1:07

Like , if you need a moment , take a moment

1:09

. Like it's crazy how powerful

1:11

it is to just put your phone

1:13

down and just breathe

1:15

. It's amazing how powerful that is

1:17

. It's free , you can

1:19

do it yourself . But we

1:22

think we need stuff to

1:24

make us feel better . We need material

1:26

things , or we gotta call somebody to help them

1:28

make me feel better , or we need validation , and we

1:30

are living in a world that's very fast

1:32

. So if you can slow down for a couple

1:35

minutes , it's powerful .

1:37

Today's guest is Holly Carroll , a

1:39

powerhouse in both business and

1:42

personal transformation . She's

1:44

a number one bestselling author , luxury

1:47

realtor and managing

1:49

director of agency Muskoka

1:52

. As the author of

1:54

Closing Deals in Heels , she

1:57

empowers others to achieve

1:59

success through vision , belief

2:02

and authenticity . Beyond

2:04

real estate , she's a passionate

2:06

advocate for finding confidence

2:09

, courage and self-worth

2:11

, founding movements that inspire

2:14

others to step into their highest potential

2:16

. From Miss Canada to

2:19

real estate leader , her

2:21

journey is a testament to

2:23

a power of bold action

2:26

and self-belief . I'm

2:28

so excited to welcome Holly Carroll

2:30

to the show .

2:35

Thank you so much , wow Thank you for that opening .

2:37

I'm so excited for our conversation

2:39

and to learn a thing or two .

2:41

Same with you . I've been watching

2:43

you . I've been listening to some of your podcasts . They're excellent

2:46

. You speak from your heart . I love

2:48

what you're doing . I love the service that you're doing

2:50

. I love all the people that you're helping . So

2:52

I'm just excited , as you are , I think .

2:56

So , with that said , what is one of the

2:58

most courageous things that you have done

3:01

?

3:01

I think one of the most courageous things that I've

3:03

done is owning my truth

3:06

and

3:08

writing this book about my truth

3:11

. It

3:18

took me a long time to become the person that actually was aligned with the person that I was supposed

3:20

to be , to put the words out , and I think

3:23

choosing another courageous thing I've

3:25

ever done is learning how to

3:27

heal when the world says hustle .

3:31

Absolutely . I can't

3:33

wait to dive into some of those questions a bit later

3:35

on , of course , but first

3:37

of all , tell me about your time

3:39

being Miss Canada . Now that's

3:42

something , isn't it ? How did that come about

3:44

?

3:45

Yeah . So it was actually

3:47

during a low point of my life

3:49

, before I joined , before

3:51

I tried out for the pageant

3:54

. I was , I just broke up with

3:56

an ex of mine

3:58

and I was living in LA and

4:00

I came home and I was just , I

4:02

was broken and somebody

4:05

said you should go into this

4:07

pageant and I thought you

4:09

know what , why not ? My background is

4:11

actually in modeling and I was an international

4:13

model for 17 years and

4:16

so it's a lot different . Pageants are a lot different

4:18

than runway modeling . So

4:20

of course , those things started to

4:23

speak in my mind Well , you're

4:25

a model , you're not a pageant , and

4:27

a lot of people that do pageantry , they've

4:30

been practicing it their whole entire life

4:32

, right ? So I thought who

4:34

am I to join this ? And I thought you know what

4:36

? Just the action of doing it

4:38

and just putting myself out there and

4:41

getting off this couch , that

4:44

in itself is going to heal me , right

4:46

, that in itself . So I went through

4:48

all the motions and , yeah

4:51

, I won and it was the best feeling

4:54

for me and the best

4:56

year , because I got to represent my country

4:58

, I got to , you know , go to these

5:01

parades and wave at kids , and

5:03

it was just exactly what I needed . And

5:05

it's funny because you

5:07

know you try to talk yourself out of these things because

5:09

you don't have this , this and this and it's

5:11

like just go for it . What's the worst thing that could happen

5:13

?

5:14

Absolutely , and it is

5:16

. It's a scary place to be in

5:19

, absolutely , and yet

5:21

, like you said , you're used to the runway

5:23

.

5:23

Right , so like there's no reason why

5:26

, but we try to find something

5:28

. People

5:30

are probably like well , of course she did that

5:32

, you know in some respect , and it's

5:34

like well , I still have my self-doubt

5:37

sometimes too . We're still human . I

5:39

still have to work on that . You know , the

5:41

ego still wants to quote

5:43

unquote protect itself .

5:46

Absolutely , absolutely

5:48

. And I love the way you

5:50

know you create

5:52

business and everything . I've got so many interesting

5:54

questions . Thank you , because

5:57

, like you said , people will assume certain

5:59

things about models . Absolutely

6:02

, you know you're Miss Canada . Oh

6:04

, you can do what you like , but it's not always

6:06

like that , I know . Yeah

6:08

, it's what comes behind that as well

6:10

.

6:11

Absolutely . I struggled with that for years . I

6:13

struggled with keeping the

6:15

modeling side Holly

6:18

the model and Holly the realtor

6:20

completely separate , and

6:22

that's sort of why I said

6:25

that the most courageous thing that I ever did was owning my

6:27

truth , my whole truth .

6:30

Because they're completely two different things

6:32

. I mean and that does go

6:34

into nicely into my next question

6:36

how did your journey of luxury

6:38

realtor begin ?

6:42

You know , I . It's funny because

6:45

I always had people tell me you

6:47

should be in real estate and I said no , no , no

6:49

, no . And eventually I

6:51

thought you know what , maybe

6:53

I should be in real estate . So I opened

6:56

up the door to the

6:58

potential of it and then I was just

7:00

like wow , why am I not in

7:02

real estate ? And it's funny

7:04

because the two worlds actually do collide . Oh

7:07

wow . So in a way , modeling

7:09

is promoting yourself and

7:12

representing a product . So in

7:14

a way , that's real estate too .

7:19

Right .

7:20

Yeah , I would have never thought of that . Actually , I've been thinking about it

7:22

for a while .

7:23

It's really interesting though , isn't it ?

7:39

Yeah , yeah . And the thing that I was missing , I think , with modeling was that it was primarily

7:41

all about looks right and I just felt like I had so much more to give inside

7:43

and real estate . You know , it's about relationships . It's about , you know , really fostering

7:45

that connection with somebody and

7:48

fostering their emotions

7:50

. It's a very emotional transaction

7:52

and you almost have to be that strength

7:55

for them to go through this period .

7:58

Absolutely . Yes , I mean , buying

8:01

any piece of real estate is

8:03

absolutely emotional . Yeah

8:05

Right , what are you giving up , you

8:07

know ? Is it going to work out ? So many

8:09

emotions go into it . I can really understand

8:12

that , Absolutely . Yeah

8:14

, Tell me about behind the scenes

8:16

of real estate , because I mean you hear all

8:18

these stories and release . I've heard all these stories

8:20

. You have to be cutthroat . It's like

8:22

this , it's like that , but like we've just talked

8:25

about , actually there's a softer side to

8:27

it which I'm sure you must understand

8:29

.

8:31

It's true , and I think

8:33

that softer side

8:35

is coming out a lot more in people . I

8:37

think it directly depends

8:39

on who you're sort of surrounding yourself

8:42

with . But yes , it is

8:44

somewhat of a dog-eat-dog world , but

8:47

you don't have to accept that . The

8:50

way that you respond to it is everything , to it is

8:53

everything . And I've

8:55

always said that I want to change

8:58

the way the transactions

9:00

happen . I

9:06

want like , because we used to think , like the sellers and the buyers , they can't talk

9:08

, we can't be anywhere near each other , because you know like so it's like this

9:10

negative start from the beginning , and

9:13

it doesn't have to be that way . Like

9:15

everybody wants the same thing . So

9:18

why don't we lighten the

9:20

load a little bit and lighten the mood

9:23

? And I think that once you

9:25

do that , it does make the transaction go a lot

9:27

smoother .

9:28

Yeah , I can imagine especially building a

9:30

brand and a business with authenticity

9:33

. This day and age , it's coming

9:35

from the heart a lot more . Yeah

9:37

, definitely , is I mean right

9:40

?

9:40

and that we have this opportunity to

9:43

show people online

9:45

on social media like who we really are

9:47

. So when they meet us , they know who we are

9:49

, and the

9:52

main way to do that is to really show up

9:54

who you are , not what you

9:56

think a real estate agent should look like . What

9:58

you think a model should look like . What you think somebody

10:01

selling a brand should look like . Weave

10:03

in your personal touch

10:05

.

10:06

Absolutely . You are an advocate

10:08

for confidence , courage and self-worth

10:11

. Just talk to me a bit about that , please , because these

10:13

values are absolutely

10:15

important to all of us and

10:17

even if we think we're confident , who can't

10:20

do with more confidence , courage and self-worth

10:22

?

10:23

Even as the self-proclaimed advocate

10:26

, I could still use you

10:28

know always some days more

10:30

confidence . So

10:32

after the Miss Canada reign

10:35

, I really took

10:37

that to heart , and , even though the year had ended

10:39

, I still wanted to give

10:42

back . And it actually started with younger women

10:45

, ages from 11 to 17

10:47

. And the reason why was I

10:49

wanted a role model that wasn't my mom

10:51

when I was that age and

10:54

someone that I could look up to , that

10:56

wasn't

10:59

doing bad things , and

11:04

so I was just talking to myself . So

11:07

there's little things you can do

11:09

to build self-confidence , and

11:11

a lot of it has to do with self-worth , a lot of

11:13

it has to do with self-love , self-care

11:15

, just baby steps sometimes , even

11:18

if you don't feel confident . Get

11:20

up , have a shower , put on some

11:22

lipstick , put on some heels yes , I

11:26

mean absolutely .

11:28

Doesn't it make you feel so much better though ? Right

11:31

?

11:32

Right . And sometimes people think , oh , I'm so

11:34

far off from confidence I

11:36

can't even start . And sometimes people think , oh , I'm

11:38

so far off from confidence I can't even start , and it's like you're not that far , you know

11:40

, like if confidence was a beam . You're either

11:42

two steps on or two steps off

11:44

, just depending on how you move , you

11:46

know .

11:51

Who doesn't need a role model where we

11:53

all grow up and we want to become

11:55

something ?

11:57

for ourselves Yep Absolutely

12:00

, and

12:03

we don't always want to

12:05

listen to our parents big time , well , and listen to your parents , but it's

12:07

always nice to have somebody outside your

12:09

family that you

12:11

know . Your family knows you really

12:13

well , absolutely . My mom

12:15

still sees me as a little girl , you know

12:17

, and that's okay .

12:21

Yeah , definitely , and

12:23

I really want to talk to you about

12:25

your book , but I've just got a few more questions

12:27

before that . Tell

12:30

me more about overcoming adversity

12:32

and trusting the process , because I guess

12:34

with your entire

12:37

life that's what you've had to do You've

12:39

had to trust the process

12:41

.

12:41

Right . I think the biggest thing

12:44

is people have faith . And

12:46

people have trust when things are going really well

12:48

and then somehow they

12:50

lose it when it's going bad . Right

12:53

, and people , when they're doing really

12:55

great , they're like these are the tools

12:57

I use . I visualize , I journal

12:59

, I tap , I meditate

13:02

, I visualize . But they

13:04

forget the tools when

13:06

they're going through a bit of a low . They

13:09

forget the tools when they're feeling

13:11

less confident . They forget the tools

13:13

when they're not trusting the process right

13:15

. So it's very easy to

13:18

tell people to do this , this and this , but

13:20

like , are you really living the material

13:22

, if you will so

13:24

like . Life is all about ebb and

13:26

flow . It's about contrast

13:29

. So it's going to happen

13:31

no matter what , and it doesn't mean that

13:33

you're doing something wrong when it does

13:35

, but

13:42

when it does , lean into those tools . Give yourself permission to heal , give yourself permission

13:44

to just be . Like we said before we started , give yourself

13:46

permission to just be , and if all

13:48

you did today was just be

13:50

, that's okay .

13:52

Absolutely , absolutely

13:54

. Yeah , so you are

13:57

the number one bestselling author of Closing

13:59

Deals in Heels , the untold

14:01

story of a woman's rise

14:03

in real estate vulnerability

14:05

, victory and the power

14:08

of belief . Wow

14:10

, absolutely love that title

14:13

. Absolutely love it . Thank

14:15

you Tell me

14:17

more . So what made you write the book ?

14:20

Okay , so I've actually

14:22

been saying I wanted to write this book for

14:25

over five years . I've

14:28

even said the title out loud . I'm going to write this

14:30

book called Closing Deals and Heels and

14:33

three years ago I

14:35

was going through another one of those shift

14:39

transformations and

14:41

I went on a woman's writing retreat in Costa

14:43

Rica and I wrote the first chapter

14:46

and I thought

14:48

before I started writing it that

14:50

I was going to write Closing Deals and Heels and it was going

14:52

to be this really fun , you

14:55

know , lots of self-development but not

14:57

a lot of vulnerability , and I didn't realize

15:00

that that was going to come out . But

15:02

when I started writing I just let it come

15:04

out , and what

15:06

I also didn't realize is that how

15:08

healing it was to write it , just for

15:10

me .

15:11

Absolutely .

15:13

Right . So three years

15:15

later I

15:17

thought I usually go away in the wintertime

15:19

because in Muskoka it's very cold in

15:21

the winter and there's not a lot of

15:23

transactional real estate . So

15:26

I thought I'm going to block myself in

15:28

my place this winter and I'm going to

15:30

finish writing it . What I didn't realize

15:33

was all the stuff that was going to come up

15:35

that I was going to have to face as

15:37

I wrote it which was actually beautiful

15:40

, because I really feel that , because

15:42

I went through that all the

15:44

versions of Holly Carol , because

15:47

I went through that it poured

15:49

out on the book and it's helping people now

15:51

relate to it . It's helping people heal

15:54

, it's helping people know that they're

15:56

not alone and it's a behind the scenes

15:58

look at just how it is to

16:00

be someone in business , someone

16:02

in real estate

16:04

and somebody going through whatever they're going

16:06

through .

16:07

That's excellent , absolutely beautiful

16:10

and , like you say , it's a healing process

16:12

for yourself . And

16:14

how was it then ?

16:16

It was basically I had to go

16:18

through all of the Holly

16:20

Carols again . Different

16:23

versions Different versions

16:25

, which was , at

16:27

the time , very challenging . I'm not going to lie

16:30

. All the self-doubt crept

16:32

in who am I to write a book ? No

16:34

one's going to buy it . Like

16:36

, what am I doing ? All of

16:38

that came up and I had to face that . But

16:40

that's what happens when you're , when

16:43

you're owning your truth , when you're doing something

16:45

new , when you're becoming somebody new

16:48

. But I'm so happy and grateful

16:50

for that experience and I sat with it

16:52

. I didn't , I didn't run away from

16:54

it absolutely

16:56

and it is .

16:57

It's having that quiet time and just reflecting

17:00

. You don't actually have to do anything

17:02

right , and a lot of people think , oh we need to fix this , you don't actually have to do

17:04

anything . And a lot of people think , oh , we need to fix this , you don't need to fix

17:06

anything , just allow yourself to be .

17:09

Yep , I love that . That's such our theme , I

17:11

think , for this podcast . Just

17:16

be and go through it and go through it with some love and grace . I think that I speak

17:18

for myself and if anyone is listening , but

17:23

I think what we do is immediately we judge ourselves and we say why

17:26

can't you get out of bed ? Or why are you doing this and

17:28

, like you know you're lazy

17:30

, or stop thinking like that

17:33

, and we just attack ourselves

17:35

and rather than just being like

17:37

, listen , I'm just going through this transitional

17:39

period . Whatever I'm supposed to

17:41

hear , I'm supposed to hear and just

17:43

if you can't do big things

17:45

, just do small baby steps . Just go for

17:47

a walk and listen

17:50

to the noise and be a witness .

17:52

Absolutely , absolutely , and

17:54

it is . It's so relaxing

17:56

to just be yeah , yeah

17:59

, there's nothing to fix . I think this day and

18:01

age , a lot of people they want things

18:03

to happen , like yesterday , and

18:05

they feel that doing things , I

18:08

have to be doing something they're not used to just

18:10

allowing .

18:12

Right , that was a big thing for me , you

18:15

know . I think that I grew

18:18

up in a very action , masculine

18:21

energy world , especially in the real

18:23

estate world , like it's do , do , do

18:25

, do , do , and if you're not making 17

18:27

calls a day , you're not going to get where your

18:29

goal is . And that's

18:31

still is chatter in the real

18:33

estate world and any business world , right

18:36

, and I think that that is also important

18:38

. But it's just as important to you

18:41

know , be in that feminine energy too and that

18:43

allowing and the receiving and that self-care

18:45

Slow down so you can speed

18:47

up , type thing .

18:48

Absolutely , absolutely . And

18:51

it's so important actually to

18:53

be slow . That's where

18:55

the gold is . Yep , that's where

18:57

you hear the most .

18:59

It's true , it's true .

19:02

Yeah , absolutely . So what has happened

19:04

now , since you've written your book ?

19:06

Yes , okay , so well . I got

19:08

on this podcast Absolutely

19:11

Four days after I wrote it

19:13

. Actually it became bestseller , so that was

19:15

huge . A lot has happened

19:18

. I think a lot has happened

19:20

that I haven't seen yet

19:22

as well , but I feel

19:24

it Does that make sense .

19:26

Absolutely .

19:27

Right , so I'm speaking on a lot more stages

19:29

, which I've always wanted to do . The

19:32

biggest thing is , people are buying it , but

19:36

they're not just buying it . They're actually learning

19:39

stuff from it , they're actually healing from it

19:41

, and I think that's my biggest victory

19:43

Isn't that I sold a bunch of books and became

19:45

bestseller ? It's that it's actually

19:47

helping people , and that's that's

19:50

what I want .

19:51

Absolutely , and everyone

19:54

that's listening . The links will be in the show

19:56

notes . Please do get yourself a copy

19:58

and I'm sure you will learn

20:00

something from it . You will take away some

20:02

actionable points and you can reflect

20:05

on your own life .

20:06

That's what it's there for yep

20:08

, I made it a very easy read

20:10

too , because that's kind of how I like to

20:12

read . So there's

20:14

a topic , there's a chapter , and then

20:17

there's a personal story relating

20:20

to that chapter , and then there's an exercise

20:22

that you can embody what you read .

20:24

Love that , absolutely love that . Really

20:28

nice , yeah . So

20:31

what is ? This is a

20:33

big question . Now , what is one

20:36

of the most important lessons you have

20:38

learned so far in your life , because you've

20:40

done a lot .

20:43

I think the biggest lesson that I've

20:45

learned is to listen to

20:47

your own inner

20:50

voice rather than the outside

20:52

chatter .

20:53

I love that , absolutely love

20:55

that yeah .

20:56

I just want to make sure that everybody knows

20:58

, although it says Closing Deals

21:00

with Heels , it's not just a real estate

21:02

book . You can find a lot of goodies

21:04

in here and it makes you feel good reading

21:06

it . I

21:08

poured my heart out so that

21:11

everybody can feel that they're not alone

21:13

.

21:14

That's excellent . So

21:16

what resources do you recommend ? Tools

21:18

, daily steps for anyone that wants to start

21:20

taking bold action and having

21:23

self-belief . Holly .

21:25

Right , I love that question . Obviously

21:27

, a lot of us talk about a morning routine . Okay

21:30

, but there's a lot out there , right

21:33

? There's a lot out there and I'm supposed to do this

21:35

, this , this , this and this and this , all of my morning routine

21:37

, and it can be overwhelming , can be overwhelming

21:40

. So my best

21:42

advice is to wake

21:44

up slowly , listen to

21:46

yourself , ground and

21:49

if you can visualize and with

21:51

that visualization it's an intention for

21:53

the day , if

21:58

you do nothing else , set aside some time for yourself

22:00

in the morning and set aside some time for yourself at night .

22:02

Absolutely's beautiful , Because I think this day and age

22:04

people think being self-care

22:06

can be selfish . But it's not , it's essential

22:08

.

22:09

Right , right , and if you

22:11

need a moment , take a moment . It's

22:13

crazy how powerful it is

22:15

to just put your phone down

22:18

and just breathe , absolutely Pull

22:21

over the car and just breathe . It's amazing

22:24

how powerful that is . It's free

22:26

, you can do it yourself . But

22:29

we think we need stuff

22:31

to make us feel better . We need

22:33

material things or

22:35

we got to call somebody to help them make me feel

22:37

better . We need validation and we are living

22:39

in a world that's very fast . So

22:42

if you can slow down for a couple minutes

22:44

, it's powerful .

22:46

I can't echo that enough , absolutely

22:48

.

22:49

Yeah .

22:50

So where can the listeners find you online

22:52

, Holly .

22:54

Yes , so I keep it simple . I'm on social

22:56

media at Holly Ann Carroll

22:58

. Everything's on there . All

23:01

the Holly Carrolls are on there and

23:04

obviously the link to buy my book is also in

23:06

the file .

23:08

That's excellent , and the

23:10

links to join you on social media will

23:12

be in the show notes and

23:14

the links to the book as well . Thank

23:16

you for sharing your insightful wisdom

23:18

and knowledge with us today , and by doing

23:21

so you have helped so many others

23:23

and made a difference . I'd really like

23:25

to acknowledge you for that , holly

23:27

Carroll .

23:28

Thank you .

23:29

So we are all about Create the Courage to be

23:31

Fearless podcast here . What is your definition

23:34

of courage ?

23:35

I love this question . Courage is the decision

23:38

to rise , not when you feel

23:40

ready , but when you feel called . It's

23:43

showing up fully , you knowing

23:45

that your story might be the permission someone

23:48

else needs .