Marysol: Hello and welcome to the Un Billón Mindset Podcast. I’m your host Marysol Uribe. Today, I have someone very special. Her name is Anita Farrelly. She comes from a nursing background, and I happen to have met her at a Tony Robbins event in Florida called Business Mastery. She’s going to tell us a bit about who she is, what she does, and where she wants to go in terms of her business and overall lifestyle, so I’ll turn it over to you, Anita.
Anita: Thank you! It was so nice to meet you at the event. We were sitting right next to each other for the whole day, interacting, exchanging, and then not realizing we were both nurses. Similar dreams and passions and backgrounds, so that was very cool.
Marysol: I loved it. I initially thought, because there was some interaction at the conference, and one of the questions was: What are you netting? What are you profiting a year? And in the corner of my eye I could’ve sworn Anita was one of the billion dollar earners. I was very intrigued to ask more questions and really get to know her business. The potential is definitely there, so tell me more about your background because I know you have an MBA (Master of Business Administration degree) as well. What brought you into nursing and what made you pursue higher education, and what made you pursue mentorship even after the traditional education?
Anita: I’ve been a nurse for almost 28 years now, which seems crazy. When I first graduated nursing school and I met nurses who had been a nurse for 20 years, I thought that was insane, and now I’m way surpassed that. I had an influence like most nurses. I had a couple of influences in my childhood - mothers who were nurses. I used to go down to the hospital and have lunch with them on their coffee breaks and I just really felt a connection with people, with humans, with a way to care for them. That’s the direction I chose when I kind of figured out my life journey when I was in college. So that’s how I got into nursing. When I first graduated, I worked in a pretty crazy neuro intensive care unit. We saw a lot of gunshot wounds, head bleeds, tumors.
Marysol: Wow.
Anita: It was a very, very intense job, and I loved it. I loved everything about the brain. I loved learning what was happening. Most nurses were more attracted to pediatrics or cardiac, so I was always a bit of an anomaly with that. Pretty young in my career, I did travel nursing, but I got the bug for teaching and education during my first conference where I was on a stage educating others probably a year out of nursing school. I did it at a national conference in Portland and another one in Toronto. I just really caught that bug. Flash forward a few years, I did some travel nursing and I end up back in my hometown, Phoenix. They were opening up Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and I was applying for a job - preferred to have day shift because we all work our 12-hour shifts and I had been on nights.
Marysol: To keep the circadian rhythm happy.
Anita: Yup. “Can I have days please?” was my request. They actually saw something in me that I didn’t know was there, and they asked me to apply for a leadership position. Multiple interviews later, I was a part of the opening of a new hospital in Arizona doing policy procedure and education. It was not even physically built yet, so we worked virtually. That was a really amazing opportunity in my career, and that’s when I learned operations and the business side. That’s when I went for my MBA rather than my Master’s in Nursing. I just got a bug for how things worked, and from that moment on, I just always wanted my own business. Because I was doing project management, I just wanted my own business.
Marysol: For sure. I could see that transition in your brain. I’d like to take a pause at that point where the administration saw something in you. What do you think they saw in you that said, “Hey, she’s an innate leader. Anita. Let’s foster that and let’s see how far we can take that”? What do you think are the qualities that they saw in you?
Anita: It’s interesting now that I can reflect back. We have Johari's window - we don’t know what we don’t know, and we’re just ourselves. We do what we do. What they saw in me that I didn’t know yet and now I know is really the blessings that I have as far as thinking. Being extremely creative. Very good at communication. Loving people. I get both the technical and the creative side, and I can really see the operational logistics. If we’re going to do a big project, I can also break it down to: how are we going to order the right supplies, how are we going to have the right policies and procedures, and how are we going to educate? How are we going to implement and execute and then measure? So I had both the strategic visioning and a really keen sense for operations and the fine details to make it work and be successful. I also just loved to learn. My manager took me to my first Zig Ziglar conference right after I started there at the hospital and I was sucked into the leadership and development and the potential and possibilities very early in my career. I just gravitated to that and continue to.
Marysol: Tony Robbins talks about the three different leadership or niches that we can fall in as entrepreneurs or business. He goes, “One is the actual artist liking what you do to the T. You’re the one that always wants to do it.” Whether we’re talking about an IV business, you want to be the one actually doing the service. The other is “the operations hat,” and the last is “the entrepreneur,” the one that’s the actual risk-taker, the one that could care less about doing everything to the T and fancy and putting all that heart and soul into it, but they want to see the numbers, the profits, that it’s profitable, that we’re green at the end of the day and not red. So it sounds like, yes, nursing is such an art. It has to be an art and a science, but you also had a keen sense of the operations side of it. Would you say when we had to reflect on the three, you landed more into the operations side?
Anita: It’s interesting because I think depending on where I am and what I’m doing, I fall into all three categories very easily. I can’t tell you how many entrepreneurial ideas I’ve had over the years, whether it was to purchase land and make RV storage, opening up an ice store, a shred-it store, to now doing my IV and vitamin hydration business, I’ve always had ideas. If I see somewhere, I’m always monitoring and looking to see, “Oh, could I do that as well?” So I have that. Now, leadership and management-wise, I’m a very strong act. If there’s something that needs to get done, I will jump in and I know the operations and logistics and ask the questions and figure that out and manage the process. When we did our groups in the event, I immediately went right into, “I’m a manager,” and I took charge in that way and got everyone organized and communicating and following up. But then, when I get into the coaching and mentoring, 100% I’m an artist. I love to spend that time to really hear what people are saying - not just listen but really hear and dig deeper and get into the weeds of what’s going on. What are the possible solutions to support them in that way? So that’s one I probably wouldn’t be able to easily give up. As a business owner, I’d want to keep that close.
Marysol: What would you say to those people that are also all three but one more than others, but they feel like they get overwhelmed when it comes to the operations side of things? What would you tell those people?
Anita: To keep it simple. To focus. To time-block. I can be a squirrel myself - shiny object and I want to go over here and do this instead because it’s more fun. Or I want to go create and be an entrepreneur. The management stuff has to get done. The business needs the systems and processes in order to thrive. To focus, make it a priority to set that foundation and set it solid into deep, fertile soil before you can run off and do shallow activities that might fill you up for a minute but may not generate the recurring revenue and depth that it needs.
Marysol: That’s a solid point because we get impatient, we want immediate satisfaction, not delayed gratification. I think it goes back to just cultivating that foundation first and putting all the ducks in a row so that the day of tomorrow your systems are automated. Definitely, I think we all fall into that trap where we get frustrated and we want things done NOW.
Anita: Yes, we do.
Marysol. So what do you do to self-care in the midst of all this chaos? Because, Anita, you’ve got two locations now in Arizona! Tell me about that.
Anita: I do. I have a location in Prescott, Arizona where I live. I have a location in Scottsdale, Arizona where I used to live. I also have my coaching and mentoring business and then I also have another business. My down time - I’ll be honest with you - I was actually just meditating and journaling about this last night. I know, it’s perfect timing. I’ve worked hard, hard, hard all my life, always doing, doing, doing. What I’m recognizing is that it’s also critical for me to rest, to enjoy two amazing, beautiful daughters who are 15 and 17 and not that much longer in the house. I’ve put into practice a morning and an evening meditation/prayer time. I resist it sometimes because I want to jump into work and get going. I know, however, the impact it has on me when I do it.
Marysol: Beautiful.
Anita: It calms my nervous system, it makes my brain clear, it makes my conversations rich and deep and lighter, so that is extremely important to me.
Marysol: Is that something you are passing on to your daughters as well?
Anita: Yeah, they’re funny. They were both gymnasts, so there was a lot of driving back and forth to practice before and after school, and the kids got pretty used to me always experimenting on them with different techniques, whether it’s EFT (emotional freedom techniques) and tapping, or praying. Now they have a love for yoga also. The self-care, reflection, journaling - things like that. They have learned that Mommy experiments with them and they are part of that.
Marysol: I love that because as nurses, we see the holistic approach. We see the human person as a whole - mind, body, spirit, you name it. As people interested in furthering education, with journal articles, staying current on what’s trending right now, what the peer research is saying right now 2022 and possibly reading into 2023, AI, science, whatever. We have to be on top of it because, to renew our licenses, we do need those continuing hours of education. But I know you and I have surpassed that. We surpassed the 30 hours by a lot, but we do it for a reason. We want to be that much better for our team, our fellow nurses, colleagues, patients, clients. So if you’re listening right now, there is such a thing as IV hydration, which fuels vitamins and nutrients into your body so that your cells can get regenerated faster and turn over adequately. So can you tell us more about that, how there’s this preventative side of healthcare that the media doesn’t really pay as much attention to?
Anita: Yeah, so with all my learning and growth and development, I really got into the more holistic and integrative functional side of things. I always worked in an ICU, so we were always fixing things after they happened, and that’s a lot of how medicine is. You go to the doctor when you have something happening, and it’s more of a reactive approach. When I learn about IV vitamins and hydration, if you’re continuing to learn and wanting to dive into different areas, what I really got is that we can help prevent going to the hospital. If we have a lot of stress in our life, and oxidative stress causes so much internal inflammation, if we do nothing and just let it continue to build and build, it will lead to chronic conditions, whether it’s obesity or diabetes or cancers or heart diseases and pain. The ripple effect of that is it affects your mental, it affects your physical, it affects who you are everyday, and then also how you relate to other people, so now it’s contagious. It’s how you relate to your kids, your parents, your family, your coworkers, because you don’t feel good, and so that ripple effect then becomes contagious, causing more stress that continues to build. So the idea with IV vitamins and hydration is that when we have that inflammation in our systems, our guts are not really able to absorb the nutrients the body needs from the food we’re eating.
Marysol: Right.
Anita: A lot of the food sources that we’re eating now maybe are not as nutrient-rich as they used to be.
Marysol: Oh, they’re not.
Anita: Yeah. The soil’s just not the same. The ways that we can grow faster food and manage crops have also changed. It’s not as organic and healthy.
Marysol: Yeah.
Anita: With the IV vitamins and hydration, it is an IV stick, and it is medicine in the world of getting an IV. However, it allows us to give a liter of fluid - vitamin C, B complex, really great antioxidants like glutathione, some amazing minerals like magnesium. It doesn't have to go through the GI system, so it gets directly into the blood. Then, it’s absorbed and washes and cleanses all those cells and helps purge out all of those free radicals that are causing the oxidative stress, the inflammation.
Marysol: Toxins.
Antia: And toxins. It’s detoxifying. It really does, from the inside out, help your body and your cells thrive and just be more alive in the way we were created.
Marysol: 100%. I’m all for it. Anita, I need to update you. I finished the draft of my book. It’s called Un Billón Mindset: Health, and it’s currently past the editing process. I had a proofreader read it. Quick snippet, before it’s on sale and into the public, I talk about this in my book, how it’s a benign needle stick. People think, “Oh, I don’t like needles! I don’t like getting poked.” Hey, picture this. Would you rather get poked in the emergency department or in an out-patient setting in the comfort of your home with a loving, caring nurse that just wants the best for you, with the best ingredients? And like Anita mentioned, it provides Vitamin C and glutathione, which are antioxidants that destroy those free radicals. Free radicals are basically a fancy term for an oxygen molecule floating around without its buddy. We want more in our systems, more nutrients and less pathologies. If you’re like us, we like to catch things early, before it’s a problem. I’ve personally gotten this once a month when I’m sick, when it’s flu season instead of getting the shot. I’m not really keen on any side effects. I like to stay away from side effects and pharmaceuticals as long as I can. There are situations that merit drugs - I’m all for it, it makes sense - there’s literature to prove it, if the benefits outweigh the costs and the risks, then go for it. But if you’re having a conversation with yourself in terms of, “Hey, what can I do now to improve my health?” IV vitamins - I’m all for it. And the side effects? You don’t get side effects. If you were to get a reaction, it’s from the preservatives in our solutions. Anita, can you talk more about that, in terms of all the patients you’ve seen by now and how many times you’ve had to use a rescue drug?
Anita: Oh, never. I’ve been open for almost 3 years. We see almost 100 clients a month, if not more. Never myself nor anyone on my teams in either location have ever had any kind of adverse reactions. Maybe the reason we might have had to slow down the infusion was because they were sensitive to - I learned this the first year - cold fluid doesn’t feel good going into the body. Where I live is in a mountain town and we had to shift our processes so that the fluids were not cool.
Marysol: Too chilled.
Anita: Yeah, but other than that, with someone we’ve had a difficult time finding a vein, but usually those clients knew they had that, and we’ve always been successful in getting one and helping them. We’re just good at what we do. Nurses are just amazing human beings and when we do start an IV, a lot of the times my clients are like, “Wait, you already did it?”
Marysol: Yeah, it’s that fast.
Anita: Yeah, sometimes the tape, taking off the dressing at the end has a little more of an “ouch” to it than the actual IV.
Marysol: That’s so true. I’ve gotten that. You know what? We do it because we love it, right? If we’re in the industry, it’s because we still love what we do. I come across people who, if I get a sense that they’re not liking what they do anymore, there are so many options out there within nursing and even outside of nursing. Ever since the pandemic, people have had to pivot and start their own businesses. I know you were one of them in that time frame. When did you start the IV business, what year?
Anita: 2020. Right in the beginning of COVID, not knowing that COVID was going to be what it was.
Marysol: Right.
Anita: And as I said, I was always studying different businesses. I was excited. A lot of the business opportunities I was looking at starting - they really had nothing to do with nursing. It was such an amazing match for my skill set and who I am as a person, wanting to help clients and keep people out of the hospital. I always say I’m caring for the community in a new way and not in a hospital.
Marysol: That’s right, likewise. I’m all about keeping patients out of the hospital. In home-health, my previous background, that’s what we do. Thanks so much for your time, Anita. I know you go back to back from one interview to the next, so to wrap up, what does having an “un billón,” a billion dollar mindset mean to you? How do you keep promises to yourself to fulfill your expectations?
Anita: Sure, so actually, I’m going to do a play on that word. Rather than “mindset,” have a “set mind.” A set mind is first on serving people and using the skills I’ve been blessed with and making a difference. A set mind for abundance for myself, my family, and my community. When I am putting the needs of other people first, then blessings just keep coming. What it means for me is being present, taking the time to care for yourself, caring for your family, recognizing your state of mind, if you’re down or watching too much TV, news, negativity, that can really wreak havoc on your brain. Recognizing that your amygdala wants to fight or flight first and choosing to put yourself in a different state of mind so that you can be really answering and living your life from a higher level. A level of being the best you. I used to think it was selfish to put myself first. I kind of went down that path of self-sabotage and always putting the needs of other people before mine. When I discovered the reality of how unselfish it is to actually put myself first in order to be the best version of myself so that I can now make an impact on other people, then that has also been pretty life changing for myself. That's my “set mind.” Being the best version of me every single day, making a difference, loving people, always being present, and really hearing what’s going on with them.
Marysol: Anita, I love that answer. Thank you so much for sharing. There is so much in those couple sentences that you guys should probably go back and re-listen. Having a set mind. I’m reading a book right now called “The Power of One More” by Ed Mylett, and he has a chapter called “One More Emotion.” It’s all about how if you move homes, you have to totally declutter and start again with organizing our new home. He challenges us and asks, “How many times are you decluttering your mind of things that don’t serve you?” To completely transform and get into a new home, a new identity for more enrichment and a better space. A set mind. What can you do today to reset your mind and keep it in that state? Because things will always come at you, right? It’s a matter of having it brush off to continue on. Different coping mechanisms, the healthier the better. If you’re working out instead of, say, sitting down and binge-watching TV, or indulging in that extra serving of dessert maybe instead of lunch, and you skipped lunch because you had desserts and that fulfilled the calories of lunch. I would just challenge you to question your habits, what you’re doing today, and how are your actions reflecting in terms of your feelings? How do you feel after you eat a certain meal? Do you feel better after eating some healthy, rich proteins or indulging in a very savory, but maybe not so healthy snack. So, those are just some things that are coming from my heart, us caring nurses to you. If you liked what you heard today, please subscribe, share with a friend. No ads on this show, all just value for you guys so you can learn how to preserve your health better. Mindset, longevity, and keep that wealth up - because what you think is what you become. What you see is what you are. Thanks so much, Anita, for your time.
Anita: Thank you.
Marysol: I really loved this show, and thank you all for listening. Have a great day.