On Redefining Who You Are to Live a Life You Love: Interview with Donny Hadfield-Smith
My guest this week is an incredible friend of mine, Donny Hadfield-Smith. Donny is an entertainment personality who just recently was contracted by The Dipp to co-host “I Am the Cute One: A Mary-Kate and Ashley Podcast.” It launched on June 13th and is available on all platforms.
This is Donny’s third podcast that has launched since November of 2020. His first podcast, “Know That: A Real Housewives Podcast” has been a big success, and from that, he started another podcast “Truly Anything.
Donny has interviewed many celebrities, including Nikki Blonsky, Robert Ri’chard, and Kalen Allen.
However, before this, he was stuck in a life that made him unhappy.
When the pandemic began, Donny got laid off from his job. Even though he worked at the job for eight years, he never really felt any passion for it. It was just a means to an end. When everyone had to quarantine in early COVID, like many people, Donny was just “trying to survive.”
He locked himself in his house, gained a bunch of weight, and just hid from the world.
Then, in September, he found out that there might be a possibility he’d have to return to his old life, old job, and old routine. He suddenly felt a sense of upset, as if he would be returning to something that didn’t serve him, not having used the time to do something that brought him joy. He decided that if he would be drug back to his old life, first he was going to make sure that he created something and followed his passions.
Donny’s success might seem to an outsider quite instantaneous, but it was the result of daily work and a complete overhaul of how he chose to think about himself, and who he was showing up as in the world.
Now, he’s living the life he’s dreamed of, delivering hilarious and witty commentary about pop culture to a captivated audience, and he approaches each day as an opportunity, not as a source of dread and upset.
Episode Notes:
3:06
Know That: A Real Housewives Podcast is born. Donny tells the story about the loss of his job, and how the idea of having to return to a life that didn’t serve him lit the fire to begin his first successful podcast, based on Bravo’s The Real Housewives
7:00
As Know That’s popularity began to grow, so did Donny’s confidence. He used every success as a form of motivation and a steppingstone. Each time he was able to get a new guest or opportunity, he allowed himself to be proud of himself, and take the leap to try for something larger.
8:30
We talked about the concept of “believing you are the thing before you are the thing.”
During his process of evolution, Donny joined a mastermind group. The leader of the group told everyone to choose the highest level of whatever profession that they could want to be in. Then he told them to not say you want to be that thing, but rather that you are that thing.
The advice was invaluable.
9:45
On Imposter Syndrome
Donny discusses strategies for overcoming his Imposter Syndrome in the field of entertainment. He felt, at first, he has absolutely nothing to lose. Thus, he just reached out to as many people as he could. As a new podcaster, he felt people could only help him.
He began breadcrumbing by creating memes about Know That, which got a lot of traction and eventually reached the actual Housewives. He started by reaching out to people in their outer circles, and eventually just jumped right in and began having Housewives on the show.
Once he began to see people taking him seriously, he started building his confidence further and continuously took action to take it to the next level.
12:00
The importance of connection: Donny talks about making connection and networking a priority that he does daily.
He said doing a lot of his early work virtually really helped, as, at the time, he still didn’t have an easy time selling himself. He talks about feeling like somewhat of a catfish in the beginning, reaching out to people to be on his show.
15:30
Most of Donny’s success, he says, comes from simply asking for what he wants.
You won’t get the things you desire in life without asking
17:00
Donny discusses his daily habits, which include manifestation.
19:00
On “redefining work.”
Before, Donny had one idea in his mind about what “work” was. “Work” had always been just simple jobs that paid the bills.
Before he was contracted to co-host a podcast about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, most of his work was unpaid. Yet, he showed up every single day as the professional he wanted to be. He treated his work as a business, and with that effort and dedication, it became a business.
22:30
More on asking, Donny says that nobody is just going to come up and ask you “do you want to be an actor” (which he then follows with “unless you’re Chris Pratt at Bubba Gump.)
You have to just go out and do it.
You have to get over yourself and your fears and realize that the only person who is standing in your way is you.
27:00
On worthiness, we take a look back to the beginning of the pandemic, where Donny says he knows the person he is now would not be satisfied with the life he was living. He has completely renegotiated his sense of self-worth, what he wants, what he’s passionate about, and what he believes he deserves.
30:00
“Just Do it.”
Not just a Nike slogan… you have to just do it. You can think it’s too late and that you should have started ten years ago, and then next year you’ll be saying you should have started eleven years ago. Or, you can start today.
32:00
“Micro-Steps Forward”
I asked Donny about the small steps that he could describe for things he did daily to begin this journey toward the success he has now.
Things such as “connect and have a conversation every day on social media,” and “set aside and invest time into reading about entertainment and celebrity gossip news each day” were just two small things that have had a monumental impact on where Donny is today.
36:00
“The Good Energy Circle”
Donny was one of my COVID buddies. We shared good energy through the pandemic. We talked about the importance of keeping your energy good so that you can have the motivation and inspiration to move forward.
He and his husband have a relationship that builds on positive energy and success pushing one another forward. He talks about how great that has been for both of them.
44:00
Finally, Donny talks about having read You Are a Badass during the pandemic, and how any negativity or lack of support from others is just the projection of their feelings of inadequacy or disbelief on to you.
You are capable.
You are worthy.
Just do the work daily, and the more you believe in yourself, the more the steps to follow will become evident to you.
