Meet Davina Herbert, author of "Dancing with Doll," is a pioneer in Pet Energy Therapy and Animal Communication, offering transformative insights into life and leadership through the wisdom shared by our beloved animal companions.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your family?
I am married. My husband and I share a large animal family that is currently composed of horses, dogs and chickens.
I also have step children and grandchildren.
I got my first dog when I was three and have rarely been without a dog ever since.
Have you had any formal training or family business?
I have certificates in Animal Energy Therapy and Theta Healing.
I have done a number of Access Consciousness classes as well as crystal classes and aromatherapy classes.
I have recently received certificates for Millennium Education’s Animal Medical Intuitive course and their Medical Intuitive Oracle Card course.
I am currently studying for a Masters in Holistic Counselling.
How did you come up with the idea for your business, and what was the process of turning that idea into a reality?
I am a strong believer in natural healing techniques.
I have been able to successfully use them in conjunction with western medicine for myself.
When one of my horses hurt her leg, I started to use energy work on her in conjunction with what the Vet was doing.
She had a great recovery.
I felt that there would be other people out there who would like to use healing techniques with their animals.
The animal communication skills that I have learnt and the assistance of my own animal family has helped to shape Pet Energy Therapy into what it is today.
How have you grown as a leader since starting your company, and what have been some of the key lessons you've learned along the way?
My mare, Ms Doll taught me a lot about leadership.
She taught me constantly to be the leader in my own life and how important it is to step up and claim who you are.
My first book was released earlier this year “Dancing with Doll – Life and Leadership Lessons Learnt through Accessing Animal Wisdom.”
Doll and the other animals in the family and those that I have worked with have taught me how important it is to listen to your own intuition and be the leader in your own life.
What is ‘right’ for me and my life is not necessarily ‘right’ for anyone else. It just takes the courage to step up and claim that.
Can you tell us about a time when you faced a major setback or failure in your business, and how you overcame it?
A major setback was when I made other people more important than me.
Some people do not believe in Animal Communication.
When I first started Pet Energy Therapy, I had one of those people contact me and put down what I did.
That and a client not paying me after a session, left me feeling demoralised and unwilling to continue.
It did take some time to work through that and I had to do a lot of personal development work to get to the point where I could understand how important it is not to take what other people think or say personally.
So what was a major setback turned out to be a part of my growth process.
How do you stay motivated and focused on your goals, especially during challenging times?
This year has been hard to stay focussed on the business and my goals as I have had some major events happening in my personal life.
I have a number of ‘tools’ in my toolkit that I have used to keep myself motivated.
Having said that, some days I have even struggled.
Now I have developed a course that I am offering to people next year to help them work through times of despair and lack of motivation.
How do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business?
Planning helps.
I also find it necessary to be flexible.
Sometimes the business needs more focus and sometimes my personal life needs more focus.
I have a diary that I life off and in my diary I have all my business and personal events.
What are your plans for the future of your business, and how do you see yourself evolving as a founder and leader?
I see my business growing and evolving.
Next year I wish to start offering some face to face classes again. This will be combined with online classes.
I also have plans for creating more courses, books and some oracle cards to go with my classes.
All of this will be combined with speaking and writing events so that I can get my vision of a world where we focus and love and co-operation and the contribution that animals can make to our lives when we are willing to receive their contributions of wisdom.
If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I would tell myself that it always works out.
The things that you think aren’t working often take you in the direction that your Soul needs to go.
Whether something is a failure or a success is only a point of view.
So listen to yourself and the nudges of your soul and keep going.
What's the most unconventional thing you've done to grow your business, and what was the result?
The whole business is unconventional.
When I first started the business around 13 years ago, it was hard to get people to take animal communication seriously.
As the world changes and people get different perspectives on life and the interrelation of all things, people have become more receptive to our animals being our mirrors and being able to share wisdom and life lessons with us.
What's the most important lesson you've learned from a failure, and how have you applied it to your business?
One day Doll (my mare) and I were out riding with friends. Doll started to gallop and would not listen to me when I told her to stop.
After galloping down a hill, she came to a stop at a fence.
This caused me to work through feelings of betrayal and hurt. I had to go back to the foundations of our business and rebuild from there.
This applies to my business.
To keep the business alive and vibrant, I need to keep reviewing what we offer in the business and how we offer it. So we need to go back to foundations.
The other thing that I learnt from Doll is that I needed to reflect on how I had contributed to the galloping incident that we created between us. It’s the same with the business.
I can’t blame the business for any perceived failures (though I have tried, lol).
I have to also accept responsibility for my creations and be willing to show up in the world standing proudly as the leader in my own life.
What's the most meaningful compliment or feedback you've ever received from a customer, and why did it resonate with you?
I did some work with a client and their animals.
They told me how much it had changed their lives and their relationships with their animals.
That makes me so happy as I see it as the ripple effect.
We can only change our own lives, but then others around us can also choose to make changes in their lives to make them greater.
In the case of this client, that was what happened as they recommended me to friends of theirs so that I was able to effect a greater change in the world – one person at a time.
If you had to choose one thing that makes your company truly unique and sets it apart from the competition, what would it be, and why?
My Pet Energy Therapy is a transformative experience that connects people and their animal companions on a profound level.
It enriches their lives through improved communication and relationships with their pets.
This leads to better health and a harmonious future for both the person and their animal.
Find Davina Herbert on Social Media:
LinkedIn Personal Account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davina-herbert-43806598
Company/ Companies websites: https://thepetenergytherapy.com/
Instagram – Business: https://www.instagram.com/davina_animal_communicator/
Hope you enjoyed reading Davina Herbert’s story!
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