The Write Connection
The Write Connection
TWC S01 E23: Story of a Dream Agent: Helping Clients Discover the Magic Within: Special Guest: Anna Pilon
Join me for a lighthearted, unpredictable, and fun conversation with Anna Pilon as she talks about the value of discovering the magic within and following our dreams.
Anna wanted to be Ann Landers when she grew up. She loved how Ann gave practical, no-nonsense advice. Anna also found it easy to help others find solutions to their problems and those people were always grateful for her outside-the-box advice.
Anna loves being sought out and trusted to give advice, to guide others to their path; which finally led to her own a-ha! moment…Knowing that her vocation – her calling – is connecting her strategic mind with her intuition.
Combining this with her childlike wonder for life, Anna will support you in finding your spark for joy and the treasure map to your heart’s desire. As a Faery Godmother, Anna loves helping people create their own magic wand.
Anna Pilon's website: https://annapilon.com/
Anna Pilon's podcast, Talks on the Wild Side: https://talksonthewildside.buzzsprout.com/
Anna Pilon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annapilondreamagent/
Anna Pilon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dreamlivelove
Katherine Burrows Creative
Business Character Analysis Workshop information and upcoming dates: https://katherineburrowscreative.com/index.php
Podcast Music by Nathan Symen of NST Music: https://nst-music.bandcamp.com/
Platinum Podcast Production Services by Carl Richards of C.A.R.L. Speaks https://carlspeaks.ca/podcasting/
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Podcast Music by Nathan Symen of NST Music: https://nst-music.bandcamp.com/
This is The Write Connection. This podcast is designed to help you choose the right words and stories in your business content to create authentic connections with prospects, clients, partners, and colleagues. Now the host of The Write Connection, Katherine Burrows
Katherine Burrows:Thanks, Carl. Today's guest Anna Pilon wanted to be Ann Landers when she grew up, she's always found it easy to help others find solutions to their problems. And they were always grateful for Anna's out of the box advice. When she started her business, she wanted to reconnect with that vision. And when she did, her life became magical. Have a listen. Hi, Anna, welcome to The Write Connection.
Anna Pilon:Afternoon, Thank you so much for inviting me to join you today.
Katherine Burrows:So you have your own podcast, Talks on the Wild Side, which I've had the honour of listening to. Do you want to tell me how you got started on that journey?
Anna Pilon:For years and years, I've always known that I had a voice and I wanted to share it and speak out to the world. But I never knew what it was. So I kind of call myself you know, a rebel without a clue. Podcast, it was kind of like, oh, as I thought more about what I could do with a podcast. I thought, This is perfect. Because, you know, some people know a million things about one subject. Other people know one thing about a million subjects. I want to hear a million stories. So 24 down. And 974 million 1000s to go. So Carl Richards inspired the podcast, and I took his course and I can't remember what it's called. Sorry, Carl. I took that week that one week of freebie. And I went, Oh, this is a lot easier than I thought. So then I took his full course at the time was called 30 days to launch. Yeah, right. That doesn't really work in the real world. I mean, maybe there are people out there, who can, I'm not one of them, helped me and he's helped me shape what it is. But I took all his rules and threw them out the window. He talks about prepping your guest. Nah. I'm way too spontaneous for that. But I've had amazing, amazing people that come on to my show, and just share their stories. And they're varied. I mean, I have an opera singer, I have the rock stars of opera, I have a lady who is an very zealous advocate for basic income, right. So everybody has the right to have a certain amount of income so that housing and food is not an issue. Right? So that was a very interesting interview, you and I have both interviewed Lena Cebula. Her story just, I wasn't sure what to expect, because I'd heard a little bit and I thought, Oh, god, what am I getting myself into. But I was just absolutely blown away by her genuine caring and being able to tell a story without getting caught up in the drama of what that was because she's so centered in who she is today. So my guests have been very, very interesting. And I am looking forward to next season, I have a long list. I'm just really inspired by listening to everybody's stories, because no two people have the same story. And it's been a pleasure to get to know people. Some of the people on my podcast I've known for eons. And some of them I never met before we hit click on zoom. So it's been an adventure.
Katherine Burrows:Wow, that does sound exciting. And I'm sure you've heard some great stories, I've definitely listened to them when I listened to your episodes. So you also have clients that you work with. Tell me a little bit about how you work with your clients.
Anna Pilon:I'm a dream agent. So basically, what I like to do is tell people I make your dreams come true. And it's not that I do the work. But what I do with my clients is we start with what is the dream and let's define that, because you know, careful what you wish for, because it will come true. So I really encourage people to just, what is your dream? And now let's work through the details. Let's get every aspect of that detail down there. And that's the big picture. But the little picture starts today. So Katherine, what do you do on a daily basis that leads towards your dream life? So for me with the dream of talking to people every day, I find another way to be able to communicate with people with COVID or pandemic or whatever you want to call this time of isolation. It's a lot more challenging to go out and meet people. But I have found it really cool because people are more willing to talk online. And do that so you can start a conversation. And it's really funny because when you first ask people Hey, would you like to be a guest on my show? And they go, Oh, no, no, no, honestly, well, it's really easy. I said, it's just you and I are gonna chat. And the we just go from there and I ask questions often based on what they've answered, I'll just elaborate on something that grabs my interest. So it's been fun. And then I always ask, what book motivates them, like, what book would they share with everybody? And I often ask, what's a piece of advice?
Katherine Burrows:Okay, so if I want to come to you as a client, how does that start?
Anna Pilon:Typically what I love to do is do a tarot card read for people.
Katherine Burrows:Okay.
Anna Pilon:So right now I have two Sundays a month, the second and fourth Sunday night of the month, I have a little program called fireside chats. And right now, that is just me reading either Tarot or Oracle cards. I had been given one card to everybody. But I need to change the way that's doing. So I'll have spotlight one. So let's just say you're my spotlight guests.
Katherine Burrows:Okay.
Anna Pilon:And so I will have a deck of cards in front of me. So I just grabbed the closest one. And so I just grabbed the fairy wisdom Oracle. And so what I do is while we're chatting, I just shuffle the cards. And then when a card comes up for whoever's in the spotlight, nothing's jumping. So not because this wasn't the intention of the thing, but I'll just grab a card. Oh, overindulgence. And so that would be the card that I would invite the guests to what is your intuition? When you see this card? What do you think this card means for Katherine? And then when everybody's had a chance, who wants to because not everybody wants to speak on a camera? Then I will give my interpretation of what this card represents so overindulgence, this beautiful little purple fairy is sitting in a wineglass and she's surrounded by grapes and that kind of thing. So it is wonderful to have pleasures in our life. But when we overindulge, we head down a path that isn't good for us. It isn't healthy in any way. And I mean, I've overindulged in things and I'm sure we all have. But overindulgence can lead to addictions, right? And whatever your addiction form takes, it doesn't matter. It's all the same thing. It's all about overindulgence. So when I have a client, I will read with the tarot cards, because it opens up a conversation that you may not have ever thought about. Or maybe it is something and it is amazing how often, whatever it is you're talking about, is what I will pull up is sometimes it freaks me out to how accurate the cards can be for the circumstance. And when I do really love about a group setting is everybody can get a message from the card, right? But when it's a one on one, then the messages become more personal. Because we dive in a lot deeper and find questions and from there, then it's like, okay, these are some of the things that I want you to get think about. And now let's go forward. Some people have a dream, they just don't know what steps to get there. Not everybody knows how to dream, right? Like so many people say I want to win a lottery. Well, I there's nothing I can do about that. But you know what, if you want to be a millionaire in five years, start today, by putting away any spare change everything that's in your bank account that isn't designated for something, set it aside, so you can't touch it. And do that once a week, right? You have your paycheck, you know, how much has to pay the mortgage, or the rent or whatever, you know how much of your income goes to necessities, your discretionary money. If we over indulge with discretionary money, we're not going to be millionaires in five years. But if you start to take that discretionary money, and you can even equate it to with the Christian world tithing, if you take 10% of your income and make that no longer discretionary, but part of your obligations that 10% starts to add up really, really quickly. And so in five years, you will be millionaire. If you're lucky enough, you might have bought a lottery ticket that gets you more than a million, but there are ways to achieve every single dream. What you have to do with a dream is break it down into bites, like how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you achieve your dreams, your goals one step at a time and doing something a practice every day, creates habits and eventually so maybe the habit is you need to talk to five people every week to get the perfect guest for your podcast. Right, the first one might be really hard that first conversation you might stumble through, because you're not 100% sure on how to invite someone to be a guest on your podcast. But after five times, you're comfortable after 10 times, no sweat, after 20 times, you don't even have to think about it, you just automatically do it. Right. So there's a great book out there by James Clear, called atomic habits, that this is where I got my inspiration from this atomic habits are when you stack them, right, I mean, the book is really, really in depth, but he does talk about it takes 21 days to create a habit 30 to really have it sink in. And within 90 days, it is no longer a conscious thought it is part of your subconscious daily activity. So I really like that right. And you don't have to do 40 new habits at once. So once this habits down pat, then you can add another one. For instance, he in his book uses exercise, for example. And he says, you don't have to commit to going to the gym for an hour. commit to doing one pushup. And then oh, well, I'm down here I did one. Well, I might as well do five, right? And then the next time when you get to the goal of how many pushups you want to do, you can add something, oh, well, I'm already doing push ups. Why don't I add squats or whatever I can't remember word for word when he talks about the idea is transferable to every aspect of your life. Do one thing today that will bring you what you want tomorrow. And all those things. If they don't resonate true, they aren't going to change your thinking. You can say something and fake it till you make it. But until it resonates in honesty in your own heart, soul, brain, whatever it doesn't, it's not effective.
Katherine Burrows:Yeah, I think that's why it's so important to be really clear about who our ideal clients are. Because then we do get those people that fit well that work together well. And where we benefit from each other. They benefit from what we're providing, and we benefit from what they're providing. And that again, that probably comes with the clarity around your goals and dreams and your"why?".
Anna Pilon:And that "why?" is sometimes really hard to define. Because at first when I started down a health routine, it was like, it is so hard to always choose the healthy stuff. If you've got the not healthy stuff. Because I'm a lazy cook. It's easier to reach for a cookie than it is to make a peanut butter sandwich. But then when you really examine your"why?" and for me my "why?" in terms of health is I have two young grandsons. Actually, Sam turns seven today, so I'm heading to his birthday party this afternoon. But those two little men are my "why?" they are my joy and I intend to dance at their weddings and because they're only seven and for a long long wait. So my "why?" when it comes to my health is internally I want to feel good. I want to have energy I want to be able to go go go. Next month I'll be 62 so you know there's a lot of naps involved in that go, go go. But I want to be able to, you know when I'm 80 because I will be in my 80s before I get to dance at their weddings. And my mom is an inspiration that way she is 84 years old, still snowmobiles 4000 kilometers a year. And when she can't snowmobile, she's on her four wheeler. So she has almost as many kilometers if not more on her up until this year, she heated her house with firewood my mom does not sit and relax until she's exhausted. She goes and she's you know, she's gone hunting with my nephew this week. And now, so it's inspiring to have someone like that in your life, who's got the energy to do the things that they want and the things that make them happy. Snowmobiling and for wheeling are not things that make me happy, but I'm glad that she has something that she's that passionate about.
Katherine Burrows:Yes, then you can take the energy and use that for whatever your own goals are. And dreams are and that's a beautiful dream of dancing with your grandsons at their weddings. I can see a picture of that in my head. It's so beautiful.
Anna Pilon:Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, and everybody's"Why's" is our personal and that's the beauty of what I do and you as well. Every story is unique and so every client right I mean I have a bit of a formula and one of the reasons I don't follow them well it's because I don't remember the rules even though but you know everybody's"why" is so unique that diving into that and finding out their"why" and having them define their "why". And the I want to be in business for myself. Why? Well I want to make a lot of money. Yeah, okay. Well you choose in the wrong category because, you know, as you know, as an entrepreneur working for yourself is not a million dollars in the bank the week after you decide you're going to do it. It's a million hours to get that first dollar in your bank.
Katherine Burrows:Yes. And it's more important. Okay, if you had that million dollars, what would that enable you to do? What freedom would that give you? What would that empower you to do so? And I think, you know, it's the answer to that question. Maybe it's traveling, maybe it's spending more time with family, maybe it's...
Anna Pilon:maybe traveling to escape family.
Katherine Burrows:That could be a priority for people to Yes. You know, it could be expanding your business, like I want to, you know, make enough money to get a second or third or 10th location somewhere, it could be all kinds of things.
Anna Pilon:Yeah, yeah. Everybody's, "why" is unique to them. So it's wonderful, it's like a fingerprint, your "why" is not going to match anybody else's, even in a intimate relationship of husband and wife, or whatever that intimate relationship looks like. And however you define it, no two people are going to have the exact same "why".
Katherine Burrows:No.
Anna Pilon:Not even in a relationship, you may have a common goal, and a common "why" for part of it. But even your own internal "why" is not going to match your partner's 100%. Because Well, first of all, that would be boring as all hell.
Katherine Burrows:One of the things that I always tell people is that my husband and I always end up on the same page, but we get there very differently. So yeah, we're very, very different personalities. And we do end up, you know, together working for that common goal. But like our thought processes, the questions we would ask to get there are just so different, but very, very complementary. It's so neat to think that we're part of each other's stories, and that, you know, anytime we have those conversations or those connections, we're a small part of someone else's story.
Anna Pilon:Mm hmm. And when you dive deeper into the spirituality, or woohoo, or whatever you want to name it, and then you get into a certain thought processes that we are all one, right? What happens to you happens to me, and that gets into a whole different type of thinking. But we're all here as a journey our soul is here experiencing something, a human thing. So the more we can share, and the more we can find common ground with our fellow man, the quicker we're going to come to world peace. Right? When we get to respect someone else's thought and thought patterns, and ideas, and support them, then we form these really deep bonds, right? Like, you know, maybe you have an idea that I'm thinking, I can't see it for myself, I cannot imagine it for myself, I may think it's crazy. But as your friend, I will support you in that. And when you prove me that you're not crazy, I'll go Damn, she's smart, right? And if it proves that you are crazy, then I'm going to go That was so much fun, Katherine, what's your next crazy idea, right? So as we go and evolve, and grow into respecting, and loving everybody that's around us, I think that we achieve a level of joy in our own lives. I mean, I'm not saying you're gonna like every single person that you meet, because you know, some people are put here to poke you and piss you off. And...
Katherine Burrows:Yes, there's work to be done in growth and moving forward. And sometimes there's things we have to face that are uncomfortable, and sometimes there's people that are put there to point those things out to us. But we have to balance that with the positive, supportive people who can help us work through those things, and encourage us as we do.
Anna Pilon:Very much so.
Katherine Burrows:So what is next for you, Anna, on your journey?
Anna Pilon:Next for me is a bunch of fun things. I already do a lot of like the podcast, I do some fireside chats, I organize this thing called Secret Circle. And one of the biggest projects I'm excited about. We don't have a name for it yet. But one of my best friends from high school is an indigenous as she calls herself an elder in training. And I just texted her one day, I think after the third grave was found and I went, do you want to work together to heal this wound? And she goes, Oh, yes, I'm in. Give me a couple days to respond. Okay, cool. And so in the new year, we're going to have, I don't even know what to call them. But webinars, seminars, talks, readings, books, and everything. So you've bought the orange t-shirt. Now what do I as a privileged, white person, what can I do to support the healing of the genocide that has been committed for the last 500 years in this country? Right? How do we erase racism? How do we support the dignity of these fellow human beings that we have crushed. And well, we haven't crushed them because they're still here. Right. And that's the heritage of white privilege is that we, a collective we, I mean, you personally may not. But the collective we have white privilege has always been, if you look through back through history has always been, we're going to take you, we're going to overrule you, we are going to suppress you, and everything that you believe in is wrong. And that's from religious, paganism, religious, spiritual, color of your skin, it doesn't matter. Somehow white has tried to suppress that. And what I want to do is I want to be a part of the revolution that changes that. So right now I'm just calling it you have bought the orange t shirt. Now what are you gonna do?
Katherine Burrows:That sounds very fascinating. I'm looking forward to learning more, I would be happy to post your contact information and your links in my show notes.
Anna Pilon:Oh, thank you, that would be wonderful. And the universe is providing because as soon as Ruby and I started talking about this, people with indigenous stories are coming forward. One of the first time guests who showed up to my fireside chat on Sunday is, and I forget the name of his tribe, because I had never heard it before. But he's from somewhere in Southern California. He is a sixth generation from his heritage. And they are fighting for certain rights. And as we got chatting, so he's going to come and work with me, and Ruby. And last night was introduced to another lady who has a Metis heritage, I also have a Metis heritage, I've just never really done anything about it. But I really, really want to bring everybody together. So like, let's fix this. I just recently met an archaeologist, like Indiana Jones in real life. And right now he's working on a dig in Northwestern Ontario, like north and west of Thunder Bay, and they've just found a grave site in the path of the pipeline. So all pipeline has stopped. Now the archaeologists are going to obviously you should not move a grave site. So you know, maybe the pipeline has to do one of these who knows. But you know, and his wife teaches at the university, I think she said, York somewhere in Toronto anyway, she teaches indigenous spirituality. And it's just so fascinating, like my girlfriend said, and I mean, she was even married to a white man at one point, and they were Pentecostal elders and the whole nine yards, and now she's come back round to her roots. And she said, Anna, we don't bow down, we don't have she says, even the word the creator that you often hear in modern Indigenous Studies, is a word to appease the Christian, and that kind of thing. So that's just one little piece. And then the story of her dad surviving a residential school, he ran away at 13 with a broken arm, and lied and joined the army to get away from residential schools. So that's just one story out of one friend. And so I'm really excited about the connections to childhood friends. And that's where this whole thing is going. We will probably do some podcasts around it. We're going to have a summit. I have lots of plans all the time. My follow through at times is challenged.
Katherine Burrows:Okay, well, thank you so much for being on The Write Connection today and for sharing your story.
Anna Pilon:Thank you so, so much for having me on your show today, and I look forward to listening to more of your podcast as well and deepening our relationship.
Katherine Burrows:Thanks for listening today. I hope you found some inspiration for your creativity. Please join me next time for more about how words and stories enhance your brand to create The Write Connection.
Carl Richards:Thanks for listening to The Write Connection. If you have a question for Katherine, reach out to her by sending her an email, Katherine@Katherineburrowscreative.com or visit her website, Katherineburrowscreative.com and don't forget to follow Katherine on social media. Until next time, thanks again for listening to The Write Connection.