Ep440: Nada Lena Nasserdeen – Rise Up For You

Andrew Stotz 00:02
Hello fellow risk takers and welcome to my worst investment ever stories of loss to keep you winning. In our community we know that to win in investing, you must take risk but to win big, you've got to reduce it. To join our community go to my worst investment ever.com and receive the following five free benefits first, you get the risk reduction checklist I created from the lessons I've learned from all my guests. Second, you get my weekly email to help you increase your investment return. Third, you get a 25% discount on all a Stotz Academy courses. Fourth, you get access to our Facebook community and to get to know guests and fellow listeners. And finally, you get my curated list of my favorite 10 episodes. Fellow risk takers This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz from a Stotz Academy, and I'm here with featured guest madalina NASA Dean natalina. Are you ready to rock? I'm ready to rock and roll. Let's do this. All right. Well, let me introduce you to the audience. Besides being a fellow Long Beach State alumni, yeah, not as nice and nicer Dean is not what sorry, not Alina, NASA Dean is transforming companies and individuals with people emotional and communication skills. She is a TEDx speaker, a best selling author, a corporate trainer, a leadership and confidence coach, and founder of rise up for you. Natalie, please take a minute in Philly, for the tidbits about your life. Hey, I

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 01:33
think you nailed it. As you mentioned, I'm the CEO and founder of riser for you. But I that wasn't my first gig. So you mentioned Cal State Long Beach, I was actually a performer first. So I studied vocal performance and stage at Long Beach. And I toured the world internationally for about 10 years singing and dancing similar to Broadway. And then from there, I became an executive, I was an executive at 27 years old leading a team of 200 people. So it's been pretty, pretty dynamic. I

Andrew Stotz 02:02
would say, That's fascinating. You know, a lot of young people say to me, Well, I didn't study finance, or I didn't study business. I didn't study accounting. How can I get a job in business? How can I add value? But let me ask you, like, what's one thing that really makes you special or unique in the world of business that you got from what you learn from performing arts?

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 02:23
Yeah, that is so critical. I think it's showing up like you're, you're a brand because as a business, you are the brand. And so I always say that you're a walking billboard. And that's what I learned as a performer that like when you walk on stage, you have to have an energy a dynamic, you have to be captivating. And it's the same as a business owner, as an entrepreneur. And a lot of people miss that. And so I always say that, when you go out there to sell your business, it all starts with you and how you show up and what you're putting out there to the audience. I always think of like the audience.

Andrew Stotz 02:58
That's a great and you know, for the listeners out there, that's great advice. You know, how do you show up every day? Are you shabby? Are you tired? Are you stressed? Are you telling people negative things? Or you bring in the best out and coming out with energy and the things that are attractive to people? And I would challenge you, you know, right here, you're learning it right here from an expert so well, now it's time to share your worst investment ever. And since no one, no one, no one ever goes into their worst investment thinking it will be. Tell us a bit about the circumstances leading up to them. Tell us your story.

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 03:34
Yeah, so that's an interesting question. And I've thought about like, Hey, what's my worst investment? Is it a car a brand new car that the second I drove off the lot? It depreciated? You know, what, what is it? Is it my college degrees that I have three? No, but I love those. I would say that my worst investment that is always a learning, you know, processing tool is investment in time, energy and money that I use to transition and navigate and shift to a new country. And I can dive more into that. Please do. Yeah. So you know, as I mentioned, I was an executive I was, you know, 2728 years old, living the best life and had everything we think is success. So luxury car house, on the lake, boats and kayaks and all kinds of stuff. And I spent energy and time in building a relationship, and I resigned from my company, sold everything, pulled out my 401k and I moved out of the country to get married. And after two weeks of being married, my husband decided that he wanted a divorce. So I went from a high functioning executive, with six figures in a house and all this stuff that we think is success to two luggage and $100 that was it. No car, no house, no job.

Andrew Stotz 04:55
I'm almost in tears, listening

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 04:58
$100 and To luggage that was in a matter of two weeks, and it was so shocking, embarrassing, all the things that you think in your head like, Whoa, what just happened. And so yeah, I invested a lot of time I invested a lot of energy, I invested a lot of resources, maybe that's a better word resources to pivot and to make this shift happen. And unfortunately, just did not work out. And I was back on a plane after two weeks, and I was crying, and I was embarrassed, and I was just in shock. I really didn't know what to do or where to go from there.

Andrew Stotz 05:34
Wow. And when you got on that plane, and the door closed, how are you feeling?

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 05:42
I would say initially embarrassed because I think that as individuals that we tend to have shame, you know, so like, the first things that came to my mind is how does an educated executive person with all these degrees get themselves in this situation? And we've all had that moment, right? I'm an educated human. Why did I make this decision? Right. So I think that's the first thing that I felt. And then it and then I just cried myself to sleep. When I fell asleep, that's really where the I think that Tiffany and the magic came to place. Yeah,

Andrew Stotz 06:18
yeah. So tell us explain what you learn from this experience.

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 06:24
You know, what I really learned is what it really means to be successful, and to build a life that you're proud of. So when I was coming back on the planet, as I mentioned, I fell asleep. And my father had passed away two years beforehand, he had multiple heart attacks. And he came to me in my dream, and he said, Everything you need is already inside of you, you just have to rise up for you and do it. That's why the company's called the riser for you. That's the phrase that came into my mind when I was sleeping with my dad. And so I came back to California. And after two weeks, I started building rise up for you. And it was really, I think, an epiphany and very challenging, but what I realized is that I had this strong moment of gratitude when my dad came to me and I recognize that, okay, yes, I don't have a car anymore. I don't have a house, I don't have a job, I don't have ABCDE, F and G. But I do still have my mind, I do still have my health. And I do still have my mom and my two brothers. And I can do a hell of a lot with that. And I think that's where I really started to reframe What does it mean to be successful? And what does it mean to build a life that you're proud of. And that's where rise up for you came out of is that it's more about these inner skills that help us be successful. And not these technical or outer skills or outer things that we put emphasis on that really don't make you who you are today.

Andrew Stotz 07:44
Um, before I go into the next point, I just want to ask, Can you explain from now we know the origin of rise up for you, tell us what you do through rise up for you.

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 07:55
That's a good, thank you. So we actually have two divisions in the company, one division is focused on corporations. And so we go into companies, we're in 45 countries right now. And we help enhance company culture and well being through these human skills. Because the reality is, is that the top challenges in the workplace right now have to do with people, right? It's diversity, equity and inclusion, emotional intelligence, leadership confidence as the professional. And so we get the great honor of going in and working with companies through consultation coaching and training, than the other division is just for the individual. It's for that one person that saying, I really want to tap into my potential, and I don't feel like I'm really being the best leader. I don't feel like I'm really being like the best person that I can be. And so they come to us for leadership, confidence and business strategy and what they do.

Andrew Stotz 08:48
And you know, ladies and gentlemen, you hear from natalina story, she came from a point of, you know, being completely lacking of confidence, and, you know, terrified, getting on that plane flying back and having to face the world again, and she rose up. So that's exciting. And let me just summarize what I took away. You know, you reminded me of a kayak, you said kayak, I thought to myself, I remember the first guy I ever met that was like a corporate executive that went from a job. I went from studying at university to becoming a corporate executive. And he owned the kayak and I just thought that was the most amazing thing. He had money. And he had this independence that he could buy something like that, because I had no money when I was. The second thing that you reminded me of is, I had somewhat of a similar situation. And that is, I had a I went to LA for summer, I stayed at my godfathers home. He has a camp called Tom Sawyer camps in Los Angeles. And I was a camp counselor, and I fell in love with another camp counselor, and we had an amazing Summer of Love. And then over the over the year, as I went back to Ohio, went back to school, we kept correspondence, she came back to Ohio, everything was beautiful. And then we agreed that I would come to LA. And then I drove out to LA, I sold, I got rid of everything I own, I left my family. And on the day I arrived in LA, she said, I want to break up. And it was devastating. You know, I didn't have any money, I didn't have any I didn't have any education. I had family and friends, but they were in Ohio. And that prospect of turning around and driving back three days to go back to Ohio just wasn't there. So I did what any, you know, self respecting man would do. I begged her to stay. And so we had a miserable six to nine months together until we broke up eventually. And I got out of that, and I got free. But I know that feeling of getting into something, and then all of a sudden realizing it's falling apart. And I think I learned from my lesson. And I think you've demonstrated it's better just to walk away and start new. So thanks for reminding me of that story. And the last thing that I took away is, you know, for the audience out there, what is success? That's what she, you know, told us about? It's like, she had a question, what is success? And what is it? I want to ask everybody listening to this? What is success? And I would challenge you to say, you know, what we learned that natalina relied on was education and family. She had her education she that nobody could take away and family that was a strong bond. And ultimately, I would challenge anybody out there to say, if you can get education, and a strong family bond, that's already a major step towards success. Is there anything else you would add to that?

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 11:45
I would add an inner belief in yourself confidence, which I talk a lot about, especially in my book is that self confidence is that ability to say, Alright, I fell short this time, or I didn't make it or I failed. Great. What are my next steps? And how do I overcome that. So still feeling that you're enough, even when it wasn't enough? And that I think is really, really important? Because like, I'll tell you when I came back, and I started building ryza for you, I didn't have a degree in business. You know, but I had confidence that I can learn. So I went straight to Google. And I was like, how do you build a business? And I just started, and I think that having that belief in yourself is really important so that you can keep getting back up.

Andrew Stotz 12:30
Beautiful. So confidence is a major factor. So based upon what you learn from this story, and what you continue to learn what what action would you recommend our listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate?

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 12:45
Yeah, the biggest thing that I would say is constantly do a check in with yourself on the all the pillars of life and the way that I define them our self worth, career, romance, health and fitness your community and money, because that's what success means to me. And building a life that you're proud of is not only spending all your time, money, energy and resources in one area, but having a very balanced and nurtured environment as a whole human being. So that when one pillar does fall down, you can still use the other five pillars to pull you back up.

Andrew Stotz 13:21
Beautiful. Last question, what's your number one goal for the next 12 months

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 13:28
to invest in a home? That's my number one goal. But I want to wait for the market to maybe dip or see what happens. But yeah, I would like to put some investments in a hole in a home and a couple houses. And hopefully I'm not back on the podcast in two years saying that that's the worst investment. No, I was just sitting here in

Andrew Stotz 13:47
in Thailand giving a presentation to fund managers explaining about the bubble in housing prices in America. Yeah, just be careful to all the listeners have to absolutely because money is so cheap in America. It's not that cheap everywhere in the world, but getting money at 3% or so. For home loan is just so so easy. Yes. All right. Well, listeners, there you have it another story of loss to keep you winning. My number one goal for the next 12 months is to help you my listener reduce risk and increase return in your life. To achieve this. I've created our community at my worst investment ever. And I look forward to seeing you there. As we conclude natalina I want to thank you again for coming on the show. And on behalf of at Stotz Academy I hereby award you alumni status for turning your worst investment ever into your best teaching moment. Do you have any parting words for the audience?

Nada Lena Nasserdeen 14:41
I always say the greatest tragedy is wasted human potential. I encourage you not to let that be your story.

Andrew Stotz 14:48
eautiful and that's a wrap on another great story to help you create, grow and protect your wealth. And now we've also learned your health. Fellow risk takers This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz saying. I'll see you on the upside.