Crushing Inner Demons: A New Approach to Mental Health and Business with Lilia Bogoeva

In this episode of "Spark & Ignite Your Marketing," Beverly Cornell interviews Lilia Bogoeva, the "Inner Demon Crusher." Lilia is a multimedia artist and certified somatic trauma healer who combines her love for music, art, and psychology to help others overcome their inner demons. In this candid conversation, Lilia reveals how her brand, Inner Demon Crusher, came to life, the challenges she faced in building an authentic brand, and how creative arts can play a vital role in mental health.

Listeners will discover actionable insights on integrating creative expression into their entrepreneurial journey, learning how to embrace imperfections, and harnessing the power of creativity to slay their own inner demons. Tune in for a dose of inspiration and practical advice that will help you ignite your mental health and business.

Key Topics Covered:

1. The Power of Authentic Branding: Lilia shares her journey of discovering and embracing her true mission, leading to the creation of the Inner Demon Crusher brand. Learn how authenticity in branding can attract and engage your target audience.
2. Creative Arts as a Mental Health Tool: Explore how Lilia uses music, art, and even comedy to help entrepreneurs and individuals slay their inner demons, improving both their mental health and business performance.
3. Overcoming Perfectionism: Lilia’s mantra, "Screw it, just do it," is a call to action for entrepreneurs struggling with perfectionism. Discover how taking bold, imperfect action can lead to unexpected breakthroughs in your business.

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Transcript

Beverly: 0:09

Did you know that 80 percent of people who engage in music and art therapy report significantly improving their mental health? Welcome to another inspiring episode of Spark and Ignite Your Marketing. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, and today I'm so excited to introduce Lilia Bogova, also known as the Inner Demon Crusher. Lilia is a multimedia visual and performing artist certified in somatic trauma, healing practitioner, and a motivational speaker. Through her brand, Inner Demon Crusher, which I love that, she promotes mental health in fun and empowering ways, combining her passions for music, art, comedy, drama, and psychology. Lilia, it's so wonderful to have you here.

Lilia: 0:59

Yeah, thank you, Beverly. I'm really excited.

Beverly: 1:02

Inner Demon Crusher. Talk about where that came from and how that all started and how you broke through this idea of launching the Inner Demon Crusher.

Lilia: 1:16

Yeah, the inner demon question was my brand, I blurted it out once when I was brainstorming because, it's taken me a long time to have the courage to create a personal brand. That's very authentic to my core mission because I've always been an entrepreneur throughout my entire adult life, ever since graduating college, I knew that I wanted to run my own business and I had a great time running my business and music lessons, dance lessons, but it wasn't quite selling the sizzle of what I really wanted to show. There was a point in like mid 2023 ish, where I was really thinking about, it was like, okay, what exactly would I call my brand? What would it slogan be? What would it be all about? And I kept on going back to in her day, man what's another way to say emotional wounds or mindset struggles, but that has more oomph to it. At first hesitant on the names like, Oh some people be offended. I don't know. Is it too much? But I've had a really positive overall response from it. Like you said, Oh, I love it. It's so catchy.

Beverly: 2:32

Memorable. It's cool. Very memorable. Yes. Yeah,

Lilia: 2:36

it makes me have to make my content more action packed and forward. So that's a big reason why I wanted to go with that name. Lilia, the inner demon crusher. Now, With a brand name like that, you can't make your content really meek and indirect.

2:56

It's so powerful for sure. And all of us have inner demons. Like we all are fighting something, whatever that looks like from our past, even now as entrepreneurs, that we all fight things like imposter syndrome and fear of failure and fear of success and procrastination because of some of those things are overwhelmed because we don't know where to start. All the demons we have to slay. As being an entrepreneur. I love this idea of the inner demon crusher.

Lilia: 3:25

Entrepreneurs are very prone to having their inner demons surface. When you run your own business, you are the centerpiece of it. So anything inside of you is gonna come out through your business one way or another. If there's something you haven't dealt with enough, haven't processed, something you're struggling with, That'll show through some way in your business. It might show through in a behind the scenes sort of way. Like maybe it's hard for you to get projects done, or maybe you'll have ideas, but are scared to follow through on them, but it's a very vulnerable place to be an entrepreneur. So you have to face your inner self directly in a way that. Non entrepreneurs have an easier time avoiding if they want to. I find myself talking a lot to entrepreneurs about inner demons.

Beverly: 4:15

How do you combine creative arts with mental health? That's two very distinct fields on their own.

Lilia: 4:23

Looks like it's two different things on the surface, but actually creative arts are mental health. So most artists get into the arts for personal fulfillment reasons. Everyone knows there's a zillion ways to make a living financially. If somebody's only focus is oh, I want to make a. Six figure income. There are lots of ways to do that. You don't have to be an artist of course, and quite frankly, there are easier ways to do that because creating an artist brand requires a lot of that introspection and brainstorming and trial and failure and trying again and courage. So I've noticed over the years as I've been performing and writing and teaching I've done pretty much all the performing arts and music, dance, theater, drama, and incorporating comedy within that. I've noticed that it is so beneficial to your mental health. When I started learning the guitar, It made a huge difference in my concentration and focus and my self discipline. I've always been pretty good at self discipline because I grew up doing dance and gymnastics, but I was always directed by a coach and competitions in some ways. So learning music made me have to entirely decide on my own goals personally, even if there isn't a coach, a team, or some sort of competition that's structured. In gymnastics, you have to be very disciplined, but at the same time, you're told what to do, because there's this code of points, there are certain skills you've got to do, and certain ways you've got to execute them Whereas with music, I had to entirely come up with my own goals. So I felt like that translated directly into entrepreneurship because entrepreneurship is another place where you have to make your own goals and then soul search, okay, why are these goals important to me and the concentration that you need to give to a musical performance translates really well to anything in business. Also, the element of performance, lots of entrepreneurs are afraid of public speaking and interviews. So if you're used to being on stage in front of people, then it'll be easy for you

Beverly: 6:41

I love that you have the. The two sides because and I don't mean to interrupt you because I think what you're saying is super powerful. I'm just going to like on top of it. I was a dancer for 18 years. Like I took dance for eight professional dance for 18 years, taught for three. I was a Zumba instructor until I had a hip injury and had to have major hip surgery. And my life changed from that. But I even met my husband in musical theater. So music and dance and art and that kind of creativity, it was always a part of my life and very fulfilling. And like you said, you learn so many skills by being on stage. And even if you make a mistake in front of people, how you recover from the mistake and how you handle that even how you enter a room confidently, as a dancer, like you have a presence about you. There's things about doing these activities that are little ways of just making you better, I guess I feel like, like you don't take yourself as seriously. You can be really serious about the thing, but when you make a mistake, you just have to like, it is what it is. That's a really great skill for entrepreneurs to be able to do is to be able to go with the flow, literally go with the flow and just be like, okay, I messed up there, but next, like I have to fix it and move along. And you can hope maybe somebody didn't see it, but even if they did see it, it's okay. Like I'm human and that's who I am. I love this concept because it really speaks to me because of my background. I'm also an entrepreneur. I'm also all those things. Lilia, I just think it's so great. It's so cool that you found a way to do both because when you do something for 18 years, it is a part of who you are. It's such an ingrained part of who you are. I'm a boy, mom. And I was like, I just need one recital, like from one of my kids. I need one recital. Because I Had done it for so many years. I always had this vision. I was going to have girls and I was a dance mom and all the things. And then I had boys who are all about basketball and football. And I said, I guess I, so I put my three year old in dance and he loved to dance. We always had like music appreciation days at home and things like that. And I was like, I'm gonna put him in dance and I'm gonna get one recital. So I did, I got the one recital. He was the one boy amongst 13 girls and it was fantastic. It is so ingrained in who you are and it has so many benefits. Sports have benefits. Dance is a sport. There are things, gymnastics is a sport, theater and drama and music all contribute to you and really add like this well rounded way to live your life. And music is so powerful from a creative aspect. And I'm a marketer, music can set the tone for a commercial on a a such a different level. There's just so much to it and movements. And all of that kind of contributes to it. So you are speaking a language that really resonates very powerfully with me, Lilia. So I don't mean to interrupt you, but I just want you to know I get it. It's so true what you're saying. And if there's ways that you can somehow incorporate that into your business I think even comedy, like sometimes you just need the relief of a laugh. Entrepreneurship is hard work so all of it makes sense to me from a perspective of somebody who's experienced those things, but also as an entrepreneur to see the value in that. Tell me who your typical clients are. And what problems do you solve with what you do?

Lilia: 10:04

Yeah, so I deal with clients of all different ages. I basically have some offshoots of my business because I have Lilia's Multiverse. I have the Inner Demon Crusher brand. Yeah, it's a multiverse, literally. Inner Demon Crusher. Pressure brand is really focused specifically on improving mental health through the arts. Whereas the traditional music studio I started called Sunshow School of Music, we started that back in 2016. And that is geared toward your typical, Music instruction, not necessarily about helping people improve mental health. However, students of all ages have said they've felt tremendous self improvement. They've gotten more control over their ADHD. They've controlled anxiety. They've healed from depression. I've had some students with dyslexia, hugely improved their ability to speak and read, especially after singing lessons. That's been pretty phenomenal. Yeah. I've had older retire folks who feel more confident and alive. Like they feel like they're getting a second wind at their youth through the practice of music. So that's been pretty incredible. And then specifically through the Inner Demon Crusher brand, that's where I do more of the therapeutic music. So For example, my clients, there would be working age adults with careers who have some trouble with balancing their current adult responsibilities with some leftover emotional wounds from their childhood. Especially childhood trauma that's left struggles like anxiety, depression paranoid thoughts, self defeating thoughts. People who are having trouble basically renewing themselves. When you're hung up on things that have happened in the past and you're trying to tell yourself, oh no, I need to Live in the present because today is a gift. That's why they call it the present. I got to move forward But you can't deny that there's stuff from your past that keeps surfacing. It's lying underneath all of that Influencing your thoughts your behavior So through the inner demon crusher brand when I get private coaching clients, they are working age adults Who are interested in using music and also the comic book I wrote to help themselves better integrate their current adult responsibilities with their emotional healing and then foresee a better future. So I mentioned the comic book, that's the very first edition. I plan to make that series. Yeah, Lilia the Inner Demon Crusher Workaholism vs Food Porn. We basically do a read through of it. It's a comic book, so it combines pictures and text. And at the end, there are some prompts Picture yourself being who you're meant to be. Think about activities that are difficult that give your life meaning. And then we discuss them. Integrate some of the visual arts, like looking at the images and reading through the story in the comic book with also some musical techniques, especially singing, the singing translates really well into helping you improve your confidence at public speaking situations. Also improving our posture is when you sing, you have to. Sit or stand with a confident, upright posture without being overly tense. So that balance between being relaxed and also being sturdy. That has helped a lot of students translate that technique from your posture in singing to your posture in working with other people.

Beverly: 15:01

What has been the biggest entrepreneurial challenge you've had to overcome?

Lilia: 15:05

Yeah, I'd say the biggest entrepreneurial challenge has been deciding how to present my brand. Because when I knew I was interested in combining creative arts with psychology, I went through a lot of different renditions of it. One of my First ideas was actually to combine music and fitness. Have fitness routines choreographed to music, but that didn't seem to present my purpose clearly enough. It looked like everyone was getting too hung up on like, how much weight are you lifting? And it ended up being just another fitness brand as far as people were concerned. I foresee myself continuing my music instruction and my band. Me and my husband have a metal band together called Carcasa. And then we also do worship music in a. Like a separate project on the side of that. I really wanted to make a brand that was specifically geared toward mental health and the creative arts. One thing I had to do there was make like Elsa and just let it go. I can't hold it back anymore. That sort of thing. I had to just let some things go. It's ironic because they tell you, Oh, as an adult, you have to be really self controlled and think a lot before you act. And sometimes as an entrepreneur, it's good to be impulsive, do it before you talk yourself out of it I was like, Oh, I have this idea. I'm going to talk about the struggles. Of workaholism when you're trying to use your work accomplishments to make yourself feel like you have value in the world, because a lot of us just don't feel like our souls have any value unless we make certain types of accomplishments. Oh, cross that off the bucket list. And then I use food porn as an analogy for the escapes we get into for attempts to escape reality through some simple pleasure and how that can turn into an obsession and lead to other types of guilty indulgences and self destruction. In the book, the character goes from being obsessed with food porn videos to trying to make them being disappointed because they never look like the video and then from there getting frustrated and getting into other substance abuse trying out medicines, hanging out with people who are not right for her And then ultimately finding her own meaning, but yeah, that's something that I had to be impulsive about and put it together before I can talk myself out of it. It's a weird story and there's a lot of that, oh, will people like it? What will go wrong? I put all this effort and no one gets it or no one likes it, all kinds of worst case scenario stuff and doubts and fears. So as an entrepreneur, if you're too strategic and deliberate you can end up talking yourself out of stuff because they're always going to be problems that could arise.

Beverly: 18:25

My son is starting a podcast. He's nine. This is the benefit of being a marketing, a marketer's child as you get to do some cool things. This summer he's doing like a podcast camp with me and how to do it, how to run a podcast and his podcast, my husband's active duty army officer my, we have a military family and we recently moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in the last couple of weeks. And he's had a lot of challenges with moving. And I said, why don't you create a podcast? And you talk to other military kids and you see how you're not alone and that you can talk through some of these problems and maybe you can help other military kids. Once we talked about it, he's mom, I want to create the logo. Like he's nine. He created a logo. He created we built a website for him. We started a Facebook page. We started an a Tik Tok channel for him. He has a YouTube channel now, which he's wanted for forever, but because of video games and actually your idea of a comic book was like, he could totally do a comic book about this too. At nine, to have these experiences for himself, even if he, let's say it goes for one season and it's done, like this is a one season kind of project he's going to learn that he can speak to other people. He can learn how to present himself on a recording. He can learn some of the technology. He can learn some writing skills because he'll have to write a script, like things like this will be all good skills for him to learn and to try. And to get over himself a little bit to be more confident at the end of the day. Plus there's this mental health side of it, where he gets to process some of the things that have been happening to him and he's had worries about. So I feel like you can be really creative about how You create these opportunities for people to use other, any interesting ways. This is a podcast through music, art, whatever the case may be to process some of this. And as an entrepreneur, I'm hoping that I raise entrepreneurial children. Like I want them to not be afraid to try things and fail fast, feel hard. It's all good. You're going to learn a lot from the process. It's all fine. I want to instill some of those things in them and let them learn from some of my, I contained myself too much. I worried too much. I had perfectionism. I, I did all those things at the beginning, but when you're living your life, the person I was just talking to you before this episode was their business is called in full color living. When you're living yourself a life in full color, It's a very different experience, right? All entrepreneurs live in this space where we think everything has to be perfect. You're afraid of judgment or you're afraid of doing something wrong or messing up. And in those worries, you actually squash the thing you're meant to do. And yeah. It's a missed opportunity for yourself. to my listeners, if you're thinking about doing something and you really want to do it, but you're so worried about everybody else, don't just do it. And if it's not perfect, it's okay. You can have an iteration of it. There's always more opportunity that can come from it. So I love this idea of you were gonna do it, but everyone was saying no. It's an odd story, But that's the beauty of the whole thing, Lilia!

Lilia: 21:40

Ironically good response because I was like, okay, what am I doing making a comic book? I've never made one before. I can't draw. I made it in a unique style. First of all, I use a combination of photography and then digital. Digital arts, graphic design, I would play the main character. I would actually pose, do the action and run the picture through an editing and then add some other graphics into it. So I bought a handle on the kind of style that I want to do. So that was very helpful. And then, I've been looking for people who want to give my book a review. And I've actually had a really good response from it. People are saying, I love the story. It has such a powerful message. It's about learning how to be perfectly imperfect. Embrace who you are and about just calling out all the temptations we have all around us. There's a scene in the booklet where our neurotic protagonist is in spiral descent of all these things that she's trying. There's some cool fight scenes where she's battling the energy mass. I have this cool alien type of moment where it bursts out. I make, I had some semi graphic scenes in there, but it's cartoony, so it's silly. What's the

Beverly: 23:05

brilliant part about all of that? Lilia is that. The story is about being perfectly imperfect, and even you creating the comic book was you being perfectly imperfect.

Lilia: 23:16

It's a very alternative way to make comics, actually posing and using more modeling and photography in it, and then combining that with graphic design. But people have been liking that it does look more real and human, because that is a real human face and body there. I can make the expressions a lot more accurately. Yes. I do read lots of comics, especially on Webtoons. That's a easy way to discover new comics, and in fact, my comic, Lilia, the Inner Demon Crusher, is on Webtoons. com, but I've noticed that in comparison, some of these other comics have a very good illustration style, but because it's all two dimensional and drawn, the facial expressions aren't so authentic. It's so people have been liking that they can connect emotionally more to the character. My advice for other entrepreneurs who have ideas for potential projects is to Is that if the project seems too big and overwhelming, such as writing a book, remember that you can condense it. You can make it a shorter version. You don't have to write a book about your entire life story. You can tell one specific story of your life. That's one experience you had that taught you one or two lessons. You can focus just on that sliver of it, or You can simplify it. You can make it more like a synopsis. You don't have to be extremely detailed about what you're doing. So I'd say the important thing is just to start and do it in a way that you can manage right now, because you can always build it later.

Beverly: 24:55

Great advice. What are the things that frustrate you about your industries? What are, and how are you solving them or what would you do to solve them?

Lilia: 25:04

Yeah, I can even consider it three industries because it's considered that music education and music performance are basically treated as two different industries because lessons is more on the education field and then performance is more in the entertainment field. Even though they're related, they're still considered separate, and there's the mental health and psychology world of that too. I've always considered that they are pretty integrated, like one in the same. So for example, if I want to perform a setlist with my band, I have to go through these self reflections to be able to do it, write songs that are meaningful. I have to get myself focused and confident for the show. Then also teaching other people is a great way to help yourself improve skills. So when I go and teach one of my songs to a student, that helps me a lot to improve because I am thinking more deeply about what I'm doing. That is all a really good self improvement journey for myself and for the person I'm teaching and for the audience members who simply watch it because in the context of heavy metal bands, there are still not that many women who do it. On most shows, I'm the only female among all the other bands. So it'd be like, Oh wow, a woman on the stage. That's cool. I also do comedy sketches that are related to The comic book story that I wrote that's more recent because I released the Lilia, the inner demon crusher comic on Amazon, Etsy, and my website just in April, 2024, so it is pretty recent. So I was thinking about. Ways to promote it. I know in my area, it's pretty easy for me to find different places to perform because I'm already in the performing industry. It's okay what if I could make this into a performance art piece? So I do things like reenact the story, or I tell jokes based on the story, jokes about anxiety and entrepreneurship Also, I even started dabbling into ventriloquism, puppets that happened by accident in a way, because I had an idea for a sketch that I wanted to do a video for, but I was like, ah, to find another person to say the other lines. And I was like, how could I just get this done? Oh, I know what if I make a puppet say, I figured that if you sing, you can figure out ventriloquism pretty easily in comparison. So just try it out. I was like, Hey, I can do this. And I've had a really good response from my ventriloquism videos on social media. So I started. doing them live here and there in some of our local venues. And since I'm getting a pretty good response from that is another avenue that I have to promote my work in a more fun and creative way. I just found that this Inner Demon Crusher brand Has caused me to branch out into so many other avenues and discover new skills that's been very fulfilling. So it translates into me for improving my mental health. It's helped me crush a lot of these inner demons that I had holding me back. I seriously feel like it doesn't even matter if I'm nervous before. honey, you can just do screw it. Just do it. I'm not afraid of criticism all my life, I've been very wary about criticism, say, oh, in gymnastics, a yeah, you learn how to take criticism, but you also have a lot of experiences of it being emotionally damaging, as a child. To have my life revolve around gymnastics and then to do badly in a meet and have my coaches disappointed, my parents disappointed. I would really take that to heart and be personally hurt by it. There were a lot of times I had my tears flowing, like I was trying to river after those competitions that went badly, especially nationals. When I underperformed compared to my potential. So it's on one hand, I learned how to take criticism. On the other hand, I learned to fear that criticism too, but this journey of the Lilia, the inner demon crusher brand outright slayed that inner demon because I've just had to branch out into so many different avenues that I'm like, Hey, just do this thing. And I do get good responses overall. So it's been very fulfilling and rewarding for that reason.

Beverly: 29:56

Share a customer or client experience or testimonial that perfectly captures the essence of your business.

Lilia: 30:03

Yeah, a couple of them come to mind, like one of them that comes to mind is my most recent review that I got on Amazon for the Lilia the Inner Demon Crusher comic. And she was saying, wow, this is unlike anything I've ever read before, but in a good way. I love how the message is about being yourself and doing your own thing. And then at the end of the book, I also put a page saying. Okay. If you want to follow me for more, here are my socials and my website. So that person in their review also added, Hey, it's also worth checking out her socials because she has some really cool stuff going on with her music and performance. And that was cool because that was just, Simply a person who got the book from Amazon and chose to review it Instead of even someone who it was supposed to be nice like a friend. Another one that comes to mind is one of my coaching clients Now she signed up to help crush her inner demons through music therapy. Her first assignment was reading through the comic book and reflecting on it. And then we also got into vocal techniques, learning the very bare bones basics of singing first, like breathing, posture, being able to hear a note and match it. And She was like, whoa, this is so much more helpful than anything I've done with a therapist because we also talked about how exactly to translate these techniques from singing into everyday life. I know one of her anxieties. revolves around driving to new places, like the fear of getting lost. So she was like, Oh, my therapist said, it's good to color in a coloring book. They give me these self talks, I just forget about it on the scene or a coloring book is something you can't always. You can't always just do it. So I go over with her how you can use the upright posture and the deep breathing to get your nervous system regulated. Feel your body relaxing, which translates to helping your mind relax and focus on one task at a time in the present moment. And she was like, wow, I tried that and it worked. It was so much more helpful than anything I've done in therapy recently. She's someone who's tried a lot of different therapists and she felt like she only made a bit of ground, but not that much. That was. Really inspiring to hear about too.

Beverly: 32:43

Sure. So what are some of your marketing Tactics or campaigns that you've used to help spread your message and get new clients.

Lilia: 32:55

They are integrated with my new performing arts experiments because what I do is a lot of functional entertainment. So one thing that I do is make those puppet skits when I'm explaining a concept that's related to my brand. For example, one of them I was talking about. This was not even in the Inner Demon Crusher brand. This was in the Slum Show School of Music studio, but we were talking about, okay, the puppet, it was fully Penguin, who was like, I want to learn guitar, but I don't have the time or money. And then I was like, Oh, we have this really great custom online courses program. So we just had that conversation. How do I get started? And That was fun. I've noticed that when I use Puppets, I always get a good amount of views and interactions because it stands out. People see that right away in the image. I also, Did this react video to them. That was one of my more recent posts actually on the Lilia, the inner demon crusher, YouTube channel, and also Facebook, Tik TOK, and all that. Is that I did one of my performing art skits, which was, I just paid tribute to the original inner demons, which were Jekyll and Hyde. So I just paid tribute to that by performing that song confrontation. That's the one where they yell at each other back and forth. The person yelling at themselves back and forth. So I did that, and then I followed that up with a video where the, I call them the Metal Health Muppets react to it. And that was really fun because the script was all about how The story of Jekyll and Hyde is a deep exploration into the human psyche, the battle between good and evil. And I showed how the Muppets there were representing the way that a lot of people just don't want to find meaning into anything like They, what is that? And they were just being like really silly, but we're still getting the message across in a really silly way. So yeah, the use of puppets has been really cool for that. And also I do some public speaking around my area, motivational speaking, but I integrate some comedy within that. Even when I'm talking about something really serious and heavy, It's still pretty fun to listen to. I'm on the board of the Montgomery area musicians association. So I speak a lot at our conferences and yeah, people really appreciate how I talk about the importance of maintaining your mental health as a creative professional with specific strategies that you can employ for that. I show them how these somatic healing that's mind body awareness techniques can help you to relieve anxiety in the moment and enhance your performance to work smarter and more productively. And I integrate that with these comedic reenactments of how silly it looks when you are going off the rails and being illogical, getting yourself sucked into worries. On the more. I guess conventional side, I tend to post on each of my social media channels every Monday. It's like Monday posting day. Sometimes I do bonus posts in addition to that, but Monday is our typical posting day, so that gets me to keep coming up with content regularly, to post on Allow some things to be perfectly imperfect. It's okay, you have a week to come up with a new content idea, but not on Monday, you've got to post what you have. So you can't keep going around the bush on this. You can't keep grinding on the same thing. So that's been pretty helpful. I also have my email newsletter list, which I send out on average every two weeks. It's my email newsletter where I do a roundup of my social media highlights and anything new that's going on, if I'll be speaking or performing or if I have a new release out there. And I also blog on my website. Now the website blog, Helps for the SEO. I've had experiences where it just surges for a few weeks, then it goes down, then it surges again, then it goes down. Just expect it to be an up and down thing. It happens that I do have an article about the top 10 inner demons that entrepreneurs need to face. So that's on liliademonpressure. com. And if you go to the section blog, you can actually read that article of what we were talking about. I also sell my comic book at anywhere that I go, basically, like whether it's a music performance or a theater performance or a speaking engagement. I always have it there on the merchandise table. I tell my clients about it too. And I found that people really like buying it in person. So I do try to get my comic book out there in person as much as I can, because online people just get really distracted, like scrolling. Oh, look, that looks cool. I'm going to. Bookmark and get that later, but then they forget all that. When it's live in the moment, it can be that impulse buy. It gets them to just make that decision or they're thinking, Oh I'm seeing you in person here. I don't know when I'll see you in person again. So it's a bit of FOMO. So I definitely recommend trying to sell your product or services in person when you can, even though everyone's saying, Oh, everything's digital now, not everything is digital or one these days. That's not true. Not everything still not the same. I found that people still prefer the physical copy of my comic book over the digital copy, especially because it does have workbook pages at the end of it where you're supposed to either write or draw according to the prompts, like who you're meant to be, write or draw it. So because it's interactive, it does make a bigger difference whether you're reading it physically or digitally. So I found that for that reason, people prefer to actually order a copy.

Beverly: 39:29

What is your long term vision for the Inner Demon Crusher? Where do you see your business evolving?

Lilia: 39:38

I actually want to turn it into a movie eventually, or a show. either a movie or a series, but I definitely want to get this stuff reenacted very clearly. So comic books are a really good predecessor to movies and shows because they outline the story, the characters, the plot, also scene ideas, cinematography, like visually what's gonna happen, even details like when the camera will zoom in or out. That's something that I didn't need to think about before because when we're playing on a stage oh, you're just on a stage. That's it. You didn't have to think about, like, when I'm going to do a close up of the face versus show the whole scene versus just the hand. So that was pretty cool. I feel like a movie should be a five to ten year goal because I do think that I should get some more practice at more comics in the series, also more short sketches. Just a little bit more practice here and there at the elements before putting it all together into such a big project. But that's definitely my long term goal for it.

Beverly: 40:51

I like it. So our next section is the lightning round, where we just answer some questions quickly. This is a way, a place where we can uncover your favorite business tools, insights, what inspires you, Lilia, and see what other entrepreneurs might use in their own business. So how have you created and maintained lasting connections on your journey? Like how, because everybody works off of, referral and word of mouth. And I know this person, maybe they want to show, or they want to, a session. How have you maintained lasting connections for your journey?

Lilia: 41:25

Yeah, whether it's with clients or booking agents or B2B contacts, I always try to look at the person holistically. I speak to the whole person. I'm not just speaking to the service that I'm rendering for them and the fact that they're paying me. I really make a personal connection. I care about their thoughts and feelings and they see that I actually care about them as a whole person. I'm so interested in the other people and when other people see that you're interested in them, they feel really rewarded by that and it makes them want to maintain that connection with you.

Beverly: 42:06

So if inner demon crusher had a voice, what word or emotion would resonate from his core?

Lilia: 42:12

Yeah. And just one simple sound, it would sound like

Beverly: 42:15

like in a comic book, how they has the pow, like the big, yeah.

Lilia: 42:19

Some grit, but not too much grit to where it's not understandable. That's Similar to what I use in my metal band vocals in Carcasa, so it's pretty set.

Beverly: 42:31

Okay, so is there a fun fact about your business that even your most dedicated fans or clients might not know about? Your brand is already really unique, but is there something behind the scenes that may be like part of your process for writing or something that people wouldn't necessarily know about you?

Lilia: 42:50

Something about the process that people wouldn't quite expect is that for me, it matters a lot to my environment that I'm in. I do best when I actually have sun exposure on my skin because sunlight for me, it makes a really big difference in my energy levels and my mood. So I actually try to work on something important in the sunlight as much as possible.

Beverly: 43:13

Is there been a book, a podcast, an entrepreneur? It could be one, two, three of them that has left a really powerful mark on your entrepreneurial journey.

Lilia: 43:24

One of my inspirations for the comic book that comes to mind, I was really inspired by movies like Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, because I feel like that's what I'm doing here. Oh, yeah. Stuff together. Yeah. That was pretty cool, because I hear a lot about how you need to, quote, Niche down these days, and they had so much success with the movie that's a comedy, drama, sci fi, martial arts, action, horror, all kinds of stuff all in one with a quirky storyline that has a hundred plot twists in it, yet somehow it makes sense that shows me that I can integrate parts within a whole and have that still make sense. I was also interested in I found out that Harry Potter had a lot to do with JK Rowling's own Struggles with anxiety, depression and trauma, like how the dementors represent depression because they suck the life out of you and they're dark. So I thought that was pretty cool how she metaphorically represented an emotion that way. For female entrepreneurs, a lot of us look up to women like Sarah Blakely or Lori Greiner, because they're successful being women. Without doing shady crap, like no Elizabeth Holmes stuff right there.

Beverly: 44:41

all these people have a mark in a different aspect of your journey and what that looks like and how it does that. I think that's amazing., is there a, tool or app that is like your must have or your secret weapon that you use for your business that really helps you with your workflow, streamline things, make it easier.

Lilia: 45:02

let's say financial tracker apps. I think I like Zenny because it's so simple. A lot of these apps like Rocket Money and QuickBooks, they just, they want you to do a million zillion things. And then like, all I want to track is what I spend and what I make in these categories. I don't want to keep track of my blood type and shoe size and my clients. I like Zenny for the fact that it's just really simple. I also like MailChimp for allowing me to make simple, Email newsletters make like you can make them as simple or elaborate as you want so I like it for that reason because I feel like too many platforms these days try to Sell you on these templates and you have to do it this way. So I like that MailChimp is super flexible I also like using the combination so far of Canva and Photoshop for my graphics. I'm going to start learning Clip Studio Paint probably because that's more geared toward comics specifically, and I also like using Filmora a lot for editing the videos because it lets you do pretty much anything that you want to do, including removing backgrounds and adding soundtracks pretty easily. Those

Beverly: 46:18

are all great. You help everybody else with mental health. How do you stay grounded? How do you maintain your sense of purpose?

Lilia: 46:26

Yeah. Good question. So one of the things that I do is that sometimes if I have a lot on my mind, I do find a counselor of some sort. Who could help with that? Like I was with the counselor for a good while, like close to two years, who was specialized in mental health for creative artists. That was her specialty. And also at my church, sometimes I do some biblical counseling with our pastor there to talk about the very deep soul driven questions. Me and my husband have gone into a very Honest communication style. If we feel a certain way, even if it's totally silly, we'll just say that and, admit that I know I'm being silly with this, but this is what's on my mind lately. And we found that's really important because in the beginning and the honeymoon phase, Everyone's wanting to make an impression. Oh, I want the person to like me. I want to make a good impression and things can get very artificial if you're not careful, you can end up putting on a facade and taking that way too long and far. And, to offset The difficulty of being so honest and vulnerable. We actually incorporate a lot of humor within our own interactions because we do work together on personal and business stuff because we do the band together. We run the music studio together. He doesn't directly work on my demon crusher brand, but he does help a lot behind the scenes, like sharing my social media posts extra or given some input. So yeah, we've found that being really. Honest, open, but also with a sense of humor has been really helpful.

Beverly: 48:17

If the inner demon crusher was in the animal kingdom, which creature would it embody and why?

Lilia: 48:27

The brand as a whole, something like a tiger or like a jaguar, because they are mysterious. They lurk behind the scenes when they make their attack, boom, you know it. That's how I feel my brand is because I do a lot of stuff that's subtle people don't see, but then when something is out there, it's really. Unique and colorful.

Beverly: 48:53

I like it. So that is the end of the lightning round. There's a couple more questions and then we're going to wrap up the episode. So if you could look back on the entire journey, Lilia, like where you started, even from a time you're like 18 years old, like out of school to now, is there one piece of advice that you wish you received earlier in your career and how would it have saved you time, headache, resources? Yeah,

Lilia: 49:22

I would say the screw it, just do it mentality when it comes to, oh, I want to present myself and have this be perfect. When I was younger, I had a lot of struggles with emotional wounds and emotional trauma that I took with me. I had eating disorders, substance addiction. No anorexia and bulimia. So then it was something that I could have shed the influence of easier. If I had known that there was this time that I was in college and I was rehearsing for one of my performances, but then I got interrupted with teachers saying, Oh, you can't use this room because we need to set it up for another class. And that just triggered my trauma reaction, because it literally took me back like flashbacking, literally to the times when I was alone, I was handling depression alone. I was in the anorexia alone, having a bad experience with medical help, not working and feeling really alone. Like I would die from it and. I felt in that moment when they were kicking me out like I was going to die because I thought all my life's value is in my work and performance. So if I can't rehearse and do good work, I'm going to do badly and my life is worthless and I might as well be dead. I equated my work not going right with death. So that's why I had that severe flashback moment and that anxiety stayed with me for days, like way elevated over the top. It's like biting your tongue. You have one big moment of the flashback. It triggers panic that, okay, now that you bit your tongue once, it's swollen, so you're going to bite it again. If I had more of the attitude in my early 20s, the college age about, hey, life goes on, you can be perfectly imperfect the audience doesn't know what it's supposed to be, then yeah, I would have saved a lot of energy for sure.

Beverly: 51:32

Is there one tangible thing that somebody could do today? If they are a business owner or there's wanting to start a business, if you go right now and do something today that could affect their business, their mental health, what would you tell them to do?

Lilia: 51:49

I'd say one thing is that if there's some sort of activity or hobby that you've been thinking of getting into or something that you know helps you feel more grounded, but you're saying, Oh, I don't have time to do that. Let's say for example, if it's hiking, it's Oh, I don't have time to go on hiking trips. I'm too busy. Working. I think we should look at how you can make time for that because as an entrepreneur, your mindset is the centerpiece of everything that happens in your business. You don't want to screw over your business because your mindset is going in the wrong direction. So it helps you have a better mindset.

Beverly: 52:26

I'm writing some quotes down, screw it and just do it. And then your mindset. So I say mindset, process and system are the way you build your business. I've written a couple of notes because I just think they're really good for you to think about as a business. So I love this idea of adjusting your mindset by doing the things that fuel your soul and really just make you happy and grounded. That's what that is going to feed your business on different levels. You didn't even know it was possible. And I think that's the hardest thing for us to do because we are so busy is to make those time in that moment and to make us a priority, not our team. Not our business, not our customers, like everybody else gets us first. So it's really hard sometimes to say, okay. I need to do this for me so that I can serve all these other people in the process. So great Information great tips. So go to the beach go draw a picture go listen to some music Whatever makes you happy listeners go and do it fuel your soul so Lilia, you've mentioned several websites throughout the the interview so I will share those in the show notes for our listeners So they want to visit any of your social sites or check out information on your YouTube, things like that, your website. I'll make sure that's in there. Thank you so much, Lilia, for sharing your wealth of knowledge and expertise with us today.

Lilia: 53:46

Thank you so much for having me. I think this was a really fun and productive conversation. Lots of wisdom.

Beverly: 53:53

Your insights have definitely inspired and illuminated my path today, and I hope that it's inspired our listeners. Great tips and strategies to enhance your mental health and creative self expression. Remember, you can always implement any of the insights that have been shared today into your small business. And if you have any questions about what Lilia has to offer as far as mental health and creative expression, or about marketing, just reach out to us. We'd love to help you stay tuned for more inspiring conversations and actionable tips to ignite your marketing journey and your entrepreneurial path on future episodes of the spark and ignite your marketing podcast. And until next time, keep sparking and igniting.