1:00

My guest today is Holly Porter . Holly

1:03

is an international speaker and creator

1:06

of 11 startup companies . Holly

1:08

stands as a beacon of resilience , a

1:11

13-time best-selling author , seasoned

1:14

philanthropist and true survivor

1:16

. Her remarkable journey includes

1:18

a 70-day battle with COVID-19 . Emerging

1:22

from this challenging experience with unwavering

1:24

determination , she is not

1:26

just a speaker but a living testament

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to the power of resilience . Passionate

1:31

about wellness , she goes beyond her achievements

1:33

in the business world . Holly leads

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a nonprofit dedicated to aiding

1:38

the long COVID community Showcase

1:41

some commitment to making a positive impact

1:43

on people's lives . Her infectious

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joy embodies hope and

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her wisdom uplifts others , proving

1:50

that healing is possible after the toughest

1:52

of battles . Inspirational

1:54

and influential , holly provides

1:57

and inspires , continues to inspire

1:59

countless lives along

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the way . Through her diverse accomplishments

2:04

and commitment to philanthropy , she

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has become a source of motivation of

2:09

those facing challenges , illustrating

2:11

that one can overcome adversity with strength

2:13

, positivity and a generous

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spirit . We welcome Holly

2:18

to the show . Well

2:22

, we welcome Holly to the podcast . How you doing , holly

2:24

?

2:25

I'm great . How are you ?

2:27

I'm fantastic . It's sunny

2:29

here in Forty after being frigid for

2:31

so long , so we're thankful

2:34

that we can see the sun and not freeze it up

2:36

.

2:36

Same .

2:38

Yeah , I like the

2:40

weather . The East Coast can have the weather . Take

2:42

it , we're passing

2:44

it on . I'd love to ask my guest

2:46

this question , to get a chance to know you a little better what's

2:48

the best piece of advice you've ever received

2:50

?

2:52

The best . I've had a lot of really good advices

2:54

because I've hired a lot of consultants

2:57

and coaches in my life . Hmm

2:59

, the best would

3:02

probably be the golden rule and

3:04

even above that , the platinum rule . So just

3:06

treat to treat others how you want to be

3:09

treated . I feel like my parents

3:11

raised me that way and

3:13

now I feel like I raised my kids that

3:15

way , and hopefully that you

3:18

know it . Just to me , what

3:21

goes around doesn't always come back around

3:23

, right , but that's how you can't live your life

3:26

in that space . You've just got to do

3:28

good , be good and hope for good

3:30

.

3:31

Right , I like that . I

3:35

love finding out about my guests because you know , along our

3:37

way , in our journey , so many people come

3:39

into our lives who either inspire us

3:42

or spend time with us or invest

3:44

in us . Who are some people that you want to just

3:46

kind of maybe take a moment to thank , who have done that

3:48

for you in your life ?

3:50

Oh , wow , yeah , it means

3:52

a lot to me when people are willing to invest . I

3:54

call those mentors and my

3:56

parents . Obviously I still

3:59

my mom's passed away now , but I

4:01

still have my dad and they . They

4:03

just gave us a lot of very

4:05

different skills . Each of them were so

4:07

opposite , but I think

4:09

I got a little piece of each of them

4:12

and so I would say first of all them and

4:14

then just , I've had a lot of mentors

4:16

in business . I've had a lot of mentors in

4:19

, you know , religious opportunities

4:22

, different ways that I've served in

4:24

Rotary International for a long , long time

4:26

and watching people

4:28

that are changing the world and serving

4:31

just at a higher level lights

4:33

me up , Like I want to be part of that

4:36

, and so I'm always . I'm always on the

4:38

move and when I like

4:40

change like a lot of people don't , I

4:42

love it . I think change is good . I think

4:44

that's how we learn , that's how we grow and and

4:47

conquer our fears . So I've just watched

4:49

people like that over my life and follow

4:52

their lead .

4:54

I like watching other people go through change . I don't want to go through

4:56

it myself , but if you're going through it , that's fine

4:58

.

4:59

Well , I don't love it all , but

5:01

I do . I like just knowing

5:03

there's going to be change . So if I'm going through something I

5:05

don't like knowing that it's going to change

5:08

, that that's good .

5:10

That's true . That part I agree with . I

5:15

read your bio and you have such an interesting

5:17

background , but just kind

5:19

of walk us through your personal journey .

5:22

Oh gosh , starting when I'm

5:24

old , you get , you get to pick . Oh

5:27

, wow . Well , just to sum

5:29

up before really my life changed

5:31

the last couple of years , I've always been

5:33

an entrepreneur . I always had

5:35

my own businesses . Even starting

5:37

probably when I was 12 years old , my

5:40

dad was an entrepreneur , my mom was more

5:42

of a homemaker , but she also had her own businesses

5:45

as well . Over the years and

5:47

then after I got a high school , my

5:49

big goal really was to get married and have kids

5:51

and have three jobs , and

5:53

nothing's changed Like that has

5:55

all been . We have eight children

5:57

between my husband and I and almost seven

6:00

no , we do have 17 now grandkids

6:02

, and that just

6:04

. But I always had like at least three

6:06

or four companies at a time that we were doing

6:09

things with , and it

6:11

was kind of chaotic sometimes , especially

6:14

when we had a house full of teenagers , and we've

6:16

raised all our children . Now They've . We've been empty

6:18

nesters for about 11 years . My

6:21

baby's in the military and we

6:23

, like , have lots of grandkids and they're

6:25

all live with it about an hour apart

6:28

besides a couple of

6:30

them , and then a

6:33

lot . So I had a salon in Spa for 20

6:35

years . That was probably my longest journey

6:37

of my entrepreneurship , and

6:40

I've been a real estate broker now for about 19

6:43

. And so along

6:45

came COVID and changed everyone's

6:48

world . In fact , I can't think of one

6:50

thing on the planet of the history

6:52

that changed the whole world so

6:54

quickly as COVID all at once and

6:58

if you can think of something , I'd love

7:00

for someone to challenge me on that . But that's my theory

7:02

and I didn't

7:04

think I would even get it . I was really

7:06

healthy and about a

7:09

year and a half in so late

7:11

fall of 2021

7:13

, I went to a conference and came

7:15

home with the Delta version and landed

7:17

myself in . At first . I bought

7:19

it at home for about a week before

7:22

I intuitively woke up one morning and my husband

7:24

. I gave it to him . We were both super sick

7:26

, living in a fifth wheel waiting for a house to close

7:28

, so people would just bring his food

7:31

and leave it on the steps . We didn't talk to anybody . We

7:33

were just so , so sick and I

7:35

knew I was in trouble , and so he

7:37

took me to the hospital at the

7:39

emergency room and they sent him home

7:41

, even though he was really sick . He wasn't sick enough

7:43

to keep . Of course , they didn't want to keep

7:45

anyone . They didn't have to because they were so crowded

7:48

at that time and they

7:50

had me in an ICU room

7:52

. If you've ever been to the emergency room , first

7:54

of all , you know what takes hours . Within

7:57

30 minutes I had all three levels

7:59

of oxygen they can give me on up

8:01

to level 10 and was in the

8:03

ICU in my own room . So

8:05

I was bad like . My oxygen

8:08

was like 63 . And that started

8:10

the whole change of my whole

8:12

life because my health . I

8:14

don't know if ever we'll be back to where I was

8:16

. I would love to say that , but

8:19

I do suffer from long COVID . I

8:21

was gifted so many

8:23

auto-immunes and

8:26

diagnosis from COVID that

8:28

I was in a coma for

8:31

quite a bit of time Some induced

8:33

, some paralyzed and

8:35

had lots of experiences there and

8:37

that really just started a

8:40

different kind of a journey for me . So I

8:42

still have , you

8:45

know , some of our companies that we work with , but

8:47

I started two more

8:49

basically in the last two years .

8:52

Wow . So

8:54

let's stay there a little bit , because I had COVID myself

8:56

. I joke . I went to

8:59

a Lutherans

9:01

for Life conference and

9:03

came back and had

9:05

COVID really bad , and I joke , I was like

9:07

you tried to kill me . I'm

9:09

at a life conference but yeah

9:12

, it was weird too , because you

9:15

can't , the doctors didn't know

9:17

exactly what to do yet . So there was lots

9:19

of confusion , lots of mixed messages

9:22

, lots of who they take , who they don't

9:24

, but there was this sense of isolation

9:27

. So for you , when you went through that , you

9:29

said it changed your life and you had a . We

9:32

talked before we got on the show about your near-death

9:34

experience . I'm kind of curious . You wanna walk

9:36

us through what that was like for you , cause

9:38

I mean , I'm sure we all watched the

9:40

movies and we all have this view

9:43

from the movies of what that was like

9:45

and what people see , but just from

9:47

someone who actually went through it , I'm kind of curious what

9:49

your experience was .

9:50

Right ? Well , I'll tell you I

9:52

had . So I was sharing with you earlier

9:55

that I didn't know . There were

9:57

actually three different kinds . Maybe there's

9:59

more , but I know of three . There's out-of-body

10:01

experiences and then there's

10:03

near-death experiences and

10:05

then there are spiritual transformational

10:07

experiences , and I

10:10

didn't know that I had all of them . I

10:12

had a whole bunch of out-of-body

10:14

experiences and I always went back

10:17

in time for those into , like

10:19

what we call the pioneer days . I

10:21

live in Utah , so my history is pioneer

10:23

, and I would be in this little

10:25

town not very big , that

10:27

has a museum now of a house

10:29

that ended up being my great , great

10:31

great grandfather's home . Don't

10:34

ask me why I was there . Like that's where

10:36

I always went . So

10:38

those weren't my best memories . Those were kind of creepy

10:40

. There was a lot of weird things that happened there , but

10:43

then I had those after

10:45

. So I was trying to do the timeline , since we're

10:47

working on a book that's coming out this quarter

10:49

and I was working on all

10:52

like when was my near-death , when

10:54

did everything happen ? Because when you

10:56

have the COVID fog it really messes with your

10:58

brain . It is a brain disease and

11:00

I realized between the first

11:02

I was intubated two times and

11:05

had a trach and had sepsis . So

11:07

the in between the first trach and the

11:09

second I'm not the sorry first intubation

11:12

and the second one it

11:15

happened . The near-death happened

11:17

during During

11:19

my first innovation , but

11:21

I told them about it . When

11:23

you know , they take it out . You could talk , not

11:26

very well , but I could talk . But my sister said

11:28

just before they walked in , she

11:30

said you Were like

11:32

I have to point to the alphabet , and they

11:35

had my hands tied to the bed by the way . So

11:37

I wouldn't pull the ventilator out , not that I wanted

11:39

to , but I couldn't smell

11:41

. I lost all five senses . I couldn't smell , I

11:44

couldn't taste . I

11:46

had the ventilator in which took away 90%

11:48

of my hearing for some reason , and

11:51

then I couldn't touch and I couldn't see

11:53

because I'm way past legally blind . So

11:56

if I didn't have glasses or contacts , in which

11:58

I didn't most of the time Until they realized

12:00

, I really wanted to at least see . But you know

12:02

, everybody had the yellow mask , the hats

12:05

, the Capes on , so

12:07

all I could see was people's eyes . That's how we communicated

12:10

. But they would untie my hand so I could

12:12

point at the alphabet and that's how

12:14

I would spell out things , and I

12:16

barely even could lift my hand

12:18

because I was so weak . I

12:21

remember it was like a big deal when I could

12:23

lift my phone and then it was a really

12:25

big deal , which was way later , when

12:27

I could lift my ipad so I could I

12:29

had a case on , I could lift it up and watch movies

12:31

and things . But she my sister

12:33

said I spelled out . I started

12:35

spelling out Um , kid

12:38

, kid , and she was oh , your kids , do you need something

12:40

for your kids ? No , I kept going

12:42

and she said when I realized you were spelling

12:44

out , kidnapped . So

12:46

what's interesting ? Now , looking back , it's

12:49

been two years , there's still pieces coming

12:51

together . I truly believe there's a lot

12:53

more to the story that will be revealed to me

12:55

when it's time , and that's

12:57

really unlike me to not want to know so

12:59

bad , but I really don't . I don't feel like I

13:02

need to know that information . I feel like

13:04

I saw a lot more Um , but

13:06

she's I felt kidnapped

13:08

. So in that particular experience she

13:11

said I was freaking out . She's

13:13

like I'm looking around because my husband's home

13:15

sick . He couldn't come see me for about three and a half

13:17

weeks because he had cove it and at that time

13:19

Thank heavens , when I had it they

13:21

would allow one person every 24 hours

13:23

and they knew they

13:26

saved my life . My two twin sisters

13:28

and then a daughter were there most of the

13:30

time with me , but they would stay with

13:32

me for 24 hour shifts because somehow

13:34

they knew I wouldn't make it if they

13:36

didn't and and I don't believe I would have

13:39

, because early on they they

13:41

just said do you need us to stay ? And I , I

13:43

did . I , and it's weird , I'm very independent

13:45

, but I think it held the , the medical

13:48

staff , more accountable because

13:50

they were in the room all the time and they

13:52

were so overworked . But I just think there

13:55

was so , so much going on

13:57

at that time that that , anyway , that

13:59

was another . There were so many miracles . I could talk

14:01

about miracles a lot with . I

14:03

mean , let me just throw this one out there I

14:05

never had medical insurance my whole

14:07

life . Two months before

14:10

I got sick . I got it and

14:12

my bill was a million dollars , holy

14:14

cow . So I mean , I'm telling

14:16

you there was so many miracles , I could just

14:18

go on and on but having them , there was

14:20

a miracle . And she said

14:23

as soon as she realized I said kidnapped

14:25

. Sorry , I'm jumping all over the story , but

14:27

back to the story . The

14:29

doctor walked in and they were gonna

14:31

ex bait me and Take

14:34

it off , and so soon as they took it off , I was able

14:36

to tell her and jokingly

14:39

, probably really shouldn't be jokingly , but jokingly

14:41

I feel like everybody's job descriptions

14:44

have to have some kind of training

14:46

, right . And I look back and I think whoever

14:49

took me because I don't ever remember seeing my

14:51

guide that took me in this

14:53

near-death experience , but I feel

14:55

like they were like Learning the job

14:57

or they were training or they were new right , because

14:59

they took me and they weren't supposed to . That's

15:02

the only I come up with and I think that's

15:04

why the kidnap felt like I was

15:06

kidnapped because I was taking Taken and

15:08

I wasn't supposed to be taken but I

15:10

would . I would see people in my room and she

15:12

, I was having her like open closets

15:15

and and I wasn't really that , I was scared

15:17

, I think I I loved

15:19

where I went , but I knew I was

15:22

supposed to be here and so I think that fear

15:24

of they kidnapped me . They

15:26

shouldn't know . I think it was more like I was more

15:28

mad . Why would you do that ? And I think

15:30

part of it . I might have been more mad

15:33

that I had to come back , who knows ? I

15:35

mean , I'll know someday , because

15:37

most people that you talk to that had those experiences

15:40

. They'd rather stay now . Obviously

15:42

, we don't get to talk to them because they didn't come

15:44

back . Right , that's

15:47

true , right , yeah , so that

15:49

that was . That was basically how that

15:51

first took took place at that point . But

15:53

I was in . I mean , that's

15:55

all another story . I was in a some

15:57

beautiful place , but I will

15:59

say Just a couple

16:02

months ago I had a friend of mine who

16:04

trained me in hypnosis . I

16:06

said there , since we're writing my

16:08

book , I says there's some pieces to my near-death

16:10

experience that are missing and

16:12

I feel like I don't want to be out of integrity . I want

16:15

to make sure you know I'm not figuring

16:17

out , filling in gaps that aren't really true

16:19

. Would you hypnotize me so that

16:21

I can see if we can experience Whatever

16:24

? I can't remember I didn't even know

17:21

everything , I just felt like there was a few things , and

17:24

that was an amazing experience because

17:26

he took me to the before the

17:29

near-death that I remembered , like it was where I

17:31

was I call it the in-between , and

17:33

there was a couple things that so

17:35

solidified Some business

17:38

things that I'm doing right now and some

17:40

reasons why I did things in the

17:42

last couple years that Were

17:45

so amazing , because it was like , oh my

17:47

gosh , subconsciously I knew that

17:49

I made that decision and I didn't

17:51

know why . And now I know why and

17:54

I feel like that's kind of like

17:56

I got a little peek behind the curtain of

17:59

what I saw that I didn't remember

18:01

and so , like for me , it's

18:04

exciting to know that there's . There's probably

18:06

more of that and it'll be revealed

18:08

when it's supposed to be , and I'm okay with that .

18:12

So this is a question I'm

18:14

curious to know what was

18:16

your faith like before the near-death experience

18:18

?

18:19

Well , I was always , I was raised

18:22

very religious . Um , I

18:24

would say I was religious and spiritual

18:26

. I would say now

18:28

I'm more spiritual . Does

18:31

that answer that ?

18:34

Cuz I know sometimes people who

18:37

may not have been religious sometimes

18:39

after that experience Become

18:41

more , more religious or more spiritual

18:44

. So I'm just kind of curious you know before

18:46

, after the transformation , that

18:48

you felt about your connection

18:50

with God and just life in general ?

18:53

yeah , I feel like it's more of a

18:56

connection with God . That's spiritual and the

19:00

Religious it's still there , but

19:02

I feel like , yeah , definitely more spiritual

19:04

now . I Didn't have

19:06

the greatest two last two years

19:09

like that . That's still coming together

19:11

for me , like there's so many medical

19:13

things that were happening with my body that I didn't

19:15

have happening before , a lot of COVID

19:17

fog , a lot of

19:19

those kinds of things . But it's you

19:22

know , when I , when you come back and and

19:24

you think that

19:26

, like your children , for instance , you would

19:29

think they'd be like , oh my gosh , my

19:31

mom almost died . I mean there were many

19:33

days I should have and

19:35

you would think that they would like

19:37

, want to be closer to you , or you

19:40

know , and then they're adults and they have children in there

19:42

. But I will say it was

19:44

almost . It was the opposite for me . It was

19:46

like , it

19:49

was like I was just vibrating at a different level

19:51

or something , and they , it was like I felt pushed

19:53

away and that was hard . I

19:55

mean I , I cried I'm not a crier

19:57

and I cried and cried and cried the last two years more

20:00

than I ever want to have been over so many

20:02

things and so many heartbreaks , and

20:04

I'm a world changer

20:06

and I know that and it's like Dang

20:09

, how do you change the world if you can't even feel like

20:11

you can change your backyard Right

20:13

? A friend from political office before and same thing

20:16

. It was like that . It's like that defeat

20:18

when , when you know you can do so

20:20

much good , but it's like they don't want

20:22

it Right and so they're

20:25

not your people . It's just learning

20:27

how to step back and say , okay

20:29

, I'm not gonna make everybody happy , everybody's

20:31

not going to like change , everyone's going not going

20:33

to like to move forward . They , they say

20:36

it , but their actions speak louder

20:38

than their words right .

20:41

So you say you've been dealing with some after

20:43

COVID-19 stuff

20:45

. So what's long COVID ? I mean , I've heard people talk

20:47

about long COVID but maybe for

20:49

those who don't know what it is

20:52

, maybe kind of explain to us what long COVID

20:54

is .

20:54

Yeah , Well , it

20:56

stinks . 200

20:59

Symptoms , so think

21:01

about 200 symptoms medical

21:04

symptoms that are linked to long COVID . It's pretty much

21:06

everything it . It affected

21:08

every organ of people's bodies

21:11

. No two people are affected

21:13

like there's 65

21:16

million documented

21:18

cases . Last I checked and

21:21

you know there's a lot that aren't documented

21:23

. Obviously , right where there's people that have it that

21:25

we don't even know they had COVID , and

21:28

there's never going to be people

21:30

that we will not be able to serve

21:32

, like there will never run out . There's just

21:34

so many , so many , and so many

21:36

have it . Okay . First I want to say

21:39

I was the extreme , I

21:41

was a miracle that

21:43

should not have walked out of the hospital . I know

21:45

it . They they didn't live . People

21:47

like me didn't live . You could

21:49

have had COVID for three days , flew

21:52

like symptoms and still have long

21:54

COVID . So what it does is

21:56

it take anything in your body

21:59

there or not ? There it

22:01

catches on fire , and so

22:03

, like I mean I could name off Probably

22:06

six or seven different Diagnosis

22:08

that I got that I didn't have before

22:10

. I don't want to be attached to

22:12

them , I don't want to like focus my life

22:14

on the sickness , I want to focus

22:17

on my health , and so I always

22:19

say better is better , and to

22:21

me when people ask me

22:23

what did you do to get better , because

22:25

I knew how bad I was ? Another miracles

22:27

I got a hyperbaric I

22:29

. I was Going to

22:32

one and then a high school . Believe

22:34

it or not , I'm old , so high school was a long

22:36

time ago for me . A high school friends

22:38

brother had a whole bunch who

22:40

was selling for a really good price and we

22:42

were just moving into our house and it just that

22:45

was another miracle . It worked out where I could have it because

22:47

I needed to be in it every day and

22:50

I believe that saved my lungs , because pulmonary

22:52

fibrosis was one of my diagnosis , which

22:55

is a two to four year lifespan , and

22:58

they're better . I'm not saying I'm great

23:00

, but they're better and better is better . So

23:03

I think it's people are

23:05

getting things going wrong in their

23:07

body and they're not realizing

23:09

that it's COVID related and

23:12

I think if they realized that it's probably

23:15

from having COVID that causes

23:17

that and that is long COVID . So

23:19

long COVID is all kinds of usually

23:21

autoimmune . There's Usually

23:25

more than one autoimmune . If you have one , usually

23:27

you end up getting another . I'm

23:30

not saying we can't cure

23:32

Ourselves , we can't get better

23:34

, because we can . I've seen people with long COVID

23:36

Be at 100% . I'm

23:39

super jealous because I feel

23:41

like I do all the work and

23:44

you know , with the stress I

23:46

was under the last couple years with things

23:49

going crazy , I

23:51

think that probably deterred

23:54

me from getting better faster , I believe

23:57

you know , because stress definitely

23:59

so . I think that that's one thing we have to watch

24:01

. Stress just causes all kinds

24:03

of crazy things . But I

24:06

think if you just find in

24:08

your heart what is positive for

24:10

you , what helps you move the needle

24:12

, and do more of that , what makes you

24:14

happy , do more of that , because

24:16

can we just talk about the mental

24:19

is . I mean

24:21

, I have survivor's guilt and

24:23

I never had anxiety , I never had really

24:26

depression , I wasn't a depressed person , all

24:29

of that , I had all of that . Out

24:31

of those 200 symptoms , I could

24:33

check off 75 easily that

24:36

I've had . So , yeah

24:39

, that's just anyway . So people

24:41

just need to realize if you have some

24:44

symptoms that you didn't have before but you did get COVID

24:46

, even if you didn't test positive , that

24:48

doesn't mean you didn't have it . If you had the symptoms

24:51

, that possibly could be what it is . It's

24:53

not like oh , all of a sudden I have

24:55

a new label , I have lung COVID . Wow

24:57

, wow . Right , it's not like there's a

24:59

big prize for you . Unfortunately

25:01

there's not a big prize for you and unfortunately

25:04

that's why . So when I am in my coma

25:06

I was told to start this nonprofit

25:09

. I would have never started a nonprofit

25:11

for lung COVID . First of all , my

25:13

motto is if it's not fun , I'm not doing it Long

25:16

. Covid is not fun , this nonprofit

25:18

is not fun . So

25:20

trying to find people that , like I

25:23

mean , there's not a lot of happy in it , right , and so we

25:25

need to create that and the awareness

25:27

is the first step is just letting people know , because

25:30

doctors , they so

25:32

many people think COVID doesn't , or lung COVID

25:34

doesn't even exist . They don't know what it is

25:36

, they don't understand it . We are their statistics

25:39

and so like that's how they're

25:41

getting their science and their data is off people

25:43

like me and I'm

25:45

volunteered for anything- so

25:49

tell us about your nonprofit . The

25:52

nonprofit is called Adventure

25:54

Bucket Wish Foundation , so

25:56

it's wish , not list , and

25:59

we created it to be able to

26:01

give people experiences that they

26:03

might not be able to have . There's a lot of people that

26:05

are having to go on disability . It's

26:07

extreme . I'm on some Facebook

26:10

social media groups for lung COVID and breaks

26:12

Like I almost don't like visiting them because

26:14

it's depressing , and I think

26:17

sometimes I'm just thinking when

26:19

I'm feeling down , go read

26:21

someone else's story and you hear their story

26:23

and you're like , okay , I'm happy now , like

26:25

I don't have , I'm not like them and a

26:27

lot of it you got to remember is in the

26:29

mind . It's so we created

26:32

this just to help people mentally

26:34

, help them physically , help them spiritually

26:38

. Any way , people need to be

26:40

served , and it's

26:42

a new nonprofit and we need help

26:44

and we need money . That's

26:46

what makes it all happen , and so we did

26:48

just start a podcast . So a couple

26:51

weeks of the month we

26:53

interview people with stories and

26:55

they don't have to be just like extreme , like mine

26:57

, but I've got some really good ones . I've

26:59

got already banked up ready to

27:01

hit the hit the live button on amazing

27:05

stories that are just like heartthrobbers

27:07

. And then I do one

27:10

week we do a caretaker , so somebody

27:12

that has maybe lost somebody or

27:15

they're taking care of somebody . So we get that

27:17

other side of the story and then

27:19

another week is in the medical

27:21

, holistic , mental

27:23

, all that side . I will interview

27:26

somebody and then if there's a fifth week in the

27:28

month , it'll be on the science , just

27:30

different science things , nothing

27:33

political , nothing religious

27:35

, even though I , you

27:37

know , I mean my person that helped me is

27:39

God . But for other people , whatever

27:41

that is for them , I respect and it

27:44

doesn't hold you back . But people can go in

27:46

and volunteer people for

27:49

a wish , an experience

27:51

that we'll create for them . They can donate

27:53

right on the website . So that's

27:55

really our purpose is just to get

27:57

that awareness out and bring that hope and

27:59

bridge that gap , that that

28:02

they lost .

28:04

So what is the name of the podcast ? Where can people find

28:06

it ?

28:06

It's called hopeful horizons

28:09

podcast .

28:11

And you mentioned a website . What's the

28:13

website ?

28:14

I'm hopeful horizons . Oh

28:16

no , I'm sorry . No , the the

28:18

website is adventure bucket

28:21

wish . Okay

28:24

, and so adventurebucketwishorg

28:27

.

28:29

And it is a kind of a- .

28:31

Oh , excuse me .

28:32

No , you just have such a bubbly

28:35

personality . For someone who

28:37

dealt with COVID , it's

28:40

good to see someone like yourself who

28:42

is pouring into people

28:44

who are at different phases and dealing with different

28:46

things in our life , and it's

28:48

just inspiring to know that people like

28:50

you exist and you want to give back to

28:52

the world in such a meaningful way .

28:55

Oh , thank you . Well , my other

28:57

company that came I was working

29:00

on just before I got sick . It's a

29:02

SaaS company , so software

29:04

for the retreat industry and

29:07

there's nothing like it built . It's

29:09

like an Airbnb the RBO for

29:11

bookings , and then there's some

29:13

for hosts , for events

29:15

, and then there's some for education

29:18

, and that's

29:20

been two and a half years now in the making . But

29:22

it was interesting because I was going

29:24

to partner with somebody very big that you

29:26

would all recognize the name if I said it , so I won't

29:29

. And while I was

29:31

in my coma that was another thing I

29:33

got . Basically schooled

29:35

is what I call it . Not to do that

29:37

. That . That wasn't my best avenue

29:39

, and so I feel like it's taken

29:41

me just a little bit longer , but for

29:43

the right reasons , and it is also

29:46

now . The nonprofit

29:48

is the philanthropy piece to this company

29:50

, so it's part of it , and so it'll

29:52

be launching this quarter along with

29:54

our book , and so first

29:56

quarter we've had a lot of things going on , and

30:00

the biggest challenge with long COVID is just

30:02

managing your energy , because it

30:04

just zaps you . If you've got the fatigue

30:06

end of it , you can be fine one minute

30:09

and you crash the next , and so putting

30:11

on that I'm tough hat and just saying

30:14

, hey , push through . But sometimes pushing

30:16

through is a setback as well .

30:19

Right . So I'm curious . You mentioned

30:21

this booking company , because I'm

30:24

always looking for a booking . What's the name of that

30:26

company ?

30:27

So it is called a retreat R&R . You

30:31

won't find it yet because it's not live . We

30:34

have different phases we're bringing out , but phase one

30:36

is just about ready so you will be able to book

30:38

. But obviously we've got to get

30:40

venues . So this will be

30:43

for , like , corporate retreat , yoga

30:45

retreat , any kind of a

30:47

space where a group can go . It

30:50

will be for them , which Airbnb

30:52

and VRBO don't cater to . What we're catering

30:55

to . They look at as a retreats

30:58

more of a party , so they don't really

31:00

like having . That's not their business

31:02

model or they would have done it already . But

31:05

yeah , people retreat leaders that

31:07

book retreats . That's

31:09

our main people that we work with

31:11

and they're going to love it . It's going to be amazing

31:14

.

31:15

That's great . So , because you have such

31:17

a hopeful personality , I'm curious

31:19

if you had a message of hope to give to

31:21

people who are listening today , what

31:23

would that be ?

31:27

The biggest lesson I think I learned was

31:30

to just love people where

31:32

they're at , because we're

31:34

always going to find people in life that we

31:36

aren't going to agree with . And

31:38

that was my big message

31:40

in my NDE was with

31:43

hearts . Really , it kept showing

31:46

me , forming in

31:48

this like fog , and forming hearts

31:50

, and the hearts kept going to the light

31:52

and I knew everything

31:55

really just centers around love and I think

31:57

that was a big lesson for me

32:00

, because sometimes we can be

32:02

a little judgmental , not just on ourselves

32:05

but other people mostly , and I think

32:07

if we just step back and realize everybody's

32:09

got their own journey and everybody's

32:11

got their own challenges . We don't always know what

32:13

they are and we don't need to know what they

32:15

are , we just need to love them where they

32:17

are .

32:19

That's great . So in

32:21

this season of your life , what

32:23

are you most excited about ?

32:27

Oh gosh . So I'm

32:29

more excited about life

32:31

right now just because two

32:35

years ago I couldn't . I mean , I had all

32:37

these startup companies . I always was a happy

32:39

person . I loved mostly

32:41

everything I was always doing in business

32:43

or whatever activities , whatever

32:46

. But I couldn't really

32:48

tell you like I was writing books and speaking

32:51

and traveling and loving life . But I

32:53

couldn't really tell you like , is this it

32:55

? Is this my legacy ? Is this my

32:57

passion ? I couldn't answer that and

33:00

now I know I got those answers

33:02

in my NDE and I know that

33:04

path was laid out very clear to me and

33:07

I'm on it and it's taken

33:09

me on a few detours and a little bit

33:11

of a ride the last couple years and

33:14

right now it's like bigger and better

33:16

than ever and I see the end result

33:19

and nothing is going to stop it . I

33:21

mean I might get some more detours , but

33:23

the right people are going to show up . They

33:25

have too along the way

33:27

and I just think , just knowing

33:29

, like my book I have 13 books

33:32

that I'm part of and

33:34

this book is it for me it's

33:37

like actually has a purpose and it has the

33:39

stories all weaved into it and the

33:41

whys and what

33:44

fors and I'm going to be really proud of

33:46

it , and so that's kind

33:48

of what I have to look forward to . This is going to be a great year

33:50

.

33:52

Once you kind of alluded to my , my favorite question

33:54

what do

33:56

you want your legacy to be ?

34:00

Really I want it just to help

34:02

as many people and serve as many people as

34:05

I can . And I feel like with

34:07

the combination of that

34:09

retreat software I mean , it's a

34:11

$93 billion industry

34:14

. So there's no reason why we

34:16

can't find so many people and

34:18

fill so many gaps in business

34:20

and pleasure and

34:22

retreats for

34:24

that matter , and just help as many

34:27

people as we can . And I feel like

34:29

with the nonprofit it's going to do the same

34:31

. It's a limited . Avatar

34:33

is people with long COVID , but

34:36

with 65 million 65

34:38

million , sorry million people

34:40

having it , we're not going to run out . So

34:43

I think that's the latest to know that I'm

34:45

a changemaker and that I care about people

34:47

and I want them to succeed .

34:51

That's awesome . Is there anything I haven't

34:53

asked you that I should have asked you ?

34:57

I don't know . I probably

34:59

told you way more than I wanted to know . No

35:05

, you did a great job . You're

35:08

a good question , ask her .

35:10

I appreciate that . So

35:13

what can people find you

35:15

? The best place to find you and what you're doing

35:17

, and connect with you on social media .

35:21

Well , my Facebook's just it's

35:23

under it's actually under Holly and

35:25

Porter , and

35:27

then my website is

35:29

holliportercom

35:32

, and then

35:34

we've got the adventurebucketwishorg

35:37

as well , and

35:39

so all those will have connections . If you get to

35:41

any of them , they should all connect you to the right

35:43

places , if we did

35:45

it right .

35:47

Good . So do you have a title for the book that's

35:49

coming out , or is that still in works ?

35:52

Hmm , Do I want to say okay

35:54

, I have a working title . Let's

35:57

not put the stamp of approval 100% . Okay

36:00

, let me think , Hang on a minute . It's

36:03

called Retreat Forward . And

36:06

then my journey from NDE

36:08

to CEO . Wow

36:11

, cool , do you like it ? I

36:13

do like it . That's our

36:15

working title . Yeah , I don't know , we'll see .

36:18

Yeah , when I wrote my book , my title changed a couple

36:20

of times too . Yeah , one just

36:22

stuck , it was okay , that's it .

36:26

Yeah Well , I don't know if a lot of people understand what an

36:28

NDE is , but that really is

36:30

what changed everything for me , and

36:32

I think it's . We did the story and

36:35

so yeah .

36:38

Well , holly , blessings on the work you're doing

36:40

and the business you're starting , especially the

36:42

nonprofit , to be there for people

36:44

along COVID , and just

36:47

keep that bubbly personality that you have

36:49

and spirit of hopefulness as

36:51

you continue to pour into people's lives

36:54

.

36:54

Well , thank you and thanks for what you're doing . It

36:57

makes a difference .

36:58

Thank you

37:05

.