• Your past challenges can inspire and shape your entrepreneurial mission—embrace your story.
• Recognize unhealthy patterns and biases in yourself; personal growth fuels business transformation.
• Invest in ongoing education and be open to changing your career path for greater fulfillment.
• Don’t try to do everything. Outsource and delegate tasks that don’t require your personal touch.
• Authenticity and vulnerability help build stronger connections with clients and customers.
• Healing from past experiences and investing in your own emotional health makes you a more effective leader.
• Balance work with joy outside your business—nurture your “inner child” and create space to recharge.

[00:49] Meet Dana Nygaard – Dana’s background as a psychotherapist and her mission to help single Catholic women build fulfilling relationships.

[02:48] Starting the Entrepreneurial Journey – Dana shares how her father inspired her to leave corporate work and become her own boss.

[04:36] Grad School Transition & Overcoming Adversity – Dana’s experience balancing full-time teaching with grad school, and facing cancer diagnoses during her studies.

[07:14] The Joys and Challenges of Grad School – Navigating teaching styles, bad professors, and developing skills that shape her current coaching programs.

[08:31] Defining Her Niche – Dana discusses shifting her focus from adolescents to adults and single women struggling with relationship patterns.

[10:59] Understanding Relationship Patterns – Dana explains the “good guy fallacy,” emotional abuse, and the confirmation bias that traps women in unhealthy relationships.

[13:00] The Matchmaker Analogy – Dana’s unique approach to helping women recognize and break their own damaging dating patterns.

[15:14] Strategies for Change – Dana and Phil discuss practical strategies women can use to recognize and redirect unhealthy relationship behaviors.

[17:09] Why Trauma Makes Patterns Worse – Exploring how past relationship trauma increases vulnerability and sets the stage for even worse experiences.

[18:33] True Crime and Learning Red Flags – Why women are drawn to true crime stories and how Dana uses real-life experiences to teach clients to spot red flags.

[21:37] Relationship Misconceptions – Dana addresses common misconceptions women have about relationships and how to reframe them for healthier choices.

[23:10] The Power of Processing the Past – Dana’s techniques for dealing with emotional “backpacks,” forgiveness, and attracting healthier relationships.

[27:16] Investing in Yourself – Dana’s personal practices for self-investment: outsourcing, antiquing, and nurturing her inner child.

[29:44] Hardest Truths – Dana reveals her experience confronting family toxicity and how therapy helped her uncover the real issues holding her back.

[32:29] Vision for the Future – Dana’s 10-year plan: more travel, more connections, and building her business while prioritizing self-care and fun.

[34:46] Advice to Her Younger Self – If she could go back, Dana would tell her 10-year-old self to be authentic and embrace individuality.

[37:03] Connect with Dana – Where listeners can find Dana’s therapy practice, speaking info, and free tools for single women at clarityplease.com.

[37:57] Closing Thoughts – Phil thanks Dana; reminder for listeners to invest in themselves and show notes for further resources.