The Power of Reinvention for Female Leaders to Thrive After Fame & Find Purpose with Danica Patrick

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Hosts: Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch (Skilled Trades Syndicate)
Episode: The Power of Reinvention for Female Leaders to Thrive After Fame & Find Purpose with Danica Patrick
Date: December 15, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode explores what it takes to reinvent oneself after achieving fame and how female leaders, like guest Danica Patrick, can find new purpose beyond their primary claim to fame. The discussion weaves Danica’s journey from racing trailblazer to multi-dimensional entrepreneur, drawing parallels with the challenges and opportunities faced by business owners—especially those in male-dominated fields. She shares candid insights on passion, the art of reinvention, business lessons learned, and the importance of holding on to a powerful vision.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Danica’s Early Drive & Breaking Barriers

• Exposure + Trying Everything: Danica describes a childhood filled with sampling different activities before racing took hold.

  "I tried everything when I was a kid... racing was also one of them." (Danica, 01:47)

• Why Racing Stuck:

  "Well, I was good at it. And I wasn’t tall enough for basketball and I wasn’t good enough for volleyball..." (Danica, 02:18)
  She underscores the importance of exposure, finding things you’re good at, and how those interests often intersect.

• Feeling Alive: The Emotional Core
  She shares a realization about “feeling alive,” which she associates with the combination of “excitement and fear”:

  “I realized... I was really looking to feel alive...the two emotions that are merging...is excitement and fear. Like, you know the analogy to roller coaster [or] skydiving...you can look at that as being absolutely frightening or exhilarating.” (Danica, 02:35)

The Long Road to Professional Success

• No Magic Formula:

  “There’s [not] a way you can formulate it into this is how you do it or else more people would...[there are] X factors like timing, luck, right place, right time.” (Danica, 04:09)

• Commitment & Enjoyment:
  Passion, ruthless commitment, and dedication are key for high achievement, but:

  “What’s meant for you should be fun...it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be hard at times...but it should be something that you want to do.” (Danica, 04:25)

• Having a Guiding Goal:

  “Having that goal out into the future of something that you want to do gives you that anchor point that sort of pulls you along through all that other stuff that's not as fun. So the goal has to be bigger than the pain along the way.” (Danica, 05:03)

Family Influence & Gender Perspectives

• Family Legacy in Motorsports
  Danica’s family history of motorsports (and even parents’ meeting story) underscores how passion can be inherited:

  “My mom and dad met at a snowmobile race. They were set up on a blind date.” (Danica, 06:16)

Transitioning from Racing to Entrepreneurship

• Motivation to Switch to NASCAR:

  “Money. No, just kidding. I took a pay cut initially...I just wanted something different. I was kind of just not really happy with my team...” (Danica, 07:00)

• On the Realities of Racing vs. Entrepreneurship:
  She describes how being a brand in racing didn’t fully prepare her for the hands-on reality of running businesses.

  “Just being successful at one thing doesn’t mean everything else is successful...you have to earn their trust that you can do a good job in another arena.” (Danica, 10:13) “...when you run a business, I feel like I’ve learned way more about business after racing, even though that was essentially, like, big business for me.” (Danica, 10:59)

• Working with the Right People:
  Learning to recognize quality in team members:

  “When you find someone good at their job, you just know it and if they’re not, they won’t stand out.” (Danica, 11:42)

• Business Structure Lessons from Racing:
  The scale and specialization in racing (every niche job has a dedicated pro) is a model more businesses should copy, if possible.

  “There was someone for everything...and you need someone for everything. I don’t think I’ve done a great job with my companies to hire enough people to do those jobs...it also allows you to have an expert in that area.” (Danica, 12:32)

The Entrepreneurial Fear Factor

• Wearing Too Many Hats and The Capital Dilemma:
  Startup founders, like tradespeople turned business owners, can’t always delegate as much as they’d like:

  “That’s the hardest thing for me is I’m like, I don’t know where to draw the line with capital. Like, how much do I keep spending...am I just digging a bigger hole or am I going to get any ROI out of this?” (Danica, 13:32)

• The Power of Vision & Blind Faith:

  “The biggest thing it takes with being an entrepreneur is the amount of blind faith and bravery in the process of just holding the vision.” (Danica, 13:52) “If you hold a vision so intensely and vividly and believe it, that it will happen... I'm not saying it will happen immediately. I'm just saying it will happen.” (Danica, 11:48)

Life After Racing: New Ventures

• Wine Business:

  "I have a vineyard in Napa Valley called Somnium. And then I also make a wine in Provence, France, that's shipped here called Danica Rosa." (Danica, 09:40)

The Tech Future: AI, Automation & Fear

• Hosts Share Their Mission:
  The hosts describe how they teach contractors to use AI and automation to optimize business operations.

• Danica’s Tech Skepticism:

  “So AI doesn’t scare the shit out of you?” (Danica, 14:41) “I posted this story the other day on Instagram...Somebody asked their phone ChatGPT, like, will you count to a million? And the phone wouldn't do it.” (Danica, 14:47)

• Pop Culture AI Fears:
  The conversation turns playful, referencing dystopian tech scenarios in shows like Black Mirror:

  “Movies like 20, 30 years ago is like this far fetched. It's never going to happen.” (Host, 15:05)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I realized that...I was really looking to feel alive.” — Danica Patrick (02:35)
• “Having that goal out into the future...gives you that anchor point that pulls you along through all that other stuff that's not as fun." — Danica Patrick (05:03)
• “Being successful at one thing doesn’t mean everything else is successful...you have to earn their trust that you can do a good job in another arena.” — Danica Patrick (10:13)
• “When you find someone good at their job, you just know it...” — Danica Patrick (11:42)
• “If you hold a vision so intensely and vividly and believe it... I'm just saying it will happen.” — Danica Patrick (11:48)
• “The biggest thing it takes with being an entrepreneur is the amount of blind faith and bravery in the process of holding the vision.” — Danica Patrick (13:52)
• “So AI doesn't scare the shit out of you?” — Danica Patrick (14:41)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:47 — Danica on trying everything in childhood, why racing stuck
• 02:35 — Feeling alive: excitement and fear
• 04:25 — The importance of passion and loving your path
• 05:03 — How future goals help overcome tough periods
• 10:13 — Reinventing yourself in new fields; earning trust again
• 11:42 — Recognizing good employees and team members
• 12:32 — Delegation and hiring specialists in business
• 13:32 — Balancing capital investment and delegation as a founder
• 13:52 — Power of blind faith and vision in entrepreneurship
• 14:41 — AI, automation, and the tension between excitement and fear
• 15:05 — Pop culture references to AI, Black Mirror, and technology anxiety

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Final Takeaways

• Reinvention comes from continually pushing outside your comfort zone, leveraging your unique background, and not being afraid to start over, even after high achievement.
• Passion, vision, and learning to build the right team are universal in both elite sports and high-performing businesses.
• The same thrill (and fear) that propels a race driver can drive business owners to embrace big change—whether that's entrepreneurship or new technologies like AI.
• Leaders (especially women in male-dominated fields) should confidently take up space, hold a bold vision, and not be afraid to let that vision evolve.

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For more actionable business strategies and inspiring leadership stories, catch the full episode or visit Service Business Mastery.

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Transcript

[A]

I don't think I've done a great job with my companies to hire enough people to do those jobs because it takes of me and takes off the one individual, let's say, that's doing the job right now or two, and it gives them more bandwidth but it also allows you to have an expert in that area. So I think that should have used the model of a million employees.

[B]

Are you looking for valuable business advice to reach that seven figure revenue mark? Do you want actionable tips to properly navigate through every business challenge you encounter along the way? Let Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch be your guide in getting you to the top here at Service Business Mastery. Tune in as they sit down with world renowned authors in business leadership and personal growth who share valuable insights about management, marketing, pricing, human resources and so much more. Let their nuggets of wisdom gold guide you in owning a thriving, profitable and ever growing business. Here are your hosts, Tersh and Josh.

[A]

Foreign.

[C]

We're excited to hang out with you. Personally I've been a lifelong NASCAR fan and followed you along your career. So I am excited to be here with you trying not to be star.

[D]

Special treat for us.

[C]

Absolutely.

[A]

We don't worry, I will drop your defenses quickly with my self deprecating stories. Okay. It'll feel better in no time.

[C]

Josh, you want to get started? Yeah. Yeah.

[D]

So tell us about the process it took to become a driver. I mean we talk about women in a male dominated industry. Like the trades have opened up quite a bit for women. But you know, racing is. That's even more of a male dominated. You broke down some serious barriers.

[A]

I think it's a matter of just trying things. Right. It's just not the most common thing for people to try, girls especially. So I think it's just about getting that exposure and figuring out what it is that you like. You usually end up liking the things that you're good at too. You know, those kind of usually go hand in hand. So I tried everything when I was a kid. I tried T ball, track, tumbling, cheerleading, volleyball, basketball, choir, band. Like I did everything and racing was also one of them. So. Yeah.

[C]

What made that stick?

[A]

Well, I was good at it.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And I wasn't tall enough for basketball and I wasn't good enough for volleyball and I wasn't good enough at tumbling for cheerleading. And I was good at it and I was excelling fast and had fun. It was probably the most stressful thing I did though.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Like is all the things. But I've realized it took me until after I Was done racing to realize that it's actually at that it's cool. I just did an interview yesterday. I was talking about this on stage with a guy named Jim Murphy who wrote a book called Inner Excellence. And we were talking about. So he has a sentence, a statement in the book that says something about like. I realized that as opposed to looking for the monetary things, I was really looking to feel alive. And so we started kind of fleshing out what that meant to feel alive. I realized, like, for me now back to what very just what I was just talking about is that I feel Nano's alive reading an automaker. And so there I think the two emotions that are merging to create this sort of spark is excitement and fear. Yeah. It's like, you know the analogy to roller coaster bunch of skydiving. It's like you can look at that as being absolutely frightening or exhilarating.

[D]

I got preaching your daughter who needs to talk to you does she scared the crap out of me of a stick that she wants to do. I'm the one that has to do it with her because sounds like I.

[A]

Need to try to do. Then.

[D]

Yeah, we're giving a buy comfort zone. She already knows at 18 she wants to go bungee jumping and she wants to jump up a plane. I'm like, maybe one of those. We'll see. We got a few years to discuss that. I think obviously most people know you from getting to the indie circuit and stuff like that. What did that process look like to get there? Because it's one thing to be good at something and to like it, but to get to that level where there's only so many people that get to that professional level. What did that look like?

[A]

I don't think there's a way that you can formulate it into this is how you do it or else more people would because it does take those X factors like timing, luck, right place, right time kind of stuff. And so that's some factors that you can't manufacture. But I do think that you at least have to be someone that has a passion and is like, ruthlessly committed and super dedicated to doing whatever it takes. So I don't really think doing your job or doing something you like, it shouldn't be like Goggins level. Like, speak like talking shit to yourself. Like you're the horrible human that, like, get your. You know, like, I don't think it doesn't feel like that miserable. I think what's meant for you should be fun. And it doesn't mean it's not going to be hard at times or, like, arduous here and there, doing a few things that aren't maybe as much fun as others, but it should be something that you want to do. So when I raced in England 16 and 19, and came back, like, all of that, like, while someone might look at it and think that that was. Had to have been a massive commitment, dedication, sacrifice, you know, I was like, I thought I was the lucky one. I thought I was like, this is so cool. Looking back, they were the hardest times. But getting to where I wanted to go, which is, you know, having a goal in the future. And maybe this is. Plays into something you could tell your daughter, make her think different about doing things that she could die from. You know, when you have a goal so far out into the future of something that you want, and, like, don't be afraid to let that change. You know, maybe the average person changes their job seven times or something. Like, you know, I've changed my job multiple times already, and so. But having that goal out into the future of something that you want to do gives you that anchor point that sort of pulls you along through all that other stuff that's not as fun. So the goal has to be bigger than the pain along the way.

[C]

Do you have siblings?

[A]

Yeah, I have a sister. She's two years younger and your fan of yours? Yeah, my dad always thrown it. My mom and dad. Snowmobiles first. He started off, and I guess it would have been motocross.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

And then snowmobiles and then midgets, like, on dirt tracks. And my mom and dad met at a snowmobile race. They were set up on a blind date.

[C]

Oh, that's cool.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah. Your.

[D]

Your family history goes back to all the way from the beginning. Really?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's think about that. A blind date at a snowmobile race. I've just repeated those words, but I haven't put a lot of, like, thought to that. That's. Yeah. How about that?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, because nowadays, what is it? You're like, oh, what's his name? Let me look him up.

[D]

What do they like? What are they?

[C]

Not like.

[D]

And you always have these talking points. You know them before you even get on the date.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[C]

So why switch to NASCAR from India?

[A]

Money. No, just kidding. I took a pay cut initially because I went from IndyCar to nationwide. What was called Nationwide then, now it's Xfinity. I mean, I really just wanted something different. I was kind of just not really happy with my team and where I.

[C]

Was at and Was your indie more across the world or was it us?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, like a little bit, but you know, I mean Japan was one of the races, but we had Toyota and Honda were the two big engine manufacturers, so that's kind of part of that. Sure. And you know, look, we raced in trying to think it changed a little bit from year to year, but like Canada and Mexico were not out of the question too, like.

[D]

Sure, sure.

[A]

Some points are raced in like Vancouver, Toronto.

[C]

Did you avoid that traveling more so than the NASCAR circuit?

[A]

The traveling or.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, the traveling. Just, just to go in.

[A]

The big difference was is that IndyCar a lot? I mean, we still went to podunk areas where you would be living in your motorhome and there's nowhere to go out outside of that for the most part. But, but there was some more opportunities for like better, cooler cities I guess, you know, along the way with IndyCar. But in NASCAR you really were for the most part in your bus.

[C]

Yeah, I'm very much a homebody, so like, if I can stay in Bristol, if I can stay, like.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, we, we, we did that a lot in NASCAR especially. There was some, some races, I mean, we raced here in Vegas. So like some. Sometimes I would bring the bus out, sometimes I would.

[C]

You raced on the road? On the, did you do the road race?

[A]

The oval.

[C]

Oh, you talking about the oval race? Yeah. You never had the chance to get on the road?

[A]

F1. You mean the F1 track that just came along recently. So.

[C]

Okay. Man, that's, that's wild. I couldn't imagine doing that.

[A]

Yeah, I'm, I, I, I was, I was here for the la, for the, for the, Was the, have they had two or three? I can't remember. Two.

[C]

Yeah, that's cool.

[D]

Yeah, that's, that's cool. We, because we talk because this is trade show season for us and we've been on the road a lot and we're like, we miss home. Yeah. So being on the road, because that's a huge commitment to be on the road that much.

[A]

So you guys travel with the trade shows or what?

[C]

We end up going to all the different trade shows and they're all over. How come podcasting or podcasting to talk to like entrepreneurs. Yeah. So we'll be, we'll be on stage doing a keynote at 4pm today.

[D]

We hope you warmed them up for us later.

[A]

I tried to be self deprecating and I try to make drinking jokes and like when you lose, what do you do? I was like, well, I forget to tell you, my other business, wine. And then nobody laughed. I'm like, that was a joke, guys, about drinking.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Maybe it's too early. They haven't had enough coffee.

[C]

You have a business in wine? The winery?

[A]

I do. I, I, I have a vineyard in Napa Valley, so that's called Somnium. And then I also make a wine in Provence, France, that's shipped here called Danica Rosa.

[C]

That.

[D]

That's probably lovely.

[C]

Oh, that's cool.

[D]

That's awesome.

[C]

Very few.

[D]

You've obviously transitioned from the racing scene, and now you're more of an entrepreneur, business speaker. You got, as you already mentioned, a couple things that you have going on. What have you learned from your time on the track? And all of the preparation, all the things that go into that that's helped you successfully launch into entrepreneurship, or Is.

[C]

There anything that Corey has ever.

[A]

I think that, you know, you have to make your way and earn a reputation and into each individual vertical. I think that's one thing I learned is that one, like, just being successful at one thing doesn't mean everything else is successful. I mean, it kind of gives you a head start, maybe from a media perspective or some level of awareness, but for the most part, like, you know, there's. You gotta earn their trust that you can do a good job in another area, another arena. And so.

[C]

But I mean, because NASCAR is very business.

[A]

Like, it's a business, but it was very passive. So, like, being a driver, you just show up at the track, the car is ready, you show up at a photo shoot, the campaign is ready, the creative is done for you.

[C]

That's very different than starting a small business.

[A]

Yeah. Like, and then when you run a business, I feel like I've learned way more about business after racing, even though that was essentially, like, big business for me.

[C]

Sure.

[A]

I learned a good amount about the business of a brand, for sure. Like, how to get that off the ground, how to get people interested. And I mean, I didn't have to, like, invest my own money, but I, I understand media and I understand that world well. And, But I, I've learned a lot more being in business. So one of the things that I feel like I've learned, and maybe I, maybe I could have applied this in hindsight back in racing if I'd have known it better. But, like, when you find someone good at their job, you just know it, and if they're not, they won't stand out. And you.

[C]

Doesn't that come with life experience, though?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

At the same time. Yeah. You know, hindsight yeah, yeah.

[A]

All of it. Yeah. It's all a learning experience. But, I mean, good employees stand out. But ultimately, something that transitions from what I did to what I do is that whenever I think if you hold a vision so intensely and vividly and believe it, that it will happen, it doesn't. I'm not saying it will happen immediately. I'm just saying it will happen.

[D]

I think that's the best piece most people miss is they start a business. I mean, a lot of people in here were plumbers or H vac technicians. They started a business because they thought they could do it better or they just had a passion for it. And then they realize there's a lot of hats you gotta wear to get off the ground, get that done. And it's challenging. Well, even though they have a great vision, it's five, 10 years later when.

[A]

They actually come to the future. I could have siphoned off of being in the world that I was in, but there was someone for everything. There was media employees, there was travel employees for coordinating travel. There was engineers. There was one person. Tire teams. There was. Yeah. And you need someone for everything. And so I don't think I've done a great job with my companies to hire enough people to do those jobs because it takes off of me and takes off the one individual, let's say, that's doing the job right now or two, and it gives them more bandwidth, but it also allows you to have an expert in that area. Yeah. So I think that at the same time that I should have used the. The model of a million employees.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And that hired a half million.

[D]

That though, like, because you saw that there was one person for everything in the racing. So then once that lesson clicks in business and make. Once you get it, you get it. But it's like sometimes it's. It's like, oh, now I get why they did that.

[C]

Yeah. After you're in that spot doing a startup, though, you only have so much capital at the same time, so sometimes you have to wear multiple hats.

[A]

Yeah. And even if you. I'm all the capital in every. All of them. You also just don't know where to draw the line. That's the hardest thing for me is I'm like, I don't know where to draw the line with capital. Like, how much do I keep spending to, like, get this thing going? Am I just digging a bigger hole or am I going to get any ROI out of this? Or. You know what I mean? Like, how do I do the one.

[C]

Invest wisely.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. How do I make sure this is going to pay off in the long run? And so I think the biggest thing that it takes with being an entrepreneur is the amount of blind faith and bravery in the process of just like holding the vision.

[D]

When you say blind faith, you feel like faith in yourself that you can make it happen.

[A]

I just like seeing it. Like you can just see. You know it's there. Like you see even if everybody else.

[C]

Is like, nah, that's not going to happen.

[A]

Like, I got it, I got it. Like, I know what I want. Yeah, cool.

[C]

We appreciate you hanging out with us and sharing your schedule. It's so busy, so we just want to say thank you. Anything else you want to share before we.

[A]

Wow. I mean, what's your vision? There you go, our vision.

[C]

AI.

[A]

AI.

[D]

Yeah, that's what we want.

[A]

To replace yourself?

[D]

No, we teach contractors how to use AI and automation to. That's actually what our talk is about later this afternoon. That's why I asked if you warmed up the audience.

[A]

So AI doesn't scare the shit out of you.

[D]

It's exciting times.

[C]

It's that same fear and drive that you mentioned.

[A]

No, I mean like AI itself, like taking over the world kind of thing. Like I robot like danger. Like I posted this story the other day on Instagram that I saw. Somebody asked their phone chat GPT like, will you count to a million? And the phone wouldn't do it. Like ChatGPT wouldn't do it.

[D]

There's been studies where they like on the background, like try to disconnect these things and they're like disconnect itself. Yeah, it won't turn itself off. So like it's episode of Black mirror movies like 20, 30 years ago is like this far fetched. It's never going to happen.

[A]

Did you guys ever watch Black Mirror? Did you watch the one where the guy like did. He was building a computer, like it was like a video games. And then this one guy, this big famous video game guy thought wanted to try this new one, so he tried it and then somehow he ended up like doing a big dose of LSD or something like that. And then he literally could hear the video talking. Like it was all it was before. That was like. But then there was like code. There was like actual things happening. In the end, what it ended up being is like once the game like got into like the network kind of thing, it just started going everywhere. It could do everything.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay, they're telling us your time's up. You guys got good.

[A]

We just started talking.

[C]

I know, I know.

[A]

Weird stuff.

[C]

It's great. We appreciate you, Danica.

[A]

That's it. And as soon as it gets weird, they're like, you got to go. People are going to think you're weird.

[D]

Thanks for hanging out with us.

[B]

Thank you for listening to this episode of Service Business Mastery. Now that you are equipped with essential business advice from this impactful conversation, you are one step closer to becoming the successful owner of your dreams. If this episode has been helpful to your business journey, don't forget to subscribe to the show, leave a rating, and share it with other owners as well. Visit servicebusinessmastery.com to learn more.