ANGELA {UNSCRIPTED}

Skillionaires Podcast

Episode 14 Unscripted

[Angela Thomas]

I'm gonna have an outtake here in the skill in a podcast right on the beginning because in the podcast studio is always so cold and that's why I brought my warming pillow with me and of course it is in red. How are you guys? This is the podcast where story stick and strategy scale. It's not just a podcast here about quick wins, not about pretending what always could work guys.

It is about real building, quiet breaks, decision, energy, identity, environment and because scaling is never just a strategy problem, it is a leadership problem. This skill in a podcast where story stick and strategies that scale and this podcast is not about quick wins, it's not about hacks, it's definitely not about pretending everything always works right. It is about what really builds business and you have already experienced that with the previous guests.

What builds and breaks actually them or me in this episode. Decisions, energy, identity, environment Because the scaling game is never just a strategy problem, it's always a leadership problem or issue and sometimes a life problem or issue. I'm Dr. Angela, Angela Thomas, an entrepreneur, business strategist and someone who has learned something on the hard way.

That's my pattern, trial and error and with it goes success that aligns and someone who has learned something on the hard way. The success without alignment is just expansive chaos. Here we talk about growth that lasts, about leadership that holds pressure and about the inner work that nobody really seems to talk about or knows about.

So this is here something that you should listen to today. It gets a little bit uncomfortably throughout the session. Maybe also you laugh with me, cry with me, maybe if I can catch you emotionally.

But yeah, that's what basically business is all about. Not only to lead, to earn money, but it is your life and it is, as I always say, entrepreneurship the most spiritual way that you can actually experience this most spiritual experience that you can actually have. Because you have to have trust on the right places when you write this one email that says thank you for choosing us.

Where it is only you who's writing this email and nobody else in the team. Where you have to be trustful for those situations that we are also going to look at today. That money is not rolling in like you writing the invoices and something like that.

So it's exactly the right place where you can learn, get a shortcut and in this new year's solo episode that is actually really a very special episode. So I wanted to start this new year episode with something really elegant, like vision board, you know. My brain said, Angela, remember those times, moments when you were trying to even escape entrepreneurship, when you didn't have this trust that you are applying.

Yet when you were applying for actually a job to escape entrepreneurship and got scammed immediately. That was right there, the universe that slapped myself. And that's where I am gonna start today.

Welcome to the Skillair podcast stories that stick and strategies that scale. I'm Dr. Angela Thomas and today I am really personal, practical and slightly unfiltered. Raw, okay.

Usually I have guests here and I love it because the conversation reveals the pattern, what works, what scales and what breaks actually, what heals also entrepreneurship or entrepreneurs. But today there's no guest, this is just me and I want this episode to be really to do three things. Tell you a story that actually happened, yes, and that's about the scam story and give you the framework, how you can use it for you this year and remind you that strategies without energy is just a very organized situation or stagnation about the situation and you will hear some questions.

I ask almost every guest because I genuinely believe it's most important in leadership. The question, who is the CEO of your life and that position needs to be filled. And because if the CEO seat is empty, chaos, yeah, you know, will happen.

And for that role, yeah, we're gonna have something here. And so let's dive into the first thing. Actually earlier last year, I started my last year off and that's why it is such a good important thing to make this episode or bring this because you can really see, I measure myself every time where I was the year before or a year ago.

I do this also throughout the year, measure where and how I was a year ago. So I can actually evaluate, do I move forward? You know how it is sometimes you stick into your operational business and you don't really see the effort. And last year around this time, you don't imagine what happened to me.

It started even a little bit before last year, but the end and the new beginning of it was basically last year, New Year's. So how it started, I'm getting into, and this is not the moment that you actually put on LinkedIn. It is really for my community that you see how much I also sometimes doubt myself.

So when I came to Dubai, I had to face a lot of payment fail outs on the German side. And that moment four years ago, I thought it was really the economy after COVID, the industry I was in and so on. So I had already that sort of energy about hunting, hunting after the payment fail outs.

And that's why I thought like, let's cut off this German environment, this German clientele that I used to have. And yeah, I did so. And I wanted therefore to make this dream of the Dubai success that I laid out in front of my eyes really to happen.

And that's when I was already in a sort of energy that really didn't help me a lot. Because some situations that I already made the mistake unconsciously that I did before, I start worked by only shaking the hands with my opposite and waiting for the money to come in. I already had calculated with the money that it was put it on the paper on the invoice and send it out that it will roll in that sort of trust that I told you, you do not have to lose some kind of trust.

That's why entrepreneurship is so. The money was not coming in and I was only lowering my energy down and more down and more down, not knowing it. And that's when I questioned myself to be even a good entrepreneur.

And I did something that fairly enough I can really laugh about today. But back in the days, a year ago, I applied for a job, not like some kind of here and there. Seriously, not because I couldn't found any anything of my role in entrepreneurship, but because of the hustle was so hard, the pressure was so hard.

I wanted to escape, especially here, the episode of my life, having two grown up children, having several marriages behind me and all of these things. I thought like just I wanted to lean back, relax and enjoy. I actually thought I can pass and copy the business model and the success that I had in Germany.

But this is not working. So I took actually responsibility and became uncertain with what I did as an entrepreneur. And as I already mentioned, I lowered down my energy and not only the energy around me, but it had some profound inner aspects that became really emotionally exposable and hurtable.

And you make different decisions. You lower down your guard and you come in this emotional instability. And that's when it happened.

I got scammed. I lost so much money in searching for a job. It was a job scamming that I couldn't even bring my kids for Christmas to me and we could not actually set up right together.

And that guilt. Wow. It was not only financial.

I'm telling you, it was really physical. It was that sick kind of a feeling that you ask yourself, how can you let this happen to you? After me being 30 more years entrepreneur, how can this happen? How can I talk even about leadership and get taken like that? It was all upside down. How do I even look at my kids eyes and say, I'm sorry, I failed them.

And that moment crack really something open in me. And then I really had to shift, a shift that I had to learn, digest and transmute. And I took time, but I digested it.

And the lesson was not just be more careful. The lesson was deeper. My external results were reflecting my internal state.

And because when your energy is running on fear mode, urgency and or escape, your entire operational system changed, which leads me to what I speak about today. I speak in keynotes about the seven reasons of stagnation and the eighth element that nobody is talking about, especially based on that what I had experienced. And this leadership is not only leadership, it's about nervous system and energy is not a slogan.

It's the invisible infrastructure that you actually taking. And here are the seven reasons for stagnation that I'm lining out in my keynotes, reflecting actually my today reality that I am here. On this day when you learn and hear, listen to this podcast, where I am today and where I was before, have I moved or is actually what I am experience inside that what I reflect outside.

So you want the next level, but your identity still lives in the old one, decision without commitment. You decide, but your calendar, it doesn't believe you basically. Your environment with low standards.

If the room is too small for your dreams, it's not the dream that you have to take over. You have to change the room, the environment. And why is this so important? You're going to have this in a minute as well for me here.

A system that overloads too many projects, too many tabs open, including the emotional tabs and the unprocessed emotions, guilt, shame, resentment. These are not just feelings. These are silent business partners that you have.

You should take care for it. Then the self-worth, self-worth and attachment to the outcoming, that you have every morning. Self-worth, attachments to what you do.

Good months, I am amazing. Bad months, I am nothing. That's not leadership.

That's emotional gambling. You keep doing what sounds illogical instead of what is actually true. And as a part of most people, basically you are not having the eighth element in what I speak in my keynotes always about.

The eighth element is the conscious energy, not the motivation, not the discipline, not the manifesting. It's conscious energy means you lead your state before you lead your strategy. And because strategy without energy is often just a better planning on self-sabotage mode.

And now the part that most people are skipping, the eighth element, conscious energy. The eighth element is conscious energy, not motivation, not discipline, not manifesting. Conscious energy means you lead your state before you lead your strategy.

Because strategy without any energy is often better planned self-sabotage. And when you feel actually internally scarred, everything becomes scarred. Options, creativity, courage, connection.

When you feel internally grounded, you start seeing paths again. This isn't just a simple theory. I learned it on the expensive way.

I had no money. So I found a way what was important for me actually to participate in the first month of last year, an event that was very profound for me. So I knew I didn't have the opportunity because of my financial situation, but I wanted to attend.

And literally I had actually no money, no vehicle room, no put it on the card. And there was always in me to see a possibility where it could happen, how it could happen. So I searched.

It was the event of Future Human from Mindvalley. And I knew I had an inner call to be there. That's why I took everything to be in this room because I know after what happened to me, I need to have those energetic people around me.

So what I did, I found a way to participate in this event as a volunteer. So I was really humbled. It was a totally other experience.

Even to go there as a volunteer is totally different as a VIP. You have this kind of stuff crew shirt on and that is actually carrying already some energy. If you have and operate in that, you really go back to the roots and just actually check of what you want and what you not want and how people treat you differently than in a business outfit.

It's such a big learning for me. I had the pleasure. I'm very grateful to be accepted there as a volunteer.

I learned as a volunteer on a totally other scale, not as a speaker, not as a VIP guest, but as this volunteer who is behind the scenes. But with my entrepreneurial mindset, I looked at every process totally on another scale. So that was really something that helped me to go on my path.

And then there was something really shifting. I remind three episodes in this event that I want to tell you about. There's one story with Marie Dimon, also known for Feng Shui, John Lee, I don't know if you know him, and of course, the head of all Vision Lackiani.

So let's start with Marie Dimon. As I had a privilege as a volunteer there to participate also the normal sessions, I chose consciously the day that I could have my free volunteer day to participate at the event, Marie Dimon's day. So I wanted to see her.

Everybody who knows me knows that I am much in Feng Shui. But at this stage, I was in such a survival mode that I forgot all about this Feng Shui, what I used to actually use in my German companies, and it really much worked. However, I was there in a session where Marie Dimon was actually also only listener.

She was in the public. In that session, there was an exercise where you had to turn to your partner and say how much you like them, how much you adore them, how good they are, and so on, something kind of gratitude. And I was standing, and I was so insightful today, I love, but back then it was so painful.

I was standing there by myself because both of my neighbors was turning in the other direction away from me. So it made me stay alone. And I was just like kind of, oh, my God, is that a message? And what I instinctively did was hugging myself, matching with the situation, closing my eyes, and I couldn't help it through my closed eyes.

Yeah, it was tears of feeling poorly abundant. What is the insightful situation was actually that Marie Dimon sitting a row in front of me turned around, and with her whole energy, she walked into the other lane, took in front of me, my hand and hugged me and told me how great I am. Wow.

And in that moment, I remember how powerful Feng Shui is. And that was really the way of when I shifted. And I entirely put it my whole set up my energy internally, my behavior in the direction of Feng Shui, my whole workplace, I started to restructure step by step throughout the year.

And I'm observing it on this on this stage still nowadays. So that was one profound direction that I had actually gotten into. And then there was another profound keynote from John Lee.

And actually when after the keynote, I had the moment with him. Yeah, he was something remarkable. So he did something that I never forget.

Actually, he made me write a number of revenue on a piece of paper that I wanted to have actually achieving throughout this year. There's a stage where I didn't have no money for even the event and had to volunteer. Well, that was a bold situation.

This is a take out. I forgot this paper I wanted to bring. Yeah, a number that resembles my actually next step.

Another wish. It was not a decision. It was the moment actually and the level that I wanted to go in.

I actually forgot to bring this paper this morning, but I wanted to show you because I'm not a big fan in calling out those numbers. But maybe that's also a sign from up above to do so. And now here it was 2.2 million dollars.

Actually, I was at this moment writing this down, putting a remark on the 31st of December 2025. So some days ago only. And the calendar said, please look for the paper from John Lee in your red handbag.

Actually, when you have handbags, that is the problem. You know me. Yeah.

The problem is I have more than one red handbag. So on December 31st, I was sticking through all of my handbags like a woman searching for the meaning of her life, finding recipes, lipstick, random things to have a life, basically a whole warehouse. And yeah, what I can tell you, I found it and I can say I am so proud of myself.

I'm so proud of myself because this is not just a number. It is the proof that energy changes the outcome. What I did in January 2025 came out in December 2025.

So profound. And that is the proof that I can talk and hit the resemblance and still choose expansion. So yeah, you can hit the rock bottom and go out of it and get yourself out of it with especially energy.

OK, so and then I was sitting there with Vishal Lakhiani and also it didn't feel so good to sit there as a staff. Yeah. The questions that are placed, he actually wanted to put the magnifier on much more than I was there a businesswoman in an outfit like that.

That was also a first proof also that, yeah, your makeup, your first impression is such an important thing that goes along with the energy that you wanted to be in, the level that you want to be in. Big topic in my previous businesses in Germany. But yeah, you all know what I mean with that, certainly.

And then there is another point that I wanted to outline. It's environment. Environment is such a big thing.

So I have a story to say about that because it's actually part of the whole story. I'm deeply grateful for Dubai. Even I've got scammed.

Actually, it's because of the environment. Actually, I'm drawn into this normalization of growth, this vibration where is a place that I do not have to say sorry for, want to perform for, dreaming big and trying to fulfill it or working on fulfill it. Yeah.

In some places where you want more people call you unrealistic and in the right environment when you want more people ask you, OK, what's the plan? And exactly that is here in Dubai. And that's why I'm so proud. And I took a journey on in the middle of the year where I came aware of a possibility that even I can achieve a doctorate degree.

So with my path growing up in East Germany, education was not always free for people who chose to believe in God. And it never took me away from basically learning and studying. So I did studied a whole bunch of things that I even I can say I spent in the last five years only five hundred thousand dollars on education, on educating myself, my skills to bring up my skills, to skill my team in it with my skill to to take them along.

That's when I became Dr. Angela Thomas. I earned my Ph.D. in business building and leadership. And that is not a title for ego.

And that is something profound, how deep I can go, finish what I started and lead with substance. And don't think I wouldn't have done it without the right environment. If you got stuck, then consider this.

Sometimes you do not need a new plan. Sometimes you need the new room. Yeah.

And that is where a lot of CEOs are sitting here. That's where a lot of in this podcast guests are coming out. We have already scheduled a lot of new episodes with really big leaders in the industry.

Stay tuned on that. And then there is a profound question for me. Sometimes you need the new room.

Yeah. And with this new room and your expansion, you want to not go this journey by yourself. And that's actually a question that I place with all of my guests, actually, how they have their private life, how and who is in the CEO seat of their lives.

Are they going by themselves or are they going with somebody? Yeah. So the CEO seat of my life is still free. And back to the questions, who is your CEO of your life? And I'll answer this honest.

In some areas, I stepped into this seat, very powerful. And in some areas, this position is still open. Yeah, I'm talking about love.

And yes, that is something that you might be smiling now. But I think this is the most and most important business decision to take the right candidate for this position. Because for me, it is especially with all these achievements, something that I have to consider.

I feel most alive when I feel safe enough to be soft. And I want a man who is strong enough to hold my light and steady enough to grow with me and bold enough to enjoy the ride. So I ask guests, do you feel this spot in your life? Do you even try it? Or do you run your business like by yourself or like a CEO and keep all of the life aspects very internally and private? How do you do this? So if you hear some hints, do this for me here.

Pick one word for the new year. Yeah, let's do this. Pick one word for the new year that can be truth, expansion, clarity, power, peace, devotion, wealth.

My word will be alignment. Write this down, this one word. Make a decision with this sentence, something your nervous system can follow.

For me, it is alignment because I have to get my emotional balance and my spirituality and the connection to my stomach feeling very right. And I have to follow the gut feeling. Choose a word that brings a roof actually on all of these aspects that you have to consider in your life, in your business.

That is the story that I stick for this time and with the strategies that I scale. If this episode gave you something, follow this show, leave a review and maybe share it also. Send it to someone who exactly needs a reset.

And if you want to have a message, send your word into these comments here and maybe who and when you wanted to fill your CEO the seat of your life with. And yeah, if last year was humbled, it is actually a very good preparation. I realized that on this New Year's Eve that the last year 2025 was for me only the preparation to have a great, great 2026.

And so I hope to see you in the next episode. This episode was something really profound for you. If you liked kind of this connection between energy and business, then leave a comment here with your energetic code that you just wrote down and write it in the comments.

Send this episode to somebody and make sure that you download it, subscribe it so you don't miss out on a really good on a very good future podcast. And also you help us with your download that more people are finding our podcast and so profound insights of our podcast. So on that note, that was the New Year's episode with tragedies that scale and stories that stick.

And I hope I didn't scare you. I at least didn't became somehow an employee. I came to my mind and realized even after I got scammed, I am an entrepreneur since 30 years.

And the slap in the face from the universe with this scaring was really well understood. So stay on your path, even if it's sometimes bumpy. Put yourself in a good environment that supports everything that you do and strengthens you when you are weak and then stick with faith to your plan.

Love you all. Your Angela. Dr. Angela.

Okay.