On this episode of Financial Behavior Thought Leaders, host Mary Bell Carlson welcomes the dynamic Deirdre Van Nest, renowned keynote speaker, coach, and storyteller within the financial services industry. The conversation dives deep into Deirdre’s unique journey—overcoming a paralyzing fear of public speaking to become a sought-after speaker who specializes in leveraging emotional intelligence and storytelling for powerful business results.
Through candid anecdotes and practical insights, Deirdre unpacks the principles behind her keynote, “Getting to the Yes Quicker,” sharing tangible strategies and real-life success stories that illustrate how authentic connection leads to trust, likability, and client conversion.
The episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at what makes a keynote speaker truly unforgettable, the challenges and triumphs that shaped Deirdre’s approach, and actionable ways financial professionals can transform their communication, deepen client relationships, and grow their practices. Listen for insights on emotional intelligence, the power of vulnerability, and the impact of personal narrative in business.
Key Takeaways
- Overcoming Fear Unlocks Growth:
- Deirdre’s journey began with a vow to avoid public speaking after a humiliating experience in her youth. Her eventual decision to confront that fear—by hiring a speaking coach and facing vulnerability head-on—not only transformed her career, it reignited her passion and enabled her to help others do the same. Her story demonstrates that personal growth starts when we challenge our own limitations, and that authenticity is the foundation of impactful communication.
- Emotional Intelligence and Human Connection Matter More Than Ever:
- With rapid advances in technology such as AI, the human elements of financial advising—emotional intelligence, empathy, and connection—are increasingly critical. Deirdre and Mary explore how advisors who excel at building genuine relationships will stand out, as clients value trust and relatability over pure technical expertise.
- The “Why I Care” Personal Story is a Game-Changer:
- Sharing a personal “why I care” story can dramatically accelerate trust and likability. Deirdre recounts a pivotal moment when revealing her authentic reason for caring about her audience resulted in immediate credibility—even from skeptical, analytical top producers. This shift marked a turning point in her business and is a replicable strategy for financial professionals: when crafted and delivered well, personal stories lead prospects to say “yes” faster.
- Practical Success Stories Prove the Power of Storytelling:
- The episode features compelling examples—from new advisors converting prospects at community events to elite producers boosting their conversion rates from 85–90% to 100%. Deirdre’s clients have used intentional storytelling in everything from one-on-one meetings to video introductions, consistently finding that prospects come in ready to work with them, referrals increase, and business grows. Storytelling isn’t just for speeches—it’s a practical tool that works in everyday advisory interactions.
- Authenticity, Adaptability, and Partnership Are Essential On—and Off—Stage:
- Beyond speaking skills, Deirdre’s personal journey—including living on a boat and embracing an adaptable lifestyle—mirrors her approach to working with event hosts and teams. She emphasizes flexibility, partnership, and a commitment to making each event extraordinary. Her story offers inspiration for both life and career: embracing change, staying adaptable, and bringing your full self to any endeavor leads to more meaningful impact and memorable experiences.
Whether you’re an advisor, event planner, or someone seeking to strengthen your influence and client connections, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical strategies, and a testament to the power of vulnerability and purposeful storytelling in financial services.
For more on Deirdre Van Nest, visit us at financialbehaviorthoughtleaders.com, and don’t forget to subscribe for future conversations with industry trailblazers!
Transcript
Hi, and welcome to Financial Behavior Thought Leaders. I'm Mary, and this podcast takes you behind the scenes with the top speakers in financial services. So whether you're a financial advisor booking a client event, an event planner looking for the perfect keynote, or. Or a financial professional wanting to learn from industry thought leaders, you're in the right place. Today we're featuring Deirdre Van Nest, one of the exclusive speakers at Financial Behavior keynote group. In this conversation, we'll dive into her journey, unpack her keynote, getting to the yes quicker, and you'll hear a story straight from her talk that you can apply in your own business. Good morning and thanks for joining us.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Deirdre, hello.
Deirdre Van Nest [:I'm so happy to be here. Mary.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Well, let's start at the beginning. I love this story of how you got started on your speaking career. Will you share with everybody how you got to the stage?
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah, you love hearing how terrified I was. Does that amuse you?
Mary Bell Carlson [:I just think it's so great.
Deirdre Van Nest [:I know I'm the most unlikely speaker, and the fact that I speak on speaking is even more ridiculous to me because I was someone who purposely avoided speaking, the spotlight, the stage, anything for 24 years, Mary. 24 years from when I was 14 to what, about 38? Avoided it like the plague. I had a really bad experience in my 9th grade acting class where I got called out in front of the room. And if you've ever had that happen to you in any kind of work or school setting, you know, like, it was just. It was humiliating. And I. From that moment, I made a vow. I was like, you know what? I'm never going to be humiliated like this again.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So at the end of the semester, I quit acting. And I was like, that's it. And I wouldn't speak in public, Nothing. And I avoided, like, leadership opportunities. That's what makes me go, oh, if I could go back to that young woman and just, like, wrap her in my arms, you know, one that really comes to mind is I have a master's degree in occupational therapy. I don't know if you knew that about me. And when I was going through my coursework my second year, like, the end of the first year, I had some classmates come up and they said, hey, do you want to run for president next year? And my only question, Mary, was, do I have to give a speech? And they're like, probably at commencement. I said, nope, I'll run for vice president.
Deirdre Van Nest [:That's how bad it was.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow. So what changed?
Deirdre Van Nest [:hanged was I got certified in:Deirdre Van Nest [:And so I did something really courageous. I hired a speaking coach. And working with my coach changed my life. And then that's how. Yeah, and so that's how I shifted. Well, it brought about this confidence that I didn't have before. I had this influence in this impact I didn't have before, and taught me how to bring in clients from the back of the room, which is a very leveraged way to grow your business. And I started getting paid to actually speak.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So it was like, oh my gosh, right? This is, this is amazing. And I started sharing this with some of my clients. My, my, my Fearless Living clients, all entrepreneurs, they started having a lot of success. And I thought, I need to do this for a living. Like I need to. Like, I love this. I need to. It brought me back to my acting roots.
Deirdre Van Nest [:rough this process. And so in:Mary Bell Carlson [:You know what I really love a couple of things. One is you faced your fear. 2 Is you really started in the coaching world. And it's kind of like psychology where you have to look internally before you can share it with someone else. And the fact that you have been there and have been humiliated, you know that feeling. So as a coach, specifically as a speaking coach, you know what not to say, to put somebody in that same position that you were in because you felt that yourself.
Deirdre Van Nest [:I love that, you know, and I didn't really probably put this together, but when I what I tell my clients, and I just said it to an advisor, I'm coaching these two advisors and I just said to him today, he was showing me a YouTube video that he's doing. And I was, you know, critiquing it, and I just said, okay, you know, I'm candidly kind. So I always want to be candid because I'm all for their growth. Like, I stand for their growth, but I always do it in a way. I always say I love people to the next level. Like, I want to love you to the next level. Right. I'm going to be kind and how I say this and I'm going to affirm what you're doing well.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And here's where we can change to get you to the next level.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And maybe it goes back to that.
Mary Bell Carlson [:It probably goes back to that candidly kind. And it does. You know, I think everyone's got that sense of fear of. Oh, don't, don't hit me there. That's embarrassing.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Right? Totally.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Well, so in part of this coaching, you also talk a lot about emotional intelligence and communication. You storytelling, I feel like, is your jam. Right. The personal branding behind your why. And really helping advisors build that trust, not just over moments, but over years. So tell our listeners what these things mean and why is it important for advisors today?
Deirdre Van Nest [:Okay, so it's important for advisors today. I mean, it's always been important, right?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Sure.
Deirdre Van Nest [:But it's important for advisors today because of the fact like. Like AI, for example. Right. Like, I can come in and it can do some things that the advisors are currently doing. So I think AI is a beautiful tool to help advisors do their role better. But this does mean that the advisor needs to pay more attention to their human side of the skills.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Like that's what people are going to be coming to the advisor for, is more for that relationship. I'm not saying they're not coming for the understanding and the knowledge. However, a lot of that they could get online if they wanted to. I think you'd probably agree with that, Mary. Right?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Absolutely. Absolutely. We've talked about this so many times of they can spit out information, but it can't make that connection.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Exactly. And so that connection is becoming more and more important and people are wanting that and depending on that more. And so the advisors that can quickly make the connection, that can deeply make the connection are the ones that are going to win the clients or get that yes more often.
Mary Bell Carlson [:So let's dig into the yes. Actually, that is your keynote is getting to the yes quicker. So I want to hear one, a little bit of history of how you got here, like why that topic, and then we'll go from there. Tell us the history of why this topic?
Deirdre Van Nest [:All right, let me tell you the experience with this. All right, So I don't know if you've ever been here, Mary. Maybe a listener has been here. Where? From the outside, your business or your career is looking good.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yes.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Everything looks good on paper. And something feels a little off inside or maybe a little dead inside or just not aligned. Have you ever had that?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah. Small business owner. Absolutely. Okay.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Okay. So about:Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah. And it just. It bothered me. It bothered me. And so I spent some time, probably about a year and a half, soul searching, praying, trying to figure, like, what's going on here? What's going on. And what I finally realized is I have this belief as a speaker that my audience and these were advisors mostly. Right. Didn't really care about the person presenting the content.
Deirdre Van Nest [:That I was just a vessel for content. And as long as it was engaging who I was, my humanity didn't really matter.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow.
Deirdre Van Nest [:,:Deirdre Van Nest [:And I got on the stage and I opened with a bang like I always do, which means you open in a way that grabs the attention of the audience. And then I kind of set up what we were going to talk about. And I said, you know, but before. Before we get into that, I want to tell you why I care so much about the work that you do, why I care about the work that I'm going to do with you today. And I shared my story. And, Mary, the craziest thing happened. Okay. So as soon as I was done sharing it, there are these two advisors sitting in the third row on the left hand side.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Their hands go shooting up in the air. And I'm terrified because I'm thinking, I've never shared this before. I don't know what they're going to say.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And so the first advisor says, it really means a lot to me that you understand what we do. Thank you.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And I was like, okay, that was Good. So I call him. The second advisor's name is Joe. And I'm like, joe, now, I want you to imagine if someone said this to you in your audience. Okay. Or one on one, he leans forward and he says, deirdre, I just want you to know I will believe anything you say right now.
Mary Bell Carlson [:This is the middle of your speech.
Deirdre Van Nest [:This is the middle of my speech. Oh, my gosh. This is a top producer. And I later learned this is because he became a client, a more skeptical, analytical type of person.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Those are the hard ones. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So what do you think I felt and thought when he said that to me?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Well, I would just one. I would be like you. Because you never know where those questions are going to go. And you're in the middle of your speech, you've just set it up, you still have three quarters to get through, and you're like, day.
Deirdre Van Nest [:It was like a half day training, right?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Where is this going? Yes.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was so, first of all, most people are like, oh, I would have been so excited. Like, of course. We. That's great. If someone says, I will believe anything you say right now. Right. So there was a part of me that was relieved, a part of me that was excited, but there was a part of me that was ticked off.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why I was ticked off. So I am probably one of the few experts that you will interview who has no background in finance. I might be the only one in your whole roster of people. I might be the only person. I do not have a background in financial services, which does prove my point of how important being a powerful speaker is. We can talk about that later. Okay.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So I got into this industry because I was helping advisors one on one. They loved the work we were doing, and they started introducing me to their managers, and then their managers love the presentations and their work, and they started introducing me to their. Their people and their people. And then it grew. And as I got into the business, I realized why I love it so much, which has to do with my personal story. Okay. So I always had. Even though I have my own letters after my name, I'm highly educated.
Deirdre Van Nest [:. And so what I did from like:Deirdre Van Nest [:I thought, you mean I had the shoes on all the time? Do you mean I've spent the last seven years trying to prove myself and all I had to do was be myself and you will believe anything I say?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah. It was a magical light bulb moment. Wow. And so what happened for my business? And then I want to. I want to correlate it to advisors. What happened for my business is I started sharing that story everywhere that I showed up. And we changed nothing over the next two years. And my business grew by 60%.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Holy cow. Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Because of that one story.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow. Wow. Were you really into that?
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah. And so about a year into it, I thought, well, maybe it's just me. Like, I'm a keynote speaker. I'm not, you know, like, it's a pretty heartfelt, dramatic story. Could this actually be a strategy for my wholesalers and my advisors and my leaders to use, like, leaders when they're recruiting? Advisors with clients, wholesalers with advisors. Could this help them? So I started teaching my speech coaching. You know, my other. I was teaching other story creation clients.
Deirdre Van Nest [:They started having the same results. I had one wholesaler who got a standing ovation from a group of advisors.
Mary Bell Carlson [:That doesn't happen.
Deirdre Van Nest [:When does that happen? That doesn't happen.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:I had advisors starting to convert more than ever before. And I was like, I am onto something here. And I officially started teaching this personal brand, why I care story, and I call it get to the yes quicker. Because this story, when it's told right, and it's the right story crafted in the right way to your right audience, will increase trust, connection, and likability in three minutes or less. And in my keynote, I actually prove that out. Like we do an exercise where I prove it out.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow. So we're looking at trust, connection, connection, and likability. Those are the three key concepts that they're going to walk away with.
Deirdre Van Nest [:They're going to walk away with, like, here's how you increase those three. Like, this is how you do it. It's a tangible, practical strategy. Like trust, connection, and likability can be intentionally increased. It's not just luck of the draw. If you happen to be likable or have a charismatic personality, you absolutely can do very specific things to increase it.
Mary Bell Carlson [:So I want to go two places with this. One is I Want to dig into success stories that you've seen from financial advisors that have used this. And then secondly, let's get outside financial advising for a minute and let's talk about other places you've seen this successful, because those aren't magic to just financial advisors. That trust connection and likability. That's human connection. So start with the financial advisor. What have you seen as you've done this over the years? What success have you seen advisors come back with in using this?
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah. Okay, so there's a couple of stories and there's many, but there's a couple that stand out in my brain. So the one, and this is probably one of my favorites. So it was an advisor name. I'm going to call her or Susan. Okay. So she had been in for four years when I met her. And I met her at a conference and she heard me speak on this and she came up and she said, you know, my, my firm, every year we do this kind of like feel good event for the community where we are feeding the hungry, like packing up meals for kids overseas.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Right. And she said, and we rotate the advisors who host it. And so I host it this year and we get a lot of pats on the back for this where people bring their friends and their community and our clients and blah, blah, blah. But you know, 11 years of hosting this event, you know what our firm has never gotten, what business? They could never track any business back to this event. It's my year to host. She said, I want this to be different. I want to get clients from this.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Interesting.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Okay, so let's fast forward. It's a year later, I see her again. The same, same client hired me to speak again. I see her again, she comes running up to me and she's like, remember I told you about that event? I'm like, yes, whatever happened? She said, before I left, I had five people come up to me and say, can we meet? And three became clients within a couple of weeks.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Wow.
Deirdre Van Nest [:This was the first time. Yep. This is the first time in 11 years, and she was one of their newer advisors that they could track any business back to this event. And so I said, what did you do differently? She said, I opened with my why I care story. I didn't do the typical, thanks for having me. My name is Susan, I'm with FYZ Financial and blah, blah, blah, blah, and this and that. I actually opened with my story and it tied in beautifully to what we were doing that day.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yep.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And I made that personal connection and they trusted Me, I love that story.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Amazing, Amazing. And so, and what I loved about it too is it was so not your typical office pitch. Right. Like we've all talked about prospecting. This was a service day. Like I would never think to connect service day with clients, but it can happen anywhere at any point in time.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Anywhere, anywhere. So client events, right? Like a lot of client events say, ah, my clients, I don't have to work, you know, I don't really think about it. Yeah, yeah. So that's one. So here's the top producing advisor story. Okay, So I love this. Okay, so Roger. And Roger is, he's been in the industry for 40 years.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So long time.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah. Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:His firm has 12,000 advisors. He's always in the top 50, and he's in Dallas and has very high net worth clients. I like to mention all these factors because I take away the excuse from anyone out there thinking, well, my clients are too sophisticated or I know what I'm doing. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can always grow, right? We can always get a little, just a little bit better. And Roger has a complete growth mindset. So Roger, while we put together his story for him and he goes, all right, I'm going to track this, right? I'm going to use this in all my one on one conversations with new prospects. So we tracked it and I believe it was over a six month period of time. We checked in, we said what happened? And he said, not one person who walked in as a prospect walked out as a prospect.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So every person who walked in as a prospect walked out of a client. 100% conversion rate.
Mary Bell Carlson [:That's amazing.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And that's the only thing he changed. Now, of course I want to know, well, where were you before? Because you were, you're pretty good. Where were you? And he said, I was at 85, 90%. I was at an 85 to 90%. And I felt like for someone that skilled.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:To give him a tool that closed the gap, 10 to 15%, that is a massive amount of revenue and a massive amount of impact.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yep, yep, yep.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So we've one more story. Yeah, one more story. Because this is important. This is important too. So one of the things that we have our clients do is when the stories are crafted, we have them put it to video. And then one of the strategies that I recommend is they send it out to their entire database. Right. And they say something like, okay, you know, Deirdre, you and I have been working together for years.
Deirdre Van Nest [:You know what I do and how I do It. But I don't think I've ever shared why I do it. I would love for you to see why I care so much about you. Right. And so. And then you can put in just a little soft, like. And, hey, and if you know anyone else that you think would resonate with my. Why would you pass it along? And it's such a great way to get referrals in this very beautiful, like, organic kind of way where it doesn't feel weird or awkward.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And so I had a. We had just finished crafting the story and the video for a client, and I had a new member on my team who, probably about a month prior to that, said, hey, I need a new financial advisor. Who would you recommend? And so I'd been working with this client, someone I worked with for years, and he's phenomenal. And I said, I think you'd really like Todd. And. Okay. But she never reached out to him. And I just thought, all right, well, whatever.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So we're on a team meeting. I unveiled his story, his video. I was like, okay, I want you guys to see Todd's video. So I unveiled the story. I get a text from her during, like, the videos about Down. She goes, is that the Todd you told me that I should work with? I said, yes. She goes, you're right. She reaches out to him, and he tells me, like, a month later.
Deirdre Van Nest [:She's, like, an ideal client. And so what I think happens is it's not that the people don't trust the referral source. They don't trust the advisor yet. And that is a scary call to make.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Mm. Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Advisors are asking them very personal things that they might not even talk about with their spouse.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yes. Yes.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Nobody wants to face their stuff, too, like if things are not great or, you know, and so having that personal story that this is a human being. Yeah. I've had advisors tell me I've sent this video to new prospects, which we always recommend, and they walk in, and they'll say, I'm sold. Like, let's work together. They come in ready to work with the advisor.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah. That's amazing.
Deirdre Van Nest [:There's nothing like it. I know. There's nothing like. I've never seen anything like it ever.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Well. And I know that you speak not just in financial services, but to all kinds of groups in and outside of financial services. Do you have a story of maybe someone who wasn't looking to bring on clients, but this still mattered? It still impacted what they did?
Deirdre Van Nest [:Well, yes, because. So I work with, you know, entrepreneurs and leaders And I put advisors under the entrepreneur category. And, you know, 95% of my work is in this. Is in financial services. And then about 5% will be like, you know, just a mixed kind of bag of entrepreneurs, People like me, speakers, you know, authors, coaches, consultants. And I would say where it. It really makes a difference is. Is from the stage when you are delivering a keynote or a breakout, sharing that story towards the beginning just really warms the audience, speaker relationship up so they see a difference in.
Deirdre Van Nest [:In the energy. I've had. I had one. I had one actually. Speaker tell me he was a consultant, and he was actually presenting to a board, and he was kind of pitching that they should work with him. And he said, I walked in the room and they were just a little, like, aloof. Like, they weren't super friendly. And he shared his why story.
Deirdre Van Nest [:He goes, deirdre, I went from people, like, not really smiling at me to leaning forward, wanting to touch me.
Mary Bell Carlson [:From nothing to everything. A little too close.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Exactly. And he walked out, and the chairman walked with him to his car, and he's like, we can't wait to work with you.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Right.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So just stories like that, I hear that all the time, and just audiences that were maybe just a little, like, aloof or sort of laid back. And I feel it on my presentations. Like, you just feel this leaning in energy.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah, yeah. Well. And it leaves people with. I remember her because of that story, because of that connection, because of that. I want that. I want to be more like that. I love it. Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah. And it's, you know, it's great for, like, the nonprofit. Nonprofit sector. So I actually. My daughter and I just started a new ministry, and we were on a zoom last week with a company who finds fuels and funds ministries. And basically, they're looking to see if they want to partner with us to do some funding and do some training with our team. And we opened with our. Our why story.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And after we told it, the. The main. The main person said, I've listened to hundreds of these. It's kind of little like Shark Tank, but does that make sense?
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:He goes, I've listened to hundreds of these. That was the best I've ever heard. Wow. Yeah. He's like. He's like, wow. Like, and. And it's because we led with this, with that story.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah.
Deirdre Van Nest [:So it's not, like, anything special about us. Like, we. We knew to do this, and we knew how to craft the story.
Mary Bell Carlson [:I love that. Well, if today's conversation has sparked an idea for you or your team, you can download Deirdre's speaker sheet at Financial Behavior Thought Leaders. I want to dig in one more thing before we go and before we wrap up. This is probably one of my favorite stories that I think is going to be exciting with you, Deirdre. There's several things unique about you, and you shared some of them today. But give us something else that's unique about you that most people in the audience don't know.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Oh, the fact that I've been living on a boat.
Mary Bell Carlson [:That's it.
Deirdre Van Nest [:ive on a boat someday. And in:Mary Bell Carlson [:And that has literally, and here's the analogy, weathered the storm. Get it? But I feel like that adds in to your adaptability, that you just can move and adapt to whatever environment you're in.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Yeah, it definitely does. I mean, I'm, I've, I'm flex. I've been a flexible person, but this has made me even more so. Right. And so you can imagine, like, sometimes we don't have water. I'll never forget the time I came home from a keynote. I don't remember where I traveled, but it was far. And it was like 10 o' clock at night.
Deirdre Van Nest [:My husband met me at the, at the gate of the marina. We're walking down the dock and he goes, oh, did I mention we don't have water? And I just went like this, Mary.
Mary Bell Carlson [:I went, of course we don't have water. I guess I'll jump into the ocean.
Deirdre Van Nest [:Okay. You know, and sometimes we didn't have electricity. And I mean, the closet was like this big. We shared a small closet. So, yes. And the way that I think this shows up on stage is you could throw most scenarios at me and I'd be like, all right, I got it. Like, I can roll with that. You need me to go last.
Deirdre Van Nest [:You need me to go first. You need to change this. You need to change that. We're doing this now. We're doing zoom. We're not. Like, I'm like, all right, I got it. Like, I'm pretty, pretty adaptable to whatever going on.
Deirdre Van Nest [:And I really do look at my event hosts as I look at, as a partner. Like, I look at it, I want to come and do my part to make this the best event your team has ever put on, the best event that your audience has ever been to. And so whatever I can do on my end to contribute towards that, I'm going to do well.
Mary Bell Carlson [:And I have to admit, if you can go from a 4,000 square foot house to a five by five storage unit, that's showing adaptability right there. Yes. I think you just sum that up well. Thank you so much for joining us. And if you're a firm advisor, team or event planner looking for a speaker who can offer both a holistic and flexible approach, someone who can blend personal development, emotional intelligence, and professional storytelling, you look no more. And book deirdre@financialbehaviorthoughtleaders.com thanks for joining us. And we'll be back soon with more conversations that bring you closer to the leading voices in financial services.