What Happens When Dreams Meet Strategy with Jacqueline Boone

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:36hey there and welcome to this week's episode of epic entrepreneurs i'm bill guillillain your host i am the principal at action coach business growth partners and one of the founders at the ashville business summit and i'm super pumped about our guest today but first i want to remind you summit's coming up it's less than two weeks away you need to get your tickets you need to go Go to WNCSummit.com. We've got an amazing speaker lineup. And I just want to remind you that the speakers are awesome. You're going to learn a lot from them. But where you're really going to learn is in lunch and in the hallway and when you're talking to other business people just like you that are outgrowing.

1:17So go ahead and get your tickets today, WNCSummit.com. Now, I've got one of the speakers for the WNCSummit. I am super pumped. I have got Jackie Boone. She is the CEO, the founder of the Dream Academy. Now, that's cool. Yeah. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Bill. All right. What the heck is the Dream Academy? Let's let people know. What the heck is it? The Dream Academy, we're a coaching, consulting, and learning and development company. And it really started because I kept seeing two things out in the workplace and all of my training and working with Fortune 100, 500 companies, everything from solopreneurs to, again, these huge multinationals all over the world, that either we would go to these really nice retreats and settings and leadership journeys, and it was wonderful.

2:15And, you know, you have sound bowl healings and vision boards, but there was nothing practical of what to actually do with that information. How do you now build a website? How do you now build your sales pipeline? How do you now manage up with your leadership? Or I would be in the opposite room and boardrooms of Fortune 100s. And I just noticed that it was all about the tactical and the how, and there was no why, and there was no vision. It was just because everyone else is doing this. So we need to get on this bandwagon. And so I thought, you know what? We need the bridge. We need the why and we need the how.

2:52And so that's why I created the Dream Academy. And our mission is all about really helping create dreaming up a better world through business so that we can help companies and founders really get clear on their vision and their dreams for their business. And then have practical tools to implement that with digital marketing, leadership development, and customer success. So it all starts with visioning. Is that right? Exactly. Okay. So how do you get that out of the businesses? Yes, that's a great question. So for me, it all starts with getting back into your heart. Something that we've sort of relegated, we sort of keep our heart for our personal lives, for our family, for our loved ones.

3:45And then we kind of check that out the door sometimes when we go into business. But when we do that, we don't care as much about the people that we're working with. We are not invested as much that passion, that drive that all comes from your heart. And so the book that I'm writing and finishing right now is called Heart Language. And so when I work with business leaders, it's really about getting them back in their heart first. And then I always say, bring your head with you. But from that heart place, that's really truth. That's really getting clear on what your next steps are, what really matters to you, what your personal why and your motivation is, especially for founders, so that they can get clear on what they're dreaming.

4:30And those dreams are always kind of almost like a little bit of steps are already laid out before you. And it's just up to you to take aligned action. I love that. Yeah, I love that. So I remember my wife talking about being in a workshop and with her, she was a high-level manager in a management team. And I think there were six or eight people in the room. And she was the only one that was the heart. Everybody else was the head. And they sort of divided it out. And so it was tough for her because she was. So it was interesting. So do you find that in businesses that most people come in and it's mostly the head?

5:16Yes, absolutely. And I think that that's why we're seeing if you. I'm a total workplace nerd. so I'm always looking at the Gallup workforce report that just came out for 2025 and it's showing decreases in engagement like the highest amount of burnout maybe that there's ever been and for me when you're not when you're not bringing your whole self to any part of your life if you're not bringing your whole self to your work if you're not bringing your whole self to your family to your relationships, to your community, then you're always kind of operating at half steam. So the idea behind it is to really be in integrity with yourself.

5:57And the root of the word integrity is wholeness. So I see that again and again, people bifurcating themselves. So they're one person in their personal life and they're one person in work. And what happens over time is you burn out, you don't have that same drive and then you kind of start to almost become a little bit of a shell of yourself and that's not helpful for anyone it's not helpful for you as an individual it's not helpful for the company because then there's a lack of engagement and high turnover and then you just end up on this kind of wheel if you don't really know what motivates you yeah the stats on engagement are shocking.

6:41Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's very low. Yeah. The lack of engagement. I mean, the way I always looked at it was like, if you had a canoe with 10 people in it, you had two people that were rowing the right way. You sort of had six along for the journey. They were kind of looking at the birds and binoculars or something. And then you had two people that were actively disengaged, which was basically like drilling a hole in the boat or paddling the wrong way, which is, I mean, it's unbelievable to me that people could work in an environment like that and would want to. So, I mean, so how do you deal with that?

7:23I mean, obviously, that's part of the deal. Right. And just to put some numbers to that, because I think that that would help, I just pulled up the report. So last year, the global employee engagement fell, costing the world economy$438 billion in lost productivity. That's unbelievable. So when we talk about dreams, you know, and you might think that that's kind of airy-fairy or woo-woo or why would we bring dreams into business? But to me, it's literally dreams are what has propelled humanity forward. It's conceiving of something that has not yet been invented, not yet been created, both personally and as an organization and going for that vision and holding that and then getting people really excited about that.

8:15And there's a real cost to not having that vision, to not having that care, to not having that engagement. So you asked about how to get people engaged. For me, it goes back a lot of the coaching work I do. I do a lot of leadership and executive coaching. And the first step is really getting back to people's why. And I have a training that I do. And the first section is called Be You. So it's really returning people back to their authentic self. What is their authentic style of leadership? I do a lot of work with the DISC profile because I really like that. I think it's a really good workplace one in particular.

8:55Yeah, it's easy. It's simple. It's straightforward. But it works, and it's in depth, actually, when you get into it. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Especially for communication styles and understanding where different people are coming from. So the first step is really getting people back to what they want, what their motivations are, especially I work with a lot of director VP level people in that kind of mid management phase of their life where they're in their 30s, they're in their 40s, and they're doing really well. But they're starting to kind of ask those questions, those bigger questions about like, hey, okay, I've been on this path for 15 or 20 years and I've checked all the boxes and I have the salary and I have the things.

9:43But now I'm kind of like, well, what's more? What else is there? So getting them back to who they are authentically and then from that place really helping them through a guided process go into their dreams, both personally and professionally. and for the organization. And then the next step is getting really clear about the vision. And that vision is that combination of now we take the dream that's kind of like, you know, high in the sky, and then actually start merging it with like, what does that look like in the next six months, year? What are the KPIs we want to hit with that? What does the organization look like six months or a year down the line?

10:23And then there's the final piece, which is the tactical. So what are the things that we're going to need to bring in? Are we going to need to update our SEO? Are we going to need to update our website? Are we going to need to reformat? Are we going to create a new hiring strategy? And those are those tactical pieces. But the tactical piece is number four. And most companies, it's the only piece and maybe a little vision, not the first three pieces. Yeah, no, it makes complete sense to me. I mean, certainly, certainly that's the way I've always approached things. You got to start with the dream and then you get the goals and then you've got to learn what you got to learn.

11:04And then you make a plan and then you backed on it. So it seems like it's the same exact thing. So, yeah, I love that. I love that. All right. What are you going to talk about at the Business Summit? Yes, I'm very excited. It's a brand new workshop. So it's called Leading the Innovation Revolution. and how to create what's next. And it's going to layer a few of the things that we've been talking about really with that vision and that dream, but then also the practicals weaving in things like AI, weaving in digital marketing, also weaving in some of the tactical pieces of that, of how do you actually create what's next and what Asheville uniquely has to offer.

11:49Yesterday, I was just so caught. So as a quick little background piece, I've lived all over the world. We moved from New York to Asheville four years ago. I grew up in Atlanta, lived in San Francisco. I've lived in Hangzhou. I've lived in Spain. So I've literally been all over the world. But I always knew that when I wanted to root, I wanted to root in Asheville. And I absolutely love it here ever since I was a kid going to camp. And so one of the things to me that really differentiates Asheville after seeing all of these big cities is our community and what can happen when we really come together.

12:26And I think that that is the unique thing that our business community and our community in general has to teach the rest of the world, specifically in the States where everything is increasingly polarized and people are kind of in their own camps. The perfect example of this is yesterday. I was walking a dog that we're taking care of because we do Rover on the side. And a neighbor told us that bears were in the area. And so I said, okay, thank you. And as I'm walking up the street, I hear this crunch. And it's this huge tree that has fallen down in my neighbor's yard, completely blocking the road.

13:10And so I was like, oh, no, this is this is not good. Within an hour, it was completely cleaned up because we called the Swannanoa. We live in Swannanoa. The fire department, they came, they cleared that part. And then neighbors, all five of us got together because it's on a woman's land. She's in her 80s, so she doesn't need to be cleaning up a huge tree in her yard. And we got it all cleaned up within an hour. I'm like, that would never happen in Atlanta. That would never happen in New York. That would not happen in San Francisco or all these really big cities that we think of as faster. but just, you know, neighbors coming together and she gave us all, you know, spaghetti or jars of marinara sauce.

13:59So I was like, this is exactly what we have to offer in thinking about what's next for the Asheville business community in particular. Yeah, I love it. I mean, one of the things we're excited about is that we've got international speakers and they're all here. They're all in Western North Carolina. And most of them are in Asheville, but we're all here in Western North Carolina. So it's pretty exciting that that's what we've got going on this year. We decided to go that route rather than to bring in the people from outside. We'll likely do that in the future. We'll bring in who we need to bring in, who we think needs to be here.

14:38But we're super pumped to highlight Asheville talent because I know probably you're like a lot of people in Asheville and most of your business is not actually here. Yeah, it's somewhere else. And so it's pretty cool. Well, let me get your thoughts on something. We have a tagline. It's called Be Epic, and it's an acronym. And I just want to get your thought. I'm going to give you the letters. And let me give me a couple of sentences on each on each. Well, it's actually five. It's it's it's two words and it's only five acronyms. So it's a little bit of a I don't know what you call that. But anyway, so that's B, B epic.

15:17So B is bring the energy. What's your thoughts around energy? Well, I think that it goes back to everything we were talking about with the what drives you, what lights you up, what motivates you. And that's one of the questions I always ask people. What are you most excited about these days? Because if you have that energy and that passion, you're going to give 100 % to everything that you're doing, and you're going to be fully present. So that's what I think of when I hear that. Love it. Got to be energetic to be fully present. Yeah, I love that. The E stands for education. Well, I love education since I literally created a company around education.

16:01But I think education is about, it's really about maintaining that sense of curiosity until your last breath. It's about learning. I really do think that being young and being old is a state of mind. I watched my 100-year-old, my grandmother lived to be 100, and she ate ice cream every day of her life except for Advent and Lent. and on her 100th birthday, she ate ice cream that morning and she had this like just exuberance and energy and laughter. She had this really deep-throated cackle that was amazing and she said, you tell it on me now, sugar, you know, because I was videoing her and she had the light in her eyes of a six-year-old and I remember that stood out to me so much that she's 100, but she's still young.

16:51You know, I never thought of her as old and I think that that's a big part of continuing to educate yourself, continuing to learn. Yeah, that's exciting. I already love your grandmother. Yeah, yeah, my grandmother, I actually had a grandmother who lived to be 102. That's kind of interesting. That's, yeah, that, no, and same deal. She ate ice cream? She ate, you know, she was, she was one who would, you know, she never worried about, like, I mean, she ate healthy, but she didn't, she didn't worry about it. She was not, like, concerned about, I mean, she, she enjoyed food, and she ate what she wanted, you know, it wasn't, And she wasn't too worried about all that.

17:28She wasn't stressed about, you know, having the proper diet or doing the thing. And, you know, I do think one of the reasons she lives so long, she lived in a house with an old house that had very steep stairs going down to the basement. And she went up and down those stairs probably two, three times a day. And I actually think the stairs just, you know, gave her a great cardiovascular. She never I mean, she didn't want like she was running or anything. It was crazy. So the P stands for planning. Yeah. So I think that that really goes back to strategy. Once you get clear on that dream and vision, now it's all about, I'm all about six month, 90 day action plans and really starting with the end in mind of where you want to land and then working your way back of what do you need to do in order to land there, knowing that things will change, things will move.

18:29So I think that it's important to have a plan, but to also be flexible to the needs of the moment as they present themselves. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. So the I is inspiration. You're going to like this one. Oh, yeah. I love inspiration. And I feel like you can be inspired anywhere. I think that's the beautiful thing about life. And if you're fully living, I mean, nature, one of the main reasons why I think a lot of us live here is just the nature here is just, I mean, it's one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. It's absolutely incredible. So I think being around the places, the environments, the people that inspire you.

19:08And for me, inspire, it's the root of that word. It's all about breath. It's all about bringing out that excitement in you and breathing really that life force. Without inspiration, what do we have? Yeah, love it. Love it. And the C is commitment. Commitment, yes. So I was a three-time varsity athlete. I walked onto the D1 crew team at Boston University. And so I think being an athlete pretty young, even though I'm not quite the same level in any stretch of the imagination, I think it teaches you commitment and dedication. Because if you don't commit to that dream or that vision that you're going for and do the daily aligned action, and I specifically say aligned because it's not just about doing every action.

20:03That's a waste of time and energy and you will burn out quickly. It's really about being clear about where you're going and then taking daily committed aligned action. Daily committed aligned actions. Love it. I love it. Yeah. Especially as an action coach. I know you believe in action. Yeah, yeah, we do. You know, we got, you know, I had a client one time who was, you know, qualified for the Olympic trials and track. And, you know, I asked him one time, I was like, look, what does it take? And what have you learned from running and from athletics that you can take into your business? And what he said was very interesting.

20:50He said, there's always better. He said, it doesn't matter. There's always the next level. You can always get a little better time. You can always, the human body and the human mind and the human work can always do better. And I just thought, wow, that's really true. You know, there's always the next level. It doesn't matter how good you are. There's just always the next level. Yeah, I think that's part of the human experience is growth and a key value that I really believe in is excellence. Yeah, no, I love it. I love it. So how does somebody get a hold of you if they would like to get in touch?

21:34Yeah, the best way is the website, the dream.academy. It's one of those funky, cool, new domain names. I'm also on LinkedIn as Jacqueline Boone and the Dream Academy. And on Instagram as our handle is the.dream.academy and then also Jacqueline Boone. And so I'm happy to connect with anyone. And there's a contact form on the website. So if you need to reach me, feel free to reach out that way. And I always respond to those outreaches. So I do pay attention. It's not going to disappear into some void. I don't, yeah, I think it's obvious that whatever you do, you do it to a high level. And I think, like you say, you're going to find, you're going to be found if you want to.

22:25And if you reach out to Jackie, she's going to get in touch with you. So that's awesome. Look, this is fantastic. Thank you for being part of the community. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for participating. I can't wait to hear it. I'm excited to hear this particular workshop because it's really a workshop. I know you're going to make it the same way. We're going to make people work. When you come to the Business Summit, don't expect to sit there and be bored and just take notes. You're going to walk out with actionable steps on what you can do to make your life better and make your business better.

23:07That's what this whole thing is about. So I'm super excited. So thanks for being a part. Yeah, thank you so much, Bill. Can't wait. Hey, and remember, get those tickets, WNCSummit.com. Hey, and we'll talk to you next time on Epic Entrepreneurs. Until then, all the best.

23:30Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. the more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com that's my personal email that i read no one else reads it first there's it's not screened it's my real email just send it to me i can't wait to talk to you hey and until then all the best