Meet Nancy Mura

While Nancy now enjoys leading thousands of pediatric private practice owners to greater success, she likes to say she was “born with a plastic spoon in her mouth.” Her gift for talking, irreverent sense of humor and sincere love of people have carried her from humble beginnings to outrageous highs as well as crushing lows. Yet, her indomitable spirit always prevails!

The keynote of Nancy’s life is communication. Her willingness to communicate is wide-open and full-throttle, 100% of the time! Combine this with a dynamic drive and impressive work ethic and there is no obstacle she cannot surmount. When she runs into a hitch, she just gets in her chutzpah-mobile and takes off. She not only believes in herself, she believes in helping others all along the way.

Nancy’s Origins

Nancy started out in a New York City family that struggled with poverty. Making her mother laugh relieved the strain and stress of being poor and put Nancy’s feet on the path to both comedy and caring for others.

Nancy’s first job was as a receptionist at Ogilvy (then named Ogilvy & Mather) ad agency in Manhattan. She quickly talked her way into managing Fortune 500 accounts like American Express. Following an epiphany, she refocused her energies on a new career as a standup comic which she knew was truer to herself than advertising. “The role of advertising executive will no longer be fake-played by Nancy Mura,” she realized.

New Career, New Success

With Nancy’s industry and drive, she quickly found success in her new entertainment career. Within six months of starting standup, she appeared on the stage of the legendary Apollo Theater.

After studies at the Actors and Singers Academy at Carnegie Hall, her comedy career morphed into an acting career. In this incarnation, she ultimately received a Best Actress in a Drama award for a role in a stage play.

To cover the bills while acting and doing standup, Nancy needed steady work. She applied her same entrepreneurial energy to getting a job, despite daunting odds, at the Hard Rock Cafe. Since she was a rule-breaker, by nature, she bypassed the lengthy lines of New Yorkers applying for the job and landed it. While waitressing, she entered a contest sponsored by the Hard Rock cafe. Her contest entry was a board game of her own design which won! She received a prize which she cashed in to move to Hollywood.

A New Business is Born

After many appearances in television, movies and commercials, Nancy tired of Hollywood telling her when she could and couldn’t be creative, she decided on a new direction. She founded the Slice of Life Soap Company so she could be creative and live her art all the time. Slogans like Where There’s Soap, There’s Hope, and Serious Soap Handmade by a Funny Chick generated interest and soon she was distributing to more than a thousand accounts.

She was just preparing to meet with Oprah’s staff regarding being on “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list when 9/11 occurred and tore the heart out of both Nancy and her company. But still, she built the business back up and ultimately sold it.

Real Estate Top Producer

There was nothing left for Nancy to do but pull herself up by her bootstraps. Hearing that it was “easy” to make money in real estate, she launched a real estate career. While other agents were making sales, she wasn’t! Paradoxically, it was the 2008 market crash that turned things around for her. She changed her mindset and decided to meet this new challenge—succeed despite a crashed market—head on! She found investors who were hungry for opportunities and a team of realtors that was on fire. Her talent for talking and her work ethic soon saw her winning awards as a Keller Williams top producer in both 2009 and 2010.

But dark clouds began to form on Nancy’s horizon. A mysterious illness left her bedridden while a series of doctors were unable to find anything wrong with her. She suddenly found herself “fat, fifty and fired” because she could no longer keep up her real estate sales.

Wellness Coaching

Despite doing all the “right things,” Nancy couldn’t get an accurate diagnosis and treatment for a couple of years. But that didn’t stop her. “I realized that my life had somehow become a giant, luxurious cruise ship that I was trying to turn around in a bathtub. They don’t make a three-point turn as neatly as a Maserati. I was trying to turn around this awesome cruise ship and it was just very slow,” Nancy observed.

Her persistence and determination finally paid off and she received a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s disease and an Epstein-Barr viral infection, followed by successful treatment.

As she recovered her own health, Nancy didn’t want others to have a similar experience to hers. She began coaching other people through their own journeys back from mysterious illnesses. She understood 100% that typical doctors and lab tests may not come up with the right answers.

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Turning A New Corner in Life

Back on her feet, Nancy sought to reinvent herself yet again. This time, she wanted to understand both her successes and failures and searched for answers on a different plane. “I knew I had it in me to be unstoppable and yet I was completely stopped and I could not make things go right,” explains Nancy. “I figured the answer cannot just be on the physical plane. I went on a spiritual endeavor and that’s when my life really started a turnaround.” She found the answers she was looking for. That started her on the road to truly being herself. And for her, that meant a more rewarding life for herself and others.

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Expanding the Physical Therapy Field

Punching a clock to put food on the table, Nancy began managing a physical therapy practice. Life maintained an even keel for a while but then inspiration struck while Nancy was stretched out on the floor of a hot yoga studio: How to help pediatric private practice owners grow their practices!

Her entrepreneurial spirit was rekindled and she approached consulting firm Survival Strategies, Inc. (SSI), with her idea. Before long, with SSI as sponsor, Nancy launched Peds-a-Palooza, the first-ever online community for pediatric private practice owners. This community is now composed of more than 2,300 members.

Learn About Peds-a-Palooza

No matter what business Nancy is involved in, her work ethic, talent for communication and plain old chutzpah have resulted in success and growth. She’s goal-oriented and always includes others in her success, whether it’s helping women become more independent by giving them work or coaching physical therapy owners on how to grow and reach their goals.