called up my husband. I’m like, yay. I got my, I, I got an article in The [00:03:00] Star, which is my market, and he said, probably ni, that’s nice or something. And he said, I’m on my way home. I just got downsized. So I was like, oh no. Oh no. Like now I, now, 21 years later, I can, I can laugh about it and Joe can say, couldn’t he have just got downsized tomorrow so I could celebrate my article in The Star?

Yeah. Yeah. So that was, so from there, um, I realized the power of media, and I chose media as my marketing strategy. So getting attention rather than paying for attention. And it’s, it’s big. It’s a big difference. For anyone that’s starting out, it’s it. Take note, cuz this was really big. I’ve had over 300 articles, tv, radio, documentary.

Wow. And I don’t shy away from the media. I’m not like, oh, is my hair okay? I’m like, oh, there’s the, where’s someone with a camera? I better run with my worms. And at events I would chase them around, you know? Oh, you missed my booth. Wow. [00:04:00] And, uh, yeah, so, you know, I think that’s what you have to do as an entrepreneur is just be, be bold.

You might have the best idea, but if nobody knows about it, it’s just an idea.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, that’s just it, right? I mean, depending on what your business is. I mean, if you’ve got a business that serves an obvious problem that everybody already has, well then great. I mean, they’re probably looking for you. Uh, but then on the other hand, there’s probably a million people that do the same thing.

So, so you still have to be somewhat bold, right? And then if you’ve got an idea that nobody even understands, well then you have to be real bold cuz you have to show them what you have because they’re not even looking for you. Right?

Cathy Nesbitt: Absolutely. Oh yes, there’s, if you’re in any business, almost any business, you’re gonna have competition.

So rather than be one of many, you wanna be the only one. The only one doing what you are doing. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah.

So

Tim Melanson: good. Which is, which is what Ning down means, right. It’s, it means figuring out what it is that you do that nobody else does. Right? [00:05:00] Absolutely. That’s awesome. So with the good notes sometimes comes some bad notes, and it sounds like that story was wrapped up with some bad notes.

I’m, I’m wondering like, can you share with us something that didn’t go as planned and how you recovered?

Cathy Nesbitt: Absolutely. Just like there’s lots of success. There’s, uh, lots of things that, um, we’re learning curves. So the, the one that. That I wanted to share for, again, for people that are just starting out, I thought I needed to be at every event, you know, to with my wares.

I thought, okay, I gotta be there. So my very first event was an eco far perfect, like it’s an environmental business. This will be great. So my husband and I spent three weeks getting ready. We put together all these worm kits. I think we brought 30, like our booth was just full of. Because everybody was gonna want what we had.

Of course, they were like, it, it’s important. This is, this is, this is life saving. Okay? And so the whole day went by. It was actually a weekend event. So the first day, nothing the second [00:06:00] day. Um, not that people didn’t come to talk, just there was no purchases, nobody knews, no sales. Yeah. And then my in-laws arrived kind of at the end of the show.

It was an outdoor event. And so my mother-in-law said, oh, I, I’d like to get one of these worm bins. So I made one sale to my mother-in-law, and when she left, I said to my husband, I didn’t even give your mom the family discount. That was my only sale. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: Well,

Cathy Nesbitt: yeah. So, so the moral to that story is, Is, you know, like, do your research if you are gonna do shows.

I, I now don’t do first year events, um, because first year events, they might say, oh, we’re gonna have, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, however many people they say there’s gonna be, you know, hundreds of vendors and it’ll be great. And then they don’t do any advertising, so nobody shows up. So there you are, all the vendors looking at each other.

Oh, hello over there. Oh hi. And the days are very long. And you know, you’re in your head thinking, oh, I could be at home doing the dishes. Yeah, [00:07:00] for sure. Um, you know, so do your due diligence. And another quick story that I would like to share is, again, in environment, I thought I needed to be at all the environmental events and there was a alternative energy event at U F T and I was like, oh, I gotta be at that event cuz it’s about environment.

But I’m doing composting, so it really wasn’t a fit. Again, people came, it’s interesting what I’m doing, but you know, if you’re there for solar or geothermal or some other kind of energy, you’re maybe not looking at composting. So just know your market. Know what you’re selling, know who your, where your people are that are gonna be wanting what you have.

Love

Tim Melanson: it. Yeah, so, so really kind of like the first, the good note and the bad note are really wrapped up in together, like you’ve gotta be hustling, but you’ve also gotta be strategic above the hustle because you could be running in the wrong direction for, for a while, right.

Cathy Nesbitt: Right. Yeah. So sometimes I think get an idea and then pause and, and see how it feels, [00:08:00] you know, rather than just, I’m, I’m an action person, so I, I get an idea and I just do it.

Um, and that, and that’s a great way, it’s a great strategy for life cuz I think often people get ideas and then they shelve them. They’re like, oh, not right now. Like, you get all fired up. You’re like, oh, that’s so great. I’m gonna do that. But then it’s like, you know, it settles in and you’re like, oh yeah, I remember last time.

You’re like, we’re our worst enemy. So we, we get in our head and we’re like, oh yeah. We talk ourself out of something or we tell somebody and they’re, they talk us

Tim Melanson: out of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, and, and I will tell you that most of the entrepreneurs that I talked to, Are exactly that. They’re idea people.

They’re out there, they’re action people. They go and, you know, ready, shoot, aim, right? It’s just one of those things. But, but that’s the thing is that you, you, you learn from all those missteps and usually you end up, you know, eventually attracting somebody. That can be, you know, your kind of counterpart that sort of goes, okay, let’s be more [00:09:00] strategic about the way that you go.

So they’re kind of like directing you a little bit. Right. Uh, because you know that energy and that passion, that’s really what, you know, drives everything in a business. Right.

Cathy Nesbitt: In life. I think in life, in order to have, well, not in order, but to have a great life, I get an idea and then take action. Like they say, knowledge is power.

Knowledge is only information without action. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I agree. Action is power, you know, action is power and

Cathy Nesbitt: nothing. Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s so good. So now, okay, let’s talk a little bit about practice makes perfect, or practice makes progress, however you wanna talk about it. Um, because you know, they, um, in life you mean things are always changing and we always have to keep up on things, right?

So how do you approach, you know, just staying on top and honing your craft?

Cathy Nesbitt: Yeah, so, uh, so I’d like to switch into laughter at this point. So I wasn’t doing worms and you know, oh gosh, about, [00:10:00] 20 12, 1 more person said, Ooh, worms in the house. So then I was about to doff my worm mission cuz I thought I, I can just get a job and it would be a lot easier.

You know, I, you know, I made a couple of mistakes in that the business model that I chose was selling worms by the pound. Uh, before being an preneur, I didn’t have any entrepreneurial experience and there was nobody in my family or my, uh, friends, my circle that were on were all had employee mentality. Um, So I, I just had this idea, saw this huge problem and had a solution.

So, just started my business that way. Not necessarily recommended, but here I am still here and I’m making a huge impact on the planet. Yeah. You know, I, yeah, I have a, I have a good life because I’m doing good work. Um, so I was introduced to Laughter Yoga in 2012 and it saved my worm business. It really kept me in my business because it allowed me to get outta my head and realize when people say, [00:11:00] Ooh, worms in the house, it’s not my problem.

It is cuz they’re not buying. But, uh, it, but it’s, it’s their, their issue and. Um, yeah, I would take that personally when somebody said, Ooh, worms in the house, it would be like they were saying, oo about me. Yeah. And they weren’t, they were saying, oo, about the concept. And

Tim Melanson: it doesn’t, it doesn’t even necessarily mean that they don’t want to do it too.

Does it?

Cathy Nesbitt: No. No, of course not. No. And I, I have a psych degree, so I’m fascinated by people and I’m, I’m meeting all kinds of people as adults who were traumatized as children in the schoolyard after a rainy day, somebody chasing them around. A sibling may be putting a worm down their shirt, and if you’re traumatized as a ch child by something, You’re not looking to that as a solution, as an adult.

Like, you know, they’re, you’re not listening to that podcast or reading that article like, you’re like worms. Nope. And not even consciously. It’s just like you’re flipping the page. Um, I’ve, I’ve met a lot of, [00:12:00] um, people like teachers will, will, will, um, I do a lot of school workshops, so the teachers will be like, oh, they’ll see me at an event.

This is really great idea. Yeah. But I’m afraid of worms. What do I do? And I say, here’s what you do. You have the worms in, you bring the worms in. You have the children manage the worms, but you let them know how ridiculous your fear of worms is because it’s just the unfair, it’s just the unknown. Like if you’re afraid of the dark, you don’t know what’s gonna happen when you turn the lights out.

Same with the worms. If you’re afraid of worms, it’s just that you think. Like that, something’s gonna happen. They’re gonna get out or they’re gonna whatever, be all over your house or whatever, whatever you’re thinking. Um, so it’s just fear. So I, I say bring them in, have the kids manage them, and then eventually you will overcome your fear of worms as well, because the kids will be like, wow, look at this.

And it’s really a magic process watching the worms convert this food scraps and paper into black gold. Like it’s just, it’s beau [00:13:00] beautiful.

Tim Melanson: So now how does the, uh, the laughter yoga work then?

Cathy Nesbitt: So laughter yoga is, uh, it’s not doing yoga and laughing. It’s just laughing. It’s, it was started in 95, 19 95 by a medical doctor in India, Dr.

Madan Aria, and his goal is world peace. So there are clubs around the world. Uh, I believe we’re around 120 countries now. Um, north America’s a late adopter, so yoga’s kind of just arriving. Laughter yoga’s still in the ocean somewhere. Um, so it’s either generally 30 minutes or 60 minutes for a session.

And as the laughter, laughter yoga leader, there’s clapping and chanting and you’re leading the way. So it’s little games to inspire the laughter, but the prime objective is just laughter. So deep diaphragmatic breathing, gentle movement. And then you feel great like ever heard laughter’s the best medicine?

Tim Melanson: Ah, yes, I have. Yeah.

Cathy Nesbitt: Right. It is, it’s not just a saying. When we laugh, we’re secreting [00:14:00] beloved drugs, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins versus cortisol and adrenaline. When we’re stressed and when we’re laughing, we’re oxygenating our beautiful body, like, oh, uh, did that in reverse. So the brain requires 25% more oxygen than the rest of the body as an operating principle.

So when we’re stressed, we’re not breathing properly. Our body’s not getting what it needs for sure. Our brain isn’t ever lost. Your keys.

Tim Melanson: Yeah,

Cathy Nesbitt: right. You’re flopping around. Ah, where are my keys? I gotta go. So you’re not breathing properly, you’re stressed. You’re getting more stressed by the second as you’re flopping around.

So you need to, anyone listening, I can’t stop you from losing things. Sorry. How Canadian. What I can do is offer this tip next time you’re flopping around. Just stop, take a deep breath, laugh it off, and then apologize to everybody and you’ll find your keys, [00:15:00] because our brain is literally being deprived of oxygen when we’re under stress.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Wow. Yeah, and uh, I, I, I agree. I agree. And, and it’s just like this downward spiral too, that you, you lose your keys, then you start freaking out about something, then you stub your toe and then, you know, just keeps on going. Right. And it probably, you’re probably right, you just stop. Take a big, deep breath and you find your keys right.

Cathy Nesbitt: Exactly. That’s exactly right. And then you’re secreting all those love drugs, so your body feels good. So the laughter, um, a laughter is not about jokes or comedy. So it’s not talking and the leader is the only one talking. The others are just playing, so they’re just there to play full on and it, and you really have to allow yourself permission.

Yeah, I’m sure you know people that are very serious. I, I have some of them in my life and they don’t like, smiling is even a challenge and they’re just very serious. Um, for those people when I can get through to [00:16:00] them. It’s such a beautiful breakthrough. Like the people that are natural offers, they’re fun, they’re, they’ve come to play and they’re, they have a great time.

The ones that are, um, very serious and they go through life. You know, thinking that everything’s doom and gloom when, when they have a little breakthrough at laughter yoga, oh my gosh. It’s, they’re the ones that you get the incredible testimonials. Like, I came to this and I was a skeptic and da da da, and I, I thought, how can this be work?

It, it’s fake. And yes. And we used to say, fake it till you make it. But then, and we would set, set it up at the beginning, oh, this is, you know, just fake it till you make it. But then peop, because we set it up that way. When people would leave the class and we’d, how did it go? Look? It kind of felt fake.

Whoops. We set it up that way. So now we say the mind or the body doesn’t know the difference between real and simulated laughter. The brain’s the thinker. So the brain might be like, ah, stop it. You look ridiculous. What are you doing? But the body’s like, pew [00:17:00] ha, woo. Fully oxygenated, ah, feeling great. Cells having a party and we connect on a deeper level.

When we raise our vibration, it opens up our minds so creativity can spill in so that we can come up with better solutions. I recently heard, I think it was just yesterday, even the Express or uh, something that said when we’re in the, um, energy of freedom and joy, that’s the solution energy. When we feel good, we can come up with solution because, because we’re not looking down, we’re not stressed and closed, we’re open.

Like even our posture, you know when I’m gonna use cell phone, when we’re on our cell phone, I don’t even have a cell phone. I don’t often just bring that on people. Cuz sometimes people are like, they don’t know what to do with that. They’re like, oh, young people stop breathing.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, exactly. They’re like,

Cathy Nesbitt: Like, cuz it’s part of them and they’re just like walking [00:18:00] around, they can’t, sorry, I’d like to help you, but I’ve got my cell phone in my hand.

I can’t, I can’t help you. Um, so when we’re looking at our cell phone, we’re looking down. So even if we’re looking at something funny, we’re sending a note to our brain. We’ve got the physiology of depression when we’re looking at our phone. Like our heads down. Wow, wow, wow. Thank you for, wow. Wow. Isn’t that It’s mind blowing.

Yeah, it is. Yeah. So it’s, we’re sending like a duo message to our brain. Like, I’m looking down, I must be sad, but I’m laughing at this cat video, so I must be happy. So what’s happening here? I. It’s confusing, right? It’s confusing. I want somebody, somebody say this on a lot of podcasts, but I really want somebody to invent something like the selfie stick where we’re looking up instead of looking down when we’re on our technol because it’s not going anywhere.

The cell phones are not going anywhere. They’re here, so let’s use them for our benefit. Hi, my name is, I’m from Mastering Ascension, and I’ve been working with Tim [00:19:00] Lanson and the Creative Crew Agency for a number of years now. Tim is my go-to guy for all things technology, and his team have helped me to really create the platform that I need, that represents my brand, my message, and connects me directly to my ideal clients.

What I particularly love about Tim is before he starts to dive into the technology, he always makes sure that he understands what your global view is, what your ultimate goals are, so then that way you’re not wasting a lot of time back and forth switching around technology or platforms. He creates something from the gecko that is scalable, which is highly, highly, um, beneficial for any business.

What I’ve experienced from Tim and his team is they’re highly responsive. They are a wealth of information. And they’re gonna offer you the tools that you need to really make the mark that you wanna make in the world. So that’s my recommendation for Tim. He’s awesome. You’re gonna love every minute, you won’t regret it.

Tim Melanson: Wow. [00:20:00] Wow. That’s really, really cool. So I am gonna do that now. I’ll be looking at my phone like this, and you know what? I’m gonna inspire some laughter cuz people will probably laugh at me doing that.

Cathy Nesbitt: Right. But our head is, I, I can’t remember how heavy our head is, but our skull is really heavy. So when we’re looking down, that’s, it’s like a bowling ball, you know?

And our, our poor neck has to, so a pain in the neck and sometimes we’re our shoulders cuz we’re, we’re on the computer a lot, like, we’re doing a lot of stuff out front. So just doing stretches out the back is really good. Opening up our ribcage and, yeah.

Tim Melanson: It’s funny that you say that cuz uh, like even the way that I’ve got my desk set up, like I, I have my chair like way down and I, I look up to my screen when I’m, when I’m working and I don’t know why I do that.

I like, people think it looks kind of weird cuz you know, most people are like up, you know, but I’m like way down. So maybe that’s it. Maybe my, my, my physiology is just going like, you need to be looking up. Cause you know, it’s more inspiring that way. Right? [00:21:00]

Cathy Nesbitt: It is. It really is. Yes. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: So now let’s talk a little bit about, uh, getting fans and, I mean, in today’s world it’s the audiences are everywhere, right?

Uh, but how do you get them to be like fans of your work? How do you get them to, to love what you’re doing?

Cathy Nesbitt: Yeah, so I would say consistency, um, having. Targeting the right audience. Like really get clear on who you’re, they call it an avatar. Now, who’s your avatar? Who, who is your ideal client? Really get clear and where do they hang out?

Like some people it may be Facebook, although Facebook I find really is more, uh, social. It’s fun. People are sharing their stories and I’m sure people are. Our successful business-wise there, and it’s fine. I’m there. It’s, it’s, um, I don’t get a lot of business, but it’s just being visible. Right? Staying present, um, depending on your market.

LinkedIn is a great one for, um, business to [00:22:00] business. Um, you know, that’s the business platform it seems, um, in today. I mean, I’m not on TikTok and all of those, of course, I don’t have a cell phone, so I’m not there. I, I, I know that some of these platforms are really great. So just know and, and know that you don’t need to be on everything.

You don’t have to be everywhere, because then you’re gonna be really scattered and trying to please everybody. So just pick up a spot, like I would say start with one platform. Build your business there. And it’s, it’s really, it’s social media, so it’s interacting rather than just pushing. You know, people don’t wanna be sold to, they wanna be.

Um, like massage, they wanna be your friend, especially in today’s market. Um, and I would still say, um, you know, what I did was, was media. I was talking about traditional media for the most part, like newspapers. Um, there were, Rogers used to have a little, uh, cable show. Some, they, I think some small communities still have them.

And, [00:23:00] you know, I, I, I pitched that I wanted to be the environmental expert. So every, every month I would up appear on Rogers as the, and so when you appear on these in this media, and I think traditional media or conventional media is still very valuable because it’s. They have reporters, so it’s, you know, they do their fact checking and stuff and then you get those links and you can share those links all over social media and they have staying power.

I have like my article from 2002, I still have that link. Wow. You know, so I think, um, Yeah, there’s, there’s lot there. There’s lots of ways to, to get attention. You can do events and it doesn’t have to be a big grand event. Especially now with online. You could host a, an online something. Um, yeah, I would just say keep on massaging.

You gotta keep in touch with people. It used to be, Seven hits that people needed and now it’s, I don’t know if [00:24:00] some, they say some like 20, 24 or 27 hits that people have to see your stuff and we’re bombarded by stuff. Yeah. You know, I would say don’t just, um, post something once. And there you go. And just wait, wait for the phone to ring or wait for the emails to come in.

Cuz the phone’s probably not gonna ring. Nobody phones anymore? No, no. They text. Oh. Except my phone’s ring twice already. Yeah. Um, um, yeah, so be consistent with your message. Um, be clear and be patient, especially at the beginning because, you know, we start a business and we think, oh, this is so great, everyone needs this.

And then, Oh, and then our, you know, enthusiasm might start to wane as people aren’t signing up for our, what we’re offering. It doesn’t mean that they don’t want what you have, it’s that they have it. It maybe the messaging needs to be different. You know, we need to look at, because people learn in different ways.

You know, there’s [00:25:00] auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and we all though all those different ways of learning. Receive messages differently. This is kind of getting into N L P Neural Linguistic Programming, but it’s how people learn is how they will see messages. So I’m, I’m visual and I’m kinesthetic, so I, I talk a lot about, I see you.

I’m seeing, like, I use those words, auditories would say, Hey, do you hear me? You know, like they use words that dictate kind of what kind of learning style they have. So if you can incorporate in your messaging all those styles, like visual audit, and this is like pretty high, high level learning, but if nobody’s heard of N L P right?

But it’s, it’s really getting clear on your message so that you can reach the people that you need to reach.

Tim Melanson: Right on. Well, I certainly recommend that anybody who’s listening to this look up N L P. Absolutely. Because, because, uh, I mean, [00:26:00] it’s absolutely, I, all, all the best sales trainers that I’ve ever met so far have used N L P in some way.

Either there’s some sort of masters at it, or they at least have researched it. So it’s definitely worth taking a look at it if you hadn’t heard of it before. But yeah, it, it really does. Um, It does give you some clues on how to speak to your, the client that’s in front of you, because I mean, it’s not, it’s not trickery or anything like that.

It just literally is. Some people see things. They need to see things. Some people need to hear things, right? Some people need to do things, just that’s the way it is, right? And so if we can sort of understand who we’re talking to, then we can communicate with them better, because sales really is more about.

Sharing and, uh, it’s, it’s less about convincing, it’s more about helping them to see the solution that they’re looking for.

Cathy Nesbitt: Oh, especially in today’s market.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Or hear the solution. Or do the solution on [00:27:00] obviously I, or feel it. Obviously I’m visual. Right.

Cathy Nesbitt: Well, visual. It’s interesting because my husband and I work together, so I’d be talking and if he leaves the room, I, I have to follow him.

He’s trying to get away from me. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t until we took this training that I realized, oh, he actually needs time. He’s audio digital, which is like really, uh, the rare one. And so as a visual, I need to look at you. I want you looking at you. I wanna see your eyes when we’re talking. That’s, that’s me.

I’m, I need to look at you. I wanna see you in the face. I don’t, don’t walk away. Cuz I can’t, I can’t talk to the back of your head. Yeah. And so that’s just what I learned about myself. Uh oh, interesting. So it’s interesting having different modalities and, and in our messaging we can bring those things that speak to different, um, learner learning styles.

Tim Melanson: Love it. Love it. So now the next topic we wanted to talk about is the instrument of choice. And I’m sure we’ve [00:28:00] spoken about a, a few of them just now, but is there anything else you want to add to the instrument conversation?

Cathy Nesbitt: Yes, I, I would the instrument of, of choice for success, um, this is more personal and it’s about, um, self-care.

So I think working from home, we don’t have the social part. We don’t have like going to get the coffee and you’re at the water cooler and whatever, and you get to socialize with you the, with the people that you’re working with or bounce ideas off. No one knock on the door, Hey, what do you think about this?

We don’t have that. Um, and so it can be lonely if you’re working on your own. It can be very lonely sometimes. And so I would say make sure that you take care of yourself. Don’t get into your head, and if you’re stuck, somebody gave me this advice early on in my business, and it was, if you’re working from home and you have a deadline, you gotta, you know, map out.

You gotta ha, you know, hammer out something and you’re stuck. [00:29:00] Get out, like go out of your house and it sounds counterintuitive. It’s like, no, I have a deadline. It’s like, but you, it’s not working. So go out, go for a walk around the block or go and do some deep breathing outside. Just change this scenery.

Change your. Um, scenery and do some jumping jocks, or do whatever it is that you need to do to change your state so that you can come back with fresh eyes. And then, you know, you’ll get inspiration just going outside and, um, saying hello to the sun. If you have the sun. We don’t have the sun today. You know, um, that, and that is such a big gift.

It’s really hard because you’re like, our mind is like, ah, I gotta do this thing. And so it’s counterintuitive to wanna walk away from it and just take a break, but it’s essential. And, and then you’ll, you’ll have a better final product. Oh,

Tim Melanson: love it. Love it. I can attest to that. And actually, I can use a music analogy as well, so [00:30:00] I’m not sure if you play any instruments, but, uh, in, in, in learning an instrument, like when I was learning guitar, for example, you start working on a little piece and.

It seems as though the more you work on it, the worse you get. It just seems that way. Like it’s, it’s like you, you know, you do it the first time, you’re like, oh, that was almost right, and then you do it again and it, it gets worse, and then you walk away from it. You come back and it’s there. And, and it, it happens all the time and, and mean.

If you speak to any musicians, and I think that it has something to do with what you just said, you’re, you’re, you’re beating your head against the wall, but then you walk away from it. You get into another state, you come back and it’s there again, just the same thing as your ideas are right? You, you walk away from the computer, you come back and, oh, the solution is there.

But if you sit there trying to stare at it, it, it, I don’t, it, it’s gotta be psychological on how that works, but, It just, that’s the way it works,

Cathy Nesbitt: right? It is, and I think it has to do a little bit with stress because when [00:31:00] we’re trying to do it, we’re trying so hard, we’re stressed, you know, again, we’re probably not breathing properly.

We’re like, ah, our heart’s probably racing. Like, ah, I gotta get this thing done. So going away, breathing. It just opens up like we are energy. We are energy. That’s, that’s all we are. It’s just energy, just a frequency. So if you’re feeling sad, it’s a frequency. If you laugh, it changes your frequency. You start vibrating at a higher level.

Tim Melanson: Wow. I think you’re right that that probably is, it, it’s probably a combination of stress and breathing because you are right When, when you’re trying to find something and you’re trying to do it, not only are you looking down, but when, because I’m on a guitar, I’m looking down and, and I’m, I’m struggling with it and I’m probably not breathing right and I’m probably tensed up.

And then you walk away, you come back, you pick up the guitar with a nice, like light airy feel, and you whew right through it, and you’re like, oh, there it is. Right.

Cathy Nesbitt: Absolutely. Yes. I love that you said I’m right again. Again. [00:32:00]

Tim Melanson: I love it. Well, okay, so it’s time for your guest solo. So tell me what’s exciting your business right now.

Cathy Nesbitt: What’s exciting is laughter yoga during this cuckoo time. I would say since 2020, March, 2020 to be exact. Um, I mean, I’ve been laughing since 2012, really laughing since 2020. And so what’s exciting in my life is, um, laughter is taking off. I keep getting paint gigs. Bringing, bringing laughter to corporations.

So for team building morale. Um, better brainstorming, you know, again, the creativity coming in. Nobody’s skipping that day at work, right? It’s so fun. Laughter day. Um, I’m working with special needs, long-term care. I mean, it’s just, it’s so beautiful. And during this past two years, I’ve taken a deep dive into laughter.

Why is laughter the best medicine? Why does everyone say that? And it’s scientifically proven. There is research around the world in various areas. [00:33:00] So cancer research, you know, they did studies on people going through chemo because laughter is a complimentary medicine. It’s not like, oh, laugh, and you don’t need to take your antidepressants.

Not right away. Like, not after one dose of laughter. Right. But eventually you will be able. So with the, uh, chemo folks, they did research on people that were, um, getting their treatments. So they had the laughing, they had the whole team laughing before doing the. Chemo. And then when they came out of their chemo, they had fewer, uh, side effects and they just, you know, were able to incorporate the, uh, the treatment better.

Um, they’ve, I mean, there’s just so much research that I could talk about there. There’s, you know, for people that are, uh, Struggling with addictions. Um, la there, there, there’s now laughter therapy because when we’re laughing, we’re secreting the same drugs that, that you have your addiction. [00:34:00] Yeah, right. We drink, do drugs, we eat sex, whatever we do to get those hits.

Like we wanna get those feel good chemicals. So imagine being able to just laugh, like, what a cool thing. Wow.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. That’s amazing. Oh, I, I love it. I love it. And, and it’s, it’s one of those things where we’ve sort of like, especially chemo, like all these like very sad situations that that, that are in, it’s probably even more difficult to try to laugh and you feel like you’re even out of place laughing in those circumstances.

But, but that’s what needs to happen, right?

Cathy Nesbitt: It really does. You know, I was, uh, oh, several years ago now, I was, I received a call from somebody who knew me from with worms, but then knew that I was now doing laughter and it was from a hospice, a small, uh, 10 bed hospice, and I. Nine people of the 10 passed in one weekend.

Um, and that’s what they do. I mean, [00:35:00] that’s, that’s their work. But she said it was a lot, it was a lot for one weekend. And she asked if I could come in and do a laughter yoga session for the staff and volunteers. And I say yes to things and as, and I’m an empath As soon as I hung up. They grief shushed over my body, and I was like, like, holy moly, what am I gonna do now?

What do I do? I don’t, I didn’t know what to do, but I said yes. So I knew I’m very, I’m divinely guided as well. I’m very intuitive, so I, I just said, okay, I trust that I’ve been, was selected for this for a reason. And Tim, it was the most beautiful experience. Um, I didn’t know any of the people who had passed, so I wasn’t connected.

All of those people couldn’t laugh together cuz they were connected to all those people. They had that huge loss. So when I went in, it was not, I wouldn’t say the easiest laughter gig I’ve done, but it was pretty easy. They needed a release. Laughter is like one of those pressure cookers, right? Where like, like why people [00:36:00] laugh at a funeral or at a inappropriate times.

Yeah. Becau because they’re uncomfortable and they discomfort gets too much so it, it erupts out and then you can’t put it back in. It’s like Uhoh. Oh no, I can’t now I can’t stop. Yeah. That’s what happened with this group and it was. It was a beautiful, I, I mean, I, it still warms my heart when I think about what I did that day and because of it was so, um, so well received.

They implemented a monthly self-care program at that hospice.

Tim Melanson: Wow,

Cathy Nesbitt: that’s amazing. Wow. So beautiful. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It’s so beautiful. So how

Tim Melanson: do we find out more?

Cathy Nesbitt: Oh, yes, I would, I would love to invite everybody. I have a free, um, laughter yoga class on Zoom, 30 minutes. Super fun. Self-care every Tuesday at 9:30 AM eastern.

Um, so perfect time for you. Um, yeah, and I incorporate as a laughter yoga teacher, I incorporate tapping brain gym, [00:37:00] and other healing modalities. My prime objective is to help people get out of stress and into joy because stress is con. Attached to, I don’t know, 90 plus percent of the ailments that we have today.

Stress. So if we can manage our stress, really we can manage our life and have a better life. And it’s our birthright to be joyful. It really is. We get in the way. And just recently, um, I’ve said, I’ve been doing all this research on laughter. Uh, just this week I was in a brain summit. And they talked about how cortisol, when we’re stressed, secreting cortisol.

Cortisol eats our brain, specifically our memories. And I was like, oh my gosh. So people are afraid about Alzheimer’s and afraid about dementia. The more we’re afraid of it. Yeah. The more it’s coming. Wow. It’s coming your way cuz you’re stressed. Ooh. So I was like, holy. So we need [00:38:00] to ah, just chill. We really need to be more chill.

We really, really do.

Tim Melanson: I love it. Be more chill. So is there a website we can go to register? What, how do we, how do we get started on

Cathy Nesbitt: this? Thank you. Yeah, my laughter, um, uh, page is kathy’s club.com and the information’s there just to register. Register at the top. Um, yeah, it’s free, so come and check it out if you’re gonna come and you’ve never experienced laughter yoga before.

Plan to attend twice. Because the first time your mind will be saying, this is, maybe we’ll be saying, gosh, this is weird. Or maybe seeing the people like on Zoom, it’s a beautiful gift because of the gallery view. Yeah, so we’re all looking at each other. Camera’s on every, you know, speaker’s on, microphone on, and we’re just laughing.

So you hear people laughing, you see everyone just doing silly things, and it’s contagious in a good way. It sure

Tim Melanson: is. That’s awesome. There’s a video that I found, uh, online. You should look for it too. Cause it’s hilarious. It’s, [00:39:00] uh, a video of, they, they’ve managed to get a bunch of people that had funny laughs and they put ’em on a stage together.

I. I think it

Cathy Nesbitt: was in Sweden or something, I think. Was it? Yeah, you’re right.

Tim Melanson: You’re right. It’s

such

Cathy Nesbitt: a great, and they gave them, they gave them animal names.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. It was so funny. So I, I, I can picture it being something like that. You know, you’re, you’re looking at people, someone starts to laugh. That’s funny.

Cause Leah, you’re right, laughter is contagious. Right.

Cathy Nesbitt: Yeah, it’s, it. So is.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. So what was it again? It was Cathy’s

Cathy Nesbitt: club. Cathy’s club.com.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Thank you so much for rocking out with me today, Kathy. This has been a lot of

Cathy Nesbitt: fun. Oh, it sure has. Thank

Tim Melanson: you, Tim. Cool. And to the listeners, make sure you subscribe right and comment, and we’ll see you next time on the Work at Home Rockstar podcast.

Thanks for

Cathy Nesbitt: listening. To learn how you can become a work at home rockstar or become a better one, head on over to work@homerockstar.com today.[00:40:00]