Do you constantly have stones thrown at you? Use them to make a path for your future! Dolores Hirschmann’s guest today is DeAnna Rogers, the Director of Events at Boost Events. DeAnna talks about the power of the mindset and how you can turn your challenges into a blessing. In life, there are always crappy or bad things happening to us, but how do you change that? Tune in and discover how DeAnna turned COVID and cancer into great blessings in her life.
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Are There Roadblocks In Your Way? Use Them To Make A Path For Your Future! With DeAnna Rogers
I have been looking forward to this conversation. I am so excited to bring to you DeAnna Rogers. She is a mother of three adult boys. She is Mimi to her beautiful granddaughter that I got to meet. She’s proud to be in the event space for the past several years. She helps run events from small to large. I’ve been very blessed to work with some of the smartest people in the industry. Here’s what I want to ask DeAnna in our conversation that we’re about to have. She has been the brains behind the coordination of Traffic & Conversion, which is one of the top marketing events in the country and maybe even in the world, she and Roland Frasier, who is running EPIC, which is a program that he’s launching on a monthly basis and helps people how to buy small businesses. I know she has coordinated all of the event management, the challenges and the nuances of running these events for Roland. I can’t wait to ask DeAnna about what those events look like in 2021 and what are some lessons and insights that she can share with us as we all navigate the post-COVID or through COVID world. Get ready for an amazing conversation. I can’t wait to see what we’ll learn in these insights with DeAnna Rogers.
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Welcome to another conversation. I have a streak of powerful women. I may have to get in some men, but I am so excited to welcome DeAnna Rogers, who’s a mother of three wonderful boys, Mimi to a beautiful granddaughter and proud to be in the events space for the past several years. She helps run events from small to large and I’ve been part of some of your events. They’re beautifully done. She has been blessed to work with some of the smartest people in the industry. Welcome, DeAnna.
Thank you for having me, Dolores. I’m glad to be here.
Let’s get started with what does coming here mean for you? Tell us a little bit about your journey to the work you’re doing now, to the fun you’re having because I know you’re having a lot of fun.
I’ve been blessed to be in this industry. I started several years ago in the event and the real estate space. We were doing smaller real estate events in Austin and Vegas area. I got to meet quite a few different people that showed up in our lives like Roland Frasier. I started my own company called Affiliate Mastermind Group, AMG, and we taught event planners how to run events, get out there, create their own event, do joint ventures and market yourself. I had Roland and, at the time, his business partner, Perry Belcher, come and speak on my stage and be a part of my mastermind as far as they were speakers at my mastermind.
It’s been great ever since then. Several years ago, they brought me in to do run their event side of the business. I’ve been blessed about that. I met some incredible people along the way. I’ve been excited to be a part of a community that started with Traffic & Conversion Summit. When I jumped in, 1,200 people were about that. Now, we’re helping about 10,000. To grow that and to be able to be a little integral part of that has been an amazing journey.
Make a path out of all the stones thrown at you.
Let’s jump right in there. Some people feel that the speaking space got frozen in place in March 2020 and nothing’s happened, but you and I know that a lot has happened in the event space. Let’s talk about that. How have 2020 and early 2021 been for the event space?
I disagree. I feel like it has allowed speakers to have a bigger opportunity to be in front of audiences. It’s how you focus and frame it. Whereas before, you had to go to a physical live event to get on that stage to be a speaker, now you’ve got so many people that are doing virtual and hybrid stages and they’re looking for speakers. There’s a plethora of them out there. It’s incredible the number of events out there now. They’re not all physical. They’re virtual and hybrid. You now have so many more stages that you have the opportunity to be on. I have seen a huge opportunity grow.
Personally, as a speaker, this is my third speaking engagement. It’s probably the same for you like you cook dinner, be on a stage, come back and work with a client. It’s more embedded in our day, this visibility. For you, when the company you work with and the work that you do, you guys created a speaking event in 2021. Let’s talk about that.
The interesting part of that was we were doing about 32 live events a year, and we were traveling around and doing events every other week out there. We had this one particular program that was called Leverage, Exit, Grow & Scale, how to go out and acquire companies and grow them and scale them. We were doing these tiny events everywhere in Vegas and San Diego.
We, meaning Roland Frasier and you.
We were traveling around and doing these events. They were all over the place and then COVID happened. Interestingly enough, it became the opportunity for people to understand what we were teaching because at any time now with COVID happening, it was the time to start acquiring businesses and ethically jumping in and being able to help support and grow other businesses. We’re like, “This is so important now but we can’t necessarily meet in physical spaces and do this. Let’s teach it on a virtual level.” At the time, there were a couple of people doing it. We consulted with several of those people and figured out how is the best way to roll that model out. We started in April 2020. We’ve had thirteen cohorts. We’ve created a challenge. We call them a challenge.
Make A Path: The pandemic allowed speakers to have a bigger opportunity to be in front of audiences.
It’s a social media launch that once a month is out there and we use Facebook and different other social platforms to promote it. We teach the class online and we have found that we’re reaching a larger audience. We’ve been able to impact more people and grow the business. It’s something that we never would have thought at that time but we were like, “We can’t stop. This is the time to teach this. This is the time when it needs to be taught.” It was changing how we saw things and it’s been such a blessing. We’ve all grown and learned. We’re helping other people go out there, acquire businesses and ethically change lives. It’s been fun.
When I joined, what attracted me to it and there’s so much that we can do and commit to, I loved being part of it because the premise was that we are in a world where things are shutting down. The program was designed on how we can help businesses stay in operation and have the business owners still run the business, but you acquire and you take out the fear and the financial troubles but keep the employees and keep it moving forward. I know you have grown and you’ve made a lot of money but more importantly, you’ve changed a lot of lives. I wonder if you’re quantifying that or getting some of the stories around the people whose families are still eating because you guys taught us to do that.
It’s exciting. We are trying to put together a book of all the different people that are doing the deals so that we can see the impact that it’s had in 2020. That is something that we are working on. It has been fun to be able to get those testimonials from people where they’ve been able to go into like a little mom and pop and maybe come in, get half of that business, grow it and keep that business from folding. To be able to see the impact of coming in and helping keep those doors open when things could have gone the other way. That’s been very rewarding, fun to see and it’s been fun to learn. We’ve learned many things along the way, things that you don’t necessarily write in a book but learn as you deal with them. It’s been quite a journey.
Let’s go back to you. You’re in so many places. I see you everywhere. Everybody loves and talks of you in such a kind way. In some ways, you’re one of those role models to me because you’re able to be known and connected with so many people. At the same time, you’re always making space for people like giving us some time for this conversation. How do you keep your identity as a kind, caring and connected person when you’re pulling so many directions?
It’s keeping yourself grounded. I wake up every day and I think of what I want to accomplish and how I can make an impact on other people. That’s rewarding for me. I got off of a call with some of our alumni members. That reminds me of why we do this, why we’ve created this program and why continuing this business is so important. Staying grounded and rooted is important. I truly value my family. That’s important to me, my children, my granddaughter. I wake up every day knowing that how can I make a difference. I have a little sticky note upstairs in my office that says, “How can I make a difference in someone’s life now? Who’s that person?”
I always try to end the day with who I could have done something different now. It could be something super simple. Maybe it was I’ve changed something for my child or maybe I had a call with someone that was depressed about their deal, not going through. I didn’t do much but other than talk and listen. I was hoping that made a difference. I got a text later that said, “That was so great. Thanks for giving me an hour.” I was like, “I did that. I accomplished what I wanted to do.” I don’t take that lightly. I want to make a difference. That’s rewarding for me to be able to say that I can help make a difference in some small way. Whether it’s just talking on the phone, getting on a podcast or whatever that may be, that’s important. That’s the legacy that I want to leave. Grow our companies. My husband and I have our own portfolio of companies that we acquire as well. Those things are important. I want to leave a legacy but it starts every single day of that brick. You can’t build a house that’s doing each little brick every day. It’s like, “What brick am I going to do now?”
Go out there, acquire businesses, and change lives.
I love what you’re sharing because in Masters in Clarity, we help people master their own clarity. A lot of people feel that clarity comes from the outside in. What you’re saying is it’s an anchor in your values and what is important to you in your intention, what you are going to leave behind. As we navigate through the day is that we’re either honoring that or we’re not. When we’re not is when things fall apart, we are struggling with decision-making where things feel icky and off is because we’re not aligned with what we’re called to do or supposed to do here.
I was given the blessing of life in 2005. In 2005, I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I was given a couple of months to live. Not a lot of people know that, so I’m sharing something raw. I learned from that. I was very blessed with this doctor with Texas Oncology. I went in there that first day. I’m bawling and a poor woe is me thing. The doctor was like, “You can’t be my patient if you’re going to cry. You need to get over it.” I remember leaving that day going, “You got horrible mannerisms. You’re a horrible doctor.” I was so upset and then I went home and I thought about it. I’m like, “It’s all in the attitude.” It’s all in how you see things. I went back the next day and I’m like, “I swear I will never cry again but I need you to be my doctor.” From that point, it was all about control. It was, “I was going to control.” Whether the outcome was good or bad, I didn’t know but at that time, I had small babies still. My kids were still in middle school. My kids are adults now. My boys are older but at the time, they were younger. I wanted to be able to watch them grow. I wasn’t ready to go yet.
I was like, “I’m a fighter. I know I can fight this. I won’t cry. I promise.” I remember walking into that doctor and I’m saying, “I’m ready. I’m going to control this and I’m going to fight this.” Here’s the best part. I had never had a bad hair day for five years because with wigs, you never have a bad hair day ever. I had a walk-in closet and I picked my hair every day. I always had a great hair day. You had to think of things that way. A few years later, I was cancer-free, and I’m here now able to raise my children and my granddaughter.
I’ve always been thankful and blessed that I had that opportunity. Whether or not it had ended bad or good, it was my mindset. I had to change it from that day. I knew that I was given something special and I wasn’t going to take that for granted. I’ve taken that in my business and that every single day is such a blessing, and I’m not going to let that be wasted. Whether it’s good or bad on the outcome of what this business decision is, I’m not going to let this day be wasted. I’ve had people that are like, “I’m so sorry.” I’m like, “Don’t be sorry for me. Having cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me because it changed my mindset.”
Nothing scares me and gets me upset anymore because I’m here. I have my children, my family and a granddaughter I would’ve never seen. It was another stone that was thrown in my path that made that pathway. You had to have all those stones to make that path. That was just one more thing that was put in my way. I consider that a blessing. I always tell people, “When things like that happen, you’ve got to consider how that can become a blessing.” When COVID hit us, it was the same thing. It’s like, “How do we turn this into a blessing? How do we grow with this, accept it and make it better?” I encourage anyone who’s going through something, change your mindset. How can you make that a blessing? It could be crappy, bad or whatever. How do you change that? I had cancer but I had five years of the most amazing hair days ever.
We share this belief. We’re in this world to play big, have fun and the only thing that can stop it is our end. Anything else is just another experience put in front of us. I share that because I had a pancreatic tumor when I was twenty and I was told, “You’re done.” Nothing scares me. Whatever I do, it’s not that you don’t take things seriously because you do, but you don’t take things seriously in the way of the dramatic way that most people will look at things in the world. It’s another opportunity for how can I be creative, grow and overcome this challenge? It almost becomes like a game to me, at least. It’s like, “How can I grow bigger from this moment?”
Make A Path: You may not be able to change the total outcome, but you can change how you perceive it and how you handle that outcome.
It’s how you see the opportunity. You may not be able to change the total outcome but you can change how you perceive it and handle that outcome.
What do you have looking forward to in the next several months? What’s coming on you? You talked about a book. What else?
My husband and I have been acquiring some businesses of our own. We’re doing Airbnbs right now. We’ve been buying houses on the beach and flipping them into Airbnb. That’s been one side project. We’re also about to buy a little park that’s restaurants and bars. We’re about to get some equity in being an investor in one of those side projects. We are dabbling in a couple of different businesses ourselves and trying to create some multiple revenues for our children to be able to have an empire someday when we’re no longer here. Someone said about it’s a year’s off and I’m like, “I’ve already got the next several months planned. It’s so busy.”
Where can people connect with you? What’s the best way to reach out to you?
They can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn. I’m happy to help. The thing about it is online challenges, events and coaching programs are in my wheelhouse. It’s what I love. It’s my specialty. If anyone wants to chat with me or you want to talk about wigs or whatever, I’ll talk about anything. I’m a chatting box. I love connecting with people. The best gift we have is to be able to connect with and support one another.
Go check out DeAnna Rogers. She’s a powerhouse. Thank you, DeAnna, for sharing some time with us and having a conversation.
You can’t build a house without doing each little brick every day.
Thanks for having me, Dolores. I appreciate it.
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I had the best time with DeAnna. First of all, give it to her. She’s a mom of three kids and a beautiful grandmother of a six-year-old granddaughter. She is so full of energy, beauty and creativity. I love how we talked about work, how the event space is changing. We also talked about her journey as a mom, overcoming cancer, the power of people and relationship, how she was blessed with people that supported her and how she’s so happy that every day is a gift for her. It was a warm conversation around having and doing great opportunities and great work. At the same time, honoring our own personal journey, the relationships with that we have and the experience that we collect through the years.
One of the things we talked about a little bit was what she’s doing with Roland Frasier these days as coordinating the challenges that are run every single month teaching Roland’s course, EPIC, where he gets to teach people how to buy businesses. Go ahead, take notes, read this conversation with DeAnna Rogers. It is one that you should not miss. We do this at Masters in Clarity, and in my work is go deep into people’s stories and create and extract the lessons from them. Clarity is at the core of what I believe in what I do. Clarity without action is almost like a waste of time. I love that DeAnna brings to our conversation, I love clarity around what’s happening but also share a lot of the action that she’s taken to make an impact. I know that with the work she’s been doing with Roland, they’ve been able to help small companies being acquired and keep on running even through difficult times like the COVID pandemic. Read up, and I would love to hear what your a-has were. Share it on the platforms where you saw this episode is posted. Share with us what you got as an insight for yourself or for your business.
Important Links:
- DeAnna Rogers
- Traffic & Conversion
- Masters in Clarity
- Facebook – DeAnna Rogers
- LinkedIn – DeAnna Rogers
About DeAnna Rogers
DeAnna Rogers is the mother of three adult boys, Mimi to a beautiful granddaughter, and really proud to be in the event space for the past 13 years. She currently helps run events from small to large and has been very blessed to work with some of the smartest people in the industry.
