the bossbabe podcast - 382. The Mindset Every Successful Entrepreneur Needs w/ Natalie Ellis & Lindsay Roselle
Episode Date: May 30, 2024Your mindset can either propel you forward towards your goals or hold you back from ever getting started - it’s that powerful. So today, Natalie + Lindsay go deep into the mindset that every success...ful entrepreneur needs to have to build a thriving, profitable + freedom-based business. They share specific mindset do’s and don’ts, the power of hiring true “A-players” on your team, why being prepared is a critical skill in business (and life), red flags to be aware of, why you need to incorporate “white space” into your week, and why you must start getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Grab your notebook and let’s dive in… TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Opening: Booking Glam, Investing In Photoshoots + Why Preparation = More Confidence 9:40 - Mindset Do’s + Don’ts For Entrepreneurs 11:38 - Hiring A-Players 14:20 - Preparation, Practice + Excellence 16:40 - Story - When Natalie Got Kicked Out of Class In Business School 18:20 - Hot Take On Group Brainstorming 19:30 - Red Flags With Entrepreneurs 22:00 - Execution + Mindset Required As A Business Owner 24:57 - Biggest Red Flags With Team Members 26:00 - The Importance of White Space 31:50 - Understanding Your Set-Point (Money, Freedom, Time) 35:20 - Magic Carpet Ride of “More” + Enoughness 43:00 - Being Selective About What You Take On & Why 45:00 - Stewarding What You Have vs Striving 46:30 - Advice + Perspective Natalie Wishes She Had Earlier In Her Business Journey 47:46 - Getting Comfortable With Discomfort 50:00 - Inner Work Is Everything 53:00 - Closing Thoughts + Leave A Review RESOURCES + LINKS Save your seat for James Wedmore’s totally free, 3 day Rise of The Digital CEO training Join The Société: The Place to Build A Freedom-Based Business Get Our Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More. Drop Us A Review On The Podcast + Send Us A Screenshot & We’ll Send You Natalie’s 7-Figure Operating System Completely FREE (value $1,997) FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie Lindsay Roselle: @lindsayroselle
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I really believe in paying fewer team members really, really well.
A really good A player will do the job of like four C players.
Preparation and practice.
Yeah.
It's not sexy.
You know, it's practice.
Got to go throw free throws, you know, at four in the morning,
like all the basketball players do or whatever.
But that's the stuff when it's game time that makes you look so, so good.
Like it makes you perform at the highest level.
What does a really happy life look like to me the inner work baby that's what it always comes back to
i just had a million dollar idea today oh we are doing it isn't it good it's so good
welcome back to the boss way podcast me and l and Lindsay were literally just talking for so long
and I was like, wait, can we just hit record?
So we're just diving in.
We were talking about booking photo shoots
and I was saying, I really feel like
if you don't book glam, like hair and makeup
or you know how to do it really well yourself,
you end up really regretting it when the photos come back.
Cause I don't know, like every time I see,
like I'm, I never wear makeup in my day to day andday and I feel so comfortable not wearing makeup but whenever I have a professional
photo shoot and I don't really have much makeup on I swear I look so much better in real life like
the professional camera just does something I don't know yeah I feel the same way that's what
I was that's what I was saying I was like I I see I'm like I feel like I'm wearing makeup and I feel
like I look good in the mirror and then I see the photos and I'm like, I feel like I'm wearing makeup and I feel like I look good in the mirror. And then I see the photos and I'm like, Oh, interesting. Like, that's not what I thought I looked like.
But then when I have like full, full glam on and I see myself in a mirror, I'm like,
that is a lot of makeup. It looks great in photos. And so yeah, it's always photos are more
is more on the makeup side for sure. Um, and I, I even feel like that with well with outfits too though like sometimes
photoshoot outfits I'm like oh I wouldn't really wear this in my day-to-day life and then
on camera it just works yeah no I was thinking about that um this weekend especially with makeup
and and clothing talking to you about photo shoots where it's like no you you really have to like
invest in good makeup for a photo shoot and then go buy clothing that you would probably you'll you'll never wear again but um for the photo it looks really good
in the photo um and i'm like oh i need i need help in this category because my normal wardrobe is not
like photo photo worthy at all um but yeah i'm i'm excited to get updated photos and more updated
photos because i i feel like that's like that's my life update right now is I'm, I'm really in this journey of Wes is Wes is just five, you know, he just turned
five this week and like, damn, I have a five-year-old, like I don't have babies anymore.
I'm like in my mom is back era or something. I don't know, but I want like cool clothes. Like
I want to, I want to pay more attention to how I look. And I, I know I work from
home, so I don't know how often I'll actually do this, but I'm like, I want to put makeup,
a little bit of makeup on. Like, I want to do my hair. Today's not the best example, but
I want to do my hair. I want to think about what I'm wearing and not just like throw on leggings
and walk out the door every time. Um, and I like, I have not felt that way. Most of the time I've been like, I don't care. I work from home. I get, I get to just wear leggings every time. And I like, I have not felt that way. Most of the time I've been like, I don't care.
I work from home. I get, I get to just wear leggings every day. So this is new for me where
I'm like, I actually kind of like want to try and I want to, I want to take pride in getting ready
in the morning. So we'll see. We'll see. I like that for you. I can intro you to a stylist too,
who will work with you virtually, but okay. So my hack with photo shoots, I don't book a lot of photo shoots because when I do them,
I like to do them right. So I always like to make sure I have makeup, hair and styling.
Like I just want to be able to turn up and get the most out of my photo shoot because yes,
it's more expensive, but I am telling you, you get the absolute most out of the shoot because
you're already paying for the photographer's time.
So if you have someone there that, you know, make sure your hair and makeup looks good,
but then is also styling you and has already picked out all the outfits you're going to wear.
There's no time wasted in between.
Like, does this look all right?
Should I do it like this?
You just, and they like experiment, they can like get outfits that just translate better
in photos.
It always helps. And I feel like it's
actually so much more efficient so yes the investment's a little higher but I think it
actually levels out overall I'm a big big fan of it how okay this is really naive question but how
does styling work do they buy the clothes for you or do they like tell you what to go buy yourself
okay so it's different if you work with a stylist for like day-to-day
outfits or speaking podcasting stuff like that or a stylist for a shoot so if you hire a stylist
for a photo shoot stylists have agreements with all the stores and brands that they work with
where they pull all of the looks so my last photo shoot that I did two weeks ago I always work with the same stylist whenever I'm in California and so she turns up an hour before the shoot and she sets up the whole like she takes a
whole room and she sets all of the looks up and say I want like four looks she'll bring 20 she's
like you might not like every look and I want to try and get you the most looks as possible in this
time so they set up all the clothes all the shoes all the bags jewelry everything and so the stylist I work with Isabel when I'm doing photo shoots I
mean she like fully gets me ready she every little detail like rings earrings everything and she
like she'll look at the way something's translating on camera and like really adjust things just to
make sure it looks good on camera but then if you want to work with a stylist who styles you for certain events I prefer virtual
personally just because I haven't found someone that I love in Austin I had an in-person person
in LA but I I'll only I'll work with them for like speaking or when I really want support and
what I'm going to wear or like pulling together a capsule wardrobe which has been a great investment for me because I feel like every day I just know what I'm wearing
and everything seems to match but um yeah so when you work with someone like that they'll just
like send you a bunch of looks for speaking maybe like three options and then they'll order it for
you and send it to your house so it's really really helpful so I do that if I'm going to keep
the clothes but I don't want to buy a bunch of clothes that I'm never going to wear again for a photo shoot.
Yeah. Okay. Well, when I get ready to book one this summer, I'm going to, I need all of these,
this whole like playbook, the Natalie photo tip photo shoot playbook, because I, that's how I
feel is like, if you're going to pay for it, photo shoots are not just the photographer these days
is quite the investment. And so, you know, you want, you want to get every single photo for the most part to be something that you would use.
Whether it like how you look in it or how the clothes look in it. That's the other thing I
think with clothing too, is like, if you end up wearing something that doesn't feel like you,
it might look beautiful, but you're like, Ooh, this isn't, this isn't me. Like it doesn't feel
where would I use this photo? You know, especially people like us who are using it for social media or personal
brands and stuff. So having a stylist that understands how to make it look good, but also
serve you or the purpose you need it. Okay. Well, this makes me excited.
Yeah. And we'll get, I mean, we're going to get into more of this stuff as the episode
unfolds, but as we talk about the mindset that every entrepreneur needs that's
definitely part of my mindset is if I'm doing something like a photo shoot I don't do them
often but I want to really make the most of it and get the most ROI out of it so I spend a lot
of time planning to make sure I'm not just like doing loads of them and then still needing to
actually like redo the imagery and update things like I do them less frequently,
but I really prep for them. I'm such a prepper. I love to get my mani pedi spray tan, make sure my
brows are done like I'm high maintenance. But I prep all of that ahead of the shoot, lashes,
everything. And then I just know when I get my pictures back, I feel really good about them.
And they're gonna last me a really long time because I'm also really effective like if I have
four hours I'm probably gonna do 15 looks and like I do a lot of layering jackets on off like
to just get the most out of each like outfit that I shoot and then as soon as I have the the shot
I switch like I don't just try and get a hundred photos in one outfit it's like okay once
I've got it I've got it let's move on because then I can use it on different websites on different
pages and it just changes the look of things so that's how I do it I feel like I've done so many
of them over the years that it just keeps getting more and more efficient and I also will notice
like if I put the time into really prepping for my shoots I feel so much more confident on my shoot like if someone's there if I feel prepped the way I look and then
someone said do my hair my hair makeup and I like how it looks and my clothes look good I feel more
confident that translates in the images as well so when it comes to a mindset of an entrepreneur
my mindset is I if I'm going to invest in something I'm going to really invest in it like I don't half
off things I'm going to go all in I'm going to invest i'm going to get what i need out
of it make the most of it and then be able to use it across the board and i also prep every single
photo shoot i go into i know what i want out of it and i and i give the photographer it ahead of time
i give them a pinterest board and i give them a shot list of like I want a landscape look like this I want me with a coffee like this
I want portrait pictures like this like a very detailed shot list and every photographer that
I've worked with has always said that's really really helpful because they then tick them off
as they go along that day I want a shot on my phone I want a shot on my laptop I want a landscape one
like this a portrait one like this plus a pinterest board where i'm like let's
recreate these images because these look really good all of that just helps me make them absolutely
most out of the shoot and most out of the investment yeah i love it and this is what i
wanted to talk about today because i um i think there's so many examples like this where it's a
tactical thing in the business and you know it's a write-off you can write like everything we just described is all a write-off for your business too um and it's getting at these
ideas of of the mindset do's and don'ts that we wanted to talk about today and one of them was
investing in the things like being okay with investing more to get a better outcome when
it's something that you're gonna use over over and over. Because I think sometimes it's like the analogy of the fast fashion. It's like, I can go buy a
whole season's worth of new looks at H&M for really cheap, but they only last one season
and they don't feel as good on, they maybe don't fit as well. Or you can go buy two or three capsule
looks at a much more expensive boutique and they will beautifully compliment you last a long time
and be timeless classic pieces that you can wear for many seasons. And maybe they're three or four
more times expensive, but you get much more longevity and a better fit out of them. And I
feel like that mindset, that took me a long time to learn in life and business of like, well, I
would rather have more, more things and
spend, spend the same amount of money to get a lot more things versus spend the same amount of
money and get less things or less of something, but better quality. And I think that I've heard
you talk about that even with systems where it's like, let's just find like, you don't need,
you don't need every single system that's out there in your business. You can get a couple systems and really use them to their full capacity, really learn how to use them well, and you'll get further in business.
So does that does that resonate as like one of the number one mindset dues that we have?
Like invest and go deep on your investment in the things that really matter in your business.
A hundred percent. 100 yes it resonates
and even you know i really believe in paying fewer team members really really well because they will
do the job a really good a player will do the job of like four c players and they should be paid
really well and that is so much nicer to me personally to
have fewer people in the business fewer people to manage but real weapons like real A players who
are amazing I'd rather pay more to get the best and so I really do feel like that across the board
and listen in the early stages of business it wasn't necessarily like that it was just like I need contractors I need just um any extra hours I can get from someone
to just take some stuff on my plate I totally will but then when budget started allowing it
I wanted to start hiring better um better in terms of skill set you know can be fully dedicated
full-time to the business and is a real A player, cares about the
business, can execute at a really high level. I found that to also be a huge, huge thing that's
moved the needle for me. And I really, I do think about that a lot when we're thinking about hiring
people. I think about, okay, there's these open roles, but what if we made this into one like big
role that someone excellent could do and so that's been
massive and I I do think again in the early stage of business you know maybe I couldn't afford to
work with the best photographers and things like that but I still could be prepared I still could
bring my best even though I couldn't hire the best but I like to take that approach to things
and I think it really really pays off and it's much less of a headache too to just get yeah get something done right and simpler is amazing well I wrote that down as number
two of our dues is is preparation and practice like that I think one of the main entrepreneurial
mindset things that that has helped me and it wasn't natural, you know, in the beginning is this tendency.
And I think this excuse or almost this free pass that entrepreneurs get where you can kind of like
fly by the seat of your pants because it's entrepreneurship and like, I'm just going with
the flow. And there's a little bit of this like bypassing on actually being prepared for things
and practicing things and showing up really, really ready to do
your best at everything, where I think in the corporate world, it felt a little bit more skewed
to that side where it was like, you know, there's, you're in a role in the corporate world, and there
is a hierarchy and you are expected to do this job really, really well. And if you have to do this
job really, really well to get to the next job to get the promotion, right. And I think in
entrepreneurship, because we're all working for ourselves, we can kind of let ourselves off
the hook when we aren't showing up as our best, or we, we jump into something not fully prepared.
And you and I talk so much internally with our team and with each other and, and just as our
own selves around preparation and practice and like, okay, we, we know we want to be really,
really good at this thing. Okay. What do we need to practice so that we're individually really good at it? What do we
need to prepare for and how do we prepare? And what do we as a team do or, um, inside the business
do to prepare for excellence in this thing? Um, and it's like, not, it's not sexy, you know, it's practice. It's like,
got to go throw free throws, uh, you know, at four in the morning, like all the basketball
players do or whatever, but that's the stuff when it's game time that makes you look so,
so good. Like it makes you perform at the highest level. Um, and, and we really try to apply that
in. And do you feel like, did you have to learn that or have you always been that
way? I don't know. Maybe this is a really annoying answer, but I've always been that way.
No, it's not annoying. It's so who you are. I feel like these are the things people don't
know about you. Like that's Natalie, that you are that person and you really call all of us
forward who aren't naturally that way. Like I think I'm naturally much more of a kind of show
up half prepared and rely on my charm sometimes.
But you really have called me forward of like, no, you need to be prepared for this. Like,
what are you going to say? How are you going to handle it? And in doing that, I feel better in
circumstances where you've been like, no, you really need to prepare for this. Like, this is
going to be harder than you think. And I'm like, oh, okay. All right. Like I'll prepare for it.
And then I do. And then I show up and I'm like, oh shit, I'm so glad you had me prepare for that. Because if I had just shown up, I probably,
I would have been okay, but like it would not have been as smooth or as easy or felt as good.
And so I love that you're honest about that. Well, there's like this tendency to just be
humble or whatever and be like, oh yeah, you had to learn it but no like I just have always
had a really high standard for myself and I also you know be if I'm being totally honest
I have a really high standard for everyone around me too um that it's just important to me so I've
always had a high standard like I think it used to drive my friends crazy when I was at university I
was never that person that would hand something in hours before the deadline that's just not the way that I would ever work I
always had my deadline in my head and I worked towards my deadline I was always so prepared
I showed up to everything really really prepared and I mean I remember that I remember one class
I didn't show up to prepared in university and it still sits with me now like that's how important this shit is to me I can still remember the feeling we walked into I was in business
school we walked into one of our classes and I was only first year too so I was like oh you know
I'm not gonna prepare for this I got this um and I walked in and he'd like asked us to read part of
a book and he said put your hand up in this class if you haven't read the book and I
thought well I'm not gonna lie because if he calls on me and asks me to talk about it I'm gonna get
caught out so I put my hand up and I wasn't the only one by the way I think 60-70% of the class
put the hand up and he said okay I'd like you to leave please because that doesn't work in my class
you will not show up here unprepared and if you haven't prepared please do not walk through that
door because that doesn't fly here and it certainly won't fly when you leave university and the shame
that I felt getting up and walking out of that class and it's just stuck with me and I just
I remember just loving that he set that boundary and being like that is someone that I will never
fuck around with I am going to show up to every single class
so prepared and I felt so grateful that there was someone calling me forward in that way
and it was so rare of me not to prepare but that one moment I was like I'm never doing this ever
again because I don't like how it feels to let myself down so I'll never not prepare um whether
it's speaking whether it's podcasting whether it's podcasting, whether it's a meeting, I just prepare for
absolutely everything. I go in and I just know what I'm going to talk about, what I'm going to
share, things like that. It's even, you know, I was actually reading this in a book the other day,
it kind of reaffirmed how I felt, but people often will talk about brainstorming being a really good
way to come up with ideas and stuff.
I've never personally felt that way because I feel like I brainstorm so much better on my own.
And in the book, I kind of reaffirmed that it was like, ideas can be ruminated on and made better in groups, but generally the best ideas come from solitude. And that's how I've always felt too. So
even if it's like a group brainstorm, I'm going to prepare and bring my best ideas my best ideas I'm not just gonna turn up and I think that's just really important for
entrepreneurs generally like I think we have to hold and also we talk about freedom-based businesses
right that's not the easy road just having a freedom-based business doesn't mean having an
easy business it doesn't mean just like you know showing up half-assed, it means mastery. It means excellence. And so I really think
entrepreneurs should be prepared. I think we should hold ourselves to a really high standard
because you certainly can't complain if your team don't prepare, if you're not leading that way.
I think entrepreneurs should be incredibly resourceful. I don't think there should like
really ever be an excuse. And I just have always believed that honestly, since my early twenties, when I got into business,
I feel like I've always believed that
because there was never another option.
There was nothing to fall back on.
There was, that was it.
It had to work or it didn't.
So yeah, that's me kind of like going on
a little bit of a rant, but for being honest,
I just think that's really important.
And when I see that in someone,
like another entrepreneur, if you know, someone books a VIP day and turns up with me and they're unprepared, that's a huge and when I see that in someone like another entrepreneur if you know
someone books a VIP day and turns up with me and they're unprepared that's a huge red flag to me
yeah and so now I make sure I have a prep call with them and I make them bring stuff to that
call because I'm like I I don't want to that's not about the money I just don't want to work
with you if you're going to come super unprepared and it's going to be a waste of everyone's time
I'd rather not get paid and not waste my time. Well, yeah, I've witnessed this and I concur.
And I think it's very evident.
I think you and I too, you get to a certain point
where you start to have this like sensor radar for it, right?
Where you're like, ooh, I can already tell where this is going
just based on how someone or something presents from the beginning
or you're like, they're not ready for this conversation. So it's definitely like, a takeaway from hearing this is people sense if
you're prepared or not. And I think a lot of us, like I've been able, I used to feel pride in this
that I could charm my way through things. And I feel like I did that a lot in college where I'm
like, maybe I didn't read the book, but like, I am smart enough to still write a good essay or I'm smart enough to still
do well enough on the test or whatever. But like real life will filter that out. And it will be
very evident that you haven't prepared and that the people that did are the ones who will win,
you know? And so I think it's, that's like the school of real life where these are important
lessons. And it's a respect thing too,
especially if you're in collaboration or you have clients or people have paid for your time and
you're showing up to something not ready to serve them. I think that's the thing that drives me
crazy where you buy a program or you buy into a mastermind and you show up and the people are not
prepared and you're like, or the person delivering the program has not prepared to hold space or to
deliver the content
they promised. And you're like, this doesn't feel good. You know, like I invested in you and you're
not ready. I've had that. I've brought someone in to facilitate and I trusted them and they didn't
prepare and it was so obvious. And I just thought, well, I'm never ever going to work with you ever
again. I'm not going to recommend you because this is a big letdown. And so, you know, it just doesn't, it doesn't work well for your reputation.
So this, this leads into the third one that I had for us, which I, I, I'm excited to hear your
thoughts on this. So my dad always said, my dad was an entrepreneur and growing up, he always said
to me, Lindsay, like you have to chop wood and carry water, chop wood, carry water, which is
essentially, I think like a Japanese japanese proverb of of it doesn't matter
whether you are the peasant or the emperor so you still have to chop wood and carry water like that
is how you survive and i think in our modern life and you and i talk about this a lot it's like
everyone on our team executes in our own lives we execute right we aren't just strategists we
aren't just ideation people we aren't just ideation people.
We don't just get to have the ideas and sit at the top of the throne and make sure everybody else is the one chopping the wood and carrying the water for the team. There's this mindset in
entrepreneurship that like, well, I see it both ways. I see a lot of entrepreneurs who stay in
the day-to-day forever and maybe to their own demise, you know, where
you're like, you have to delegate better. You have to get out of this. But there's also the people
who it's like they get to a certain level and they're like, I don't want to do that anymore.
I don't want to have to do this. Like I only want to do what only I can do and or only what I want
to do. And I think that can also work against you in your own business or in your entrepreneurial
mindset where you get to this entitlement feeling of like, oh, well, now I'm
making enough money or I've done this enough. I shouldn't have to do this anymore. And I think
that's a slippery slope into getting out of touch with your customer or perhaps having an energetic
imbalance in your business where I don't think as entrepreneurs,
we can ever totally remove ourselves from the mission of the business, especially if you're
the person, the personal brand or the person driving the business, because your energy is
so intertwined with the success of the business and the reason your customers are there to begin
with. And so for me, I call it
this like chop wood, carry water attitude that you're never above anything. Like if wood needs
chopped so that there's a fire in the fireplace for the business, you're chopping the wood. If
water needs carried so that people in your village can drink, you're carrying water and you're never
too good for it. And you can never come to your team, anyone, you know, like when we say this on
our team, it's like no matter what your title is, you execute stuff.
Like everyone has admin on our team.
Everyone is responsible for execution.
And I think that is a really important thing for entrepreneurial mindset around being willing to do the hard stuff when the hard stuff needs done.
Oh, I think that is so incredibly important.
And honestly, not even just for entrepreneurs. I mean, I think that is so incredibly important and honestly not even just for
entrepreneurs I mean yeah I think it's really but I don't I think as entrepreneurs that there
should never be a job below you and I think it's actually really important to sit in all the seats
in your business because you can really manage better from that place like I know how long things
take I know what the process looks like you know I, I can cover if need be. I think that part's really
important. It also creates a level of safety. Like, you know, not everyone's going to be with
you forever and it's good to know what they do and know that you can do their job. But beyond that,
one of the biggest red flags for me in team members is when they don't want to execute or
they think something is below them. And when they say they want to move into a strategy seat.
What that tells me is, hey, you really should go and work for a consulting firm
and consult and tell other businesses what to do.
Because in this business, the only time someone is getting promoted
is when they take on more responsibility to deliver more results.
There's no such thing as I want to do more strategy and less execution in a startup it just doesn't work that way
yes if you're the founder of the business you're going to be more strategic but you're also still
going to execute this still execution needs to happen and it just looks very different at every
level but yeah that's such i mean just generally that's a red flag for me. I, as soon as I hear it, it just waves this big red flag in my mind.
And I'm like, there's something not connecting here.
Like this needs to be a conversation.
Yeah.
The other piece of this that I think is interesting, and I wonder how you feel about this.
I had this conversation with a friend last week around as an entrepreneur or someone
who's like so high achieving and works a lot like we do,
you know, this friend was saying, observing that I work a lot and was like, how, you know,
how do you feel about how much you work? Like, it seems like you work a lot. And I'm like, yeah,
but I love to work and blah, blah, blah. And they were asking like, well, what do you do that isn't
work? What do you do that's working with something where, but you don't have to think about it. It's not, it's not strategized. And I was like, oh man, like yard, yard work was the
example they used. Um, and they used to own a really successful business and, and sold it and
said doing yard work was a really important way that they would decompress from, to be able to
think like it got them out of, out of work mode and into like visioning and just
letting thoughts flow and I was like oh how interesting because it's kind of the same
principle of sometimes you just have to just mellow and and go do something like chopping
wood or carrying water like something that is very tactile and executional in the business
or in your life where you aren't up in the clouds
thinking about all the problems and you aren't trying to strategize anything. You're just in
the day-to-day of life with all of the circumstances that you're in. And it gives your brain this
outlet to have the great idea or to let something go or to process something that needs processed.
And I think this is another nuance of entrepreneurial mindset do's where it's like you almost have to have something outside of the business that is
some kind of work, you know, like a hobby or something that gives your brain that repetitive
executional work, quote unquote work, so that you can process some of the stuff that's hard to process inside of the business or inside
of the day-to-day of your life. And that's one of the things I feel like I've been missing recently
is like, I don't have a lot of those hobbies or practices in my life. And I'm feeling like then
I end up ruminating on things all day long, you know, and it's like, oh, this is a big piece of
entrepreneurial mindset is to get out of the business and go process externally in other ways. So do you feel like,
how do you do that? Do you have something that is completely tangential to the business that
helps you process where you have ideas? I don't know if I have necessarily like a hobby or
something that I'm doing that helps me get out, but I know white space is really important for me so I definitely think everyone needs it I think everyone needs thinking time but white space
is just really really important as soon as I have that I have more clarity more energy more aliveness
everything and that always floods into the business but when I am stuck in the business and
I'm back to back and it's meetings and it's launches and it's
execution and it's things and things there's not really much time to be able to pull out and kind
of see the wood for the trees and really have a sense of where you want to go new ideas things
like that whereas things that I do that really really support me is working out. I love reading. I love just sitting with a cup of coffee
outside in silence. I love driving either with music on or a podcast on just like little pockets
of time throughout the whole week that gives me that white space and gives me the time to think
like today. This is what I started having
meetings at 2 30 p.m today so I had a 2 30 till 3 and then I have this podcast 3 till 4
but before that I had nothing on my calendar and I should show you to the side of me I have
12 pages of writing and notes and graphics and curriculum and ideas because i did the same thing last friday full day
of white space and i picked it back up today and everything's flowing whereas if i was back to back
if i started my day with meetings that wouldn't have happened whereas when i can end my day with
a meeting or like something like this where i'm actually like on a call talking it would happen so I like
that and I and I like for my time to not be so time bound like okay you have an hour to think
go think like that just doesn't work for me so yes I and I don't think we should have our entire
lives wrapped up in the businesses either I think that in the beginning sometimes that's necessary
like sometimes in the beginning when you're just trying to get something off the ground,
it's going to require like every minute of your day, every day.
I get that.
But I think as your business starts to find its footing and a bit more stable ground,
it's really important that your entire life isn't wrapped up in the business.
That just breeds so many more problems.
It breeds your worth being tied up in the business, your identity being tied up in the
business, you know, your happiness being tied up in the business your identity being tied up in the business you know your happiness being tied up in results your confidence being tied up in you know
clients there's just a lot of problems that come with that and I can just say that from perspective
of being in that many many times so I really try for my business not to be the biggest part of my
life and not to be like the thing that I just
think about 24 7 which is really hard as an entrepreneur but you know like I texted you last
night at like 8 p.m I just had a million dollar idea today like I am an entrepreneur at heart I'm
always going to think in in business stuff but I really try to not just like constantly ruminate
on it yeah which by the way it's a really good idea. And I think we
should do it now. Oh, we are doing it, but we're not going to tell the people yet because it's,
it has to come to life and then everybody's going to want it. It's so good. Um, we, we,
we like can't stop, won't stop with the ideas and the generator. Let's just do a million things at
once. Um, okay. This is the last one on the do's list. And then I want to talk about some don'ts,
but the, yeah, the last one on the do's list that also comes off of what you just said is, I think
one of the mindset do's that I've learned from you and in my own personal work over the last few
years, and I think you and I talk a lot about is understanding what your set point is around money,
around what is enough, around freedom, around time,
really being honest with yourself and unapologetic about your personal set point of enoughness for
you, right? Where it's like, how much money and why? How much free time and why? Because just
like what you just said, there are seasons where you're like, this is an 80-hour week season
because this is brand new and I don't have a family yet and I'm going to go
all in on it. I'm going to work my full-time job on the side or I'm gonna work my full-time job
and I'm gonna build this business on the side. And like the set point is really high at that
point, right? Like you have a high tolerance for time invested in everything. You're trying to make
as much money as possible. Like there's the seasons of your set point. But I think where the mindset of this can become problematic is when
we aren't honest with ourselves or we are responsive to some outside pressure on the
set point. And now all of a sudden we are aiming for targets or we are...
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collecting payment all the things so much simpler one of our mottos at Boss Babe is
simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to
share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your
business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and
making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi
to all of my clients and students. So if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet,
now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial.
Go to kajabi.com slash Boss Babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's kajabi.com slash boss babe. You know, just flying down the highway,
pursuing something that isn't truly aligned for us. And we are not taking the time to go, why?
And why am I doing this? What is really enough for me? And when I hit these set points, like the
income set point or the recognition or whatever the things are, and you get there and your first
inclination is like, oh, I want more now. I think there's so many questions and so much mindset to learn
in those opportunities. And I think naturally a lot of our culture is like,
more is more is more. There's no such thing as a set point. It's just always more. And I think
that's actually a very negative mindset for a lot of us to be in because it
sends us down paths that burn us out or it sends us down paths that take us very far
out of alignment.
And then we blow up our businesses or we blow up our marriages or we blow up our health
or whatever happens.
And it's all tied back to this question of like, at what point in your mind did you override
your natural set point or your truth to pursue something that wasn't
yours or that that wasn't really true or you're aligned um and and i i know we talk about this a
ton but how do you feel about the mindset of what is enough and and how do we practice knowing what
that is and and being really unapologetic about guarding our truth there i love that you're
bringing up so many you're dropping so much fire on this podcast i'm like damn it i'm making so
many notes so good see preparation is key yeah we prepared i love it it shows um yeah this is a
really really interesting one and i also think it's so much more prevalent in America like Canada the UK
those kind of cultures I mean I know these cultures but it's very different to like European
culture I think I think everyone's kind of catching up to this which is also quite sad but
there's definitely more is more is more I know it's more over here like I've got to say when I
go back to the UK things slow down for me and it's
you know I still would say like I'm around really ambitious people and things like that but that
just feels like a bit more balance whereas over here it's just so interesting having the perspective
of working in both so that's there's lots to unpack there. So this enoughness piece,
I feel like I had to learn the hard way
because everything you're describing, I was.
I was this person that was on this magic carpet ride
of more without even realizing it.
In my head, I just wanted to be able to like
hit my full potential
and I knew I was capable of more.
So I wanted to do more.
And I don't think there's
anything wrong with that if it's coming from the right place and it's not there because you're
externalizing your worth your happiness your fulfillment your value all of that and I think
that's the piece that we need to look at so I think enoughness looks very, very different for every single person. If you really tap in, it's just what does a really happy life look like to me?
And for every single person, it's going to be different depending on what life stage
you're at, what your aspirations are.
It's not like what's my highest vision of all the things I want to have and achieve,
but what does a happy life look like?
And that's what I ask myself all the time.
And there's very much like a baseline of stuff. And I will also say I had this massive download in an ayahuasca journey that I did that gave me a lot of perspective early
on. But I had such a big download of what matters to me is the people in my life. And it's, you know,
it's not about the big fancy house, it's people in my life my happiness my fulfillment how good I feel in my body in my mind like being at home with myself all of that stuff
and my ambition is something that's fun and it's a place that I can play out my creativity
it's a place that I can push my edges it's it's fun but it's not everything and that was just a big distinction for me so
I feel like I got really clear on what was super important to me and I know for me I just won't do
anything that's going to put my marriage in jeopardy that's going to put my relationship
with my baby in jeopardy that's going to damage relationships with my close friends and family
that's really really important to me and of course there's you know having relationships with my close friends and family. That's really, really important to me.
And of course, there's, you know, having a roof over your head and food and like the basics.
But I luckily, you know, don't have to worry about that part now.
But I would never do anything that's going to put that in jeopardy.
And so even Stephen and I were sitting down this week,
planning what our summer looks like and putting in vacations and stuff like that.
And I was looking at it just thinking like, that would be an epic time for a launch and I could totally see what we could do
there and you know being in Europe is such great content what are we and I remember I just caught
myself and thought yeah but this summer's about me and my husband it's not about the business
it's not about the goals it's not any of that so I bring myself back to what's important and yes I
have this vision of you know what being in these
cute European cafes and writing and being creative and doing all that stuff but it's for fun and I'm
not going to jeopardize what's important to me so I think just knowing that I'm curious how you think
about it as well I think you probably when we've talked have had a similar perspective but it's so
easy to miss the what we call the basics which actually is like what life is all about in my opinion so
easy to miss that in search for moreness and fanciness and like I'm gonna be liked from
buying more people if I have a much fancier house so I'm gonna be so much happier if I have those
extra bedrooms and you know coming from someone that could have had that or could still have that
it's interesting like I'm I remember
before I had a lot of money walking into a store and like seeing a handbag that I couldn't afford
and thinking once I could buy that handbag I would feel so happy and it would be like I'd carry it
everywhere and it would just change the way I feel walking into a store now knowing I could afford
any handbag I'm like cool I like to know I can afford it that feels good enough I don't actually
want the handbag and so it's just interesting having know I can afford it that feels good enough I don't actually want
the handbag and so it's just interesting having that perspective and I share it not to be like
oh I have all this money but I share it to say like I have I have gotten to a certain place I
feel like I've gotten a certain perspective that I really want to share because if you are chasing
something like money something very external thinking that it's going to change everything
for you I just want to say it probably isn't there's a certain level of money that will change everything
and i heard it's like you know you need a household income between 200 and 250k to like
live super comfortably in the u.s yeah the the studies used to say you know if you're involved
in 70 000 a year it doesn't change in the u US, those are the numbers I'm hearing. And I honestly agree.
Yeah. And I feel like as you're talking, I'm like, there's this thing called the gift card effect. I
mean, that's what I'm calling it. It probably has an actual psychological name, but it's like,
if I go into a store and I go to Target and my normal Target checkout is like 200 bucks. I don't
know how I have kids. Like every time I go to freaking target, I spend $200. Like it's just, it's easy to do. But if I go into target with a
$200 gift card, I am paralyzed. Like I, I don't feel like buying anything, you know, like I, I'm,
I, I so much more discerning about how I spend the money because now I have the money and it's not
like it's, it's, it's tangible to me. And I'm like,
oh, now I'm really going to consider this money and what I want to exchange this gift card for.
And it's so it, I think this is common, but it's, it's a really interesting phenomenon where I'm
like, okay, do I really want any of these things? You know, if it's just, if I'm going in and I'm
not paying attention, then I, I throw a bunch of stuff in the cart. When I have a gift card, I'm really conscious of
value. And, and I feel like that's how I've evolved in this, like what's enough
realm for me where I have a big house. This is my dream home. And I, I like for, you know,
I'm 41, like for, since I have been an adult, I have dreamed about living in literally the exact house I have now. But beyond this, I don't want for anything. Like we, we had
dinner the other night with an investor in, in RT's business who flew in on a private jet, who's
worth hundreds of millions of dollars, at least I didn't ask, um, flew in on his private jet,
was telling us all about his life and his jet and every, you know, very humble, lovely man. And I was like,
I, I don't like, I don't want a private jet. Like that just doesn't, I mean, it's fun to talk about,
but I'm like, that's not one of my goals. Like I, I just don't relate to that. Like,
and I, I don't need a fancy car and you know, and so I'm like, I have this beautiful home
and there's nothing else that really feels like the next big aspirational thing.
I'm like, oh, wow, this is what enoughness feels like.
Like I have a very comfortable amount of income.
And aside from having some debt that I'd love to pay off, that would free up my mindset
around money some more.
But ultimately, it's like I'm not willing to sacrifice my health, my time with my kids, my time with my partner,
myself, like my own personal mental health to work harder at this point. You know, like I
want to do more and I want to like grow what we're already talking about doing, but I don't
feel this need to like go add capacity and do a lot more stuff because I'm not in a season of like, I have to work 80
hours to achieve this goal. There's nothing else that I really want. And I think that I'm privileged
to have gotten here and it's been 20 years of working to get here. But I'm finally at that
point of like, oh, wow, now that I have the money, what would I want to spend it on? And I find
myself in that gift card phenomenon feeling a lot where I'm like, Hmm, I could buy that. Like I could go on that vacation. I could
do whatever, but I don't, I don't want it, you know? And I'm like, this is so interesting
things I used to pine for. I no longer want because now I can actually afford them.
And so I do think this is a mindset thing that's common. And I think it's something that
is hard to feel until you get there.
It's kind of like motherhood.
It's like until you are one, it's hard to describe it.
But I think it's an important reminder that if you're really self-aware, you can choose
these things in the beginning of the business so that you never hit the burnout.
You never over exceed your capacity.
You never get to a point where you fall out of love with what you're doing in your business
because you started doing it because you loved it. And now you're only doing it to make money.
And, and I think I have landed there so many times in business. I started it because I loved it
and I stopped it and I ended up hating it. You know, I ended up only doing it because we needed
the money and it caused so many problems. And now I'm like, I'd never want ended up hating it. You know, I ended up only doing it because we needed the money and it caused so many
problems.
And now I'm like, I'd never want to be there again.
And one of the solves for that is really, truly being honest with myself about what
I want to spend money on and how much money that takes and then not taking on a bunch
of new things just to have more money.
And that's a practice like that is an ever evolving, as you know, because we have a million
ideas. You know, we're always like, we could do these ideas. And is this an idea we want to do? Because it's, we want to bring these things to our customers or to new customers? Or is this just a way of, of like, getting in more top line revenue? And if that's all, if that's all it really is, then like, it's not a right now thing. So yeah, this is, this is
very alive for me because it's a newer experience for me to feel like I have the big things I've
always wanted now. And I get to just enjoy the peace and really go back within and be like,
man, it's edgy to feel peaceful in my day-to-day life and not feel like I need to keep striving
for things. And that is a new level of
personal development where I don't need the mindset of how to go get more. I need the mindset of how
to stay here and be happy. Yeah. How to steward what you have. Yes. Yes. I love that. And I think
it's important to share this too, because it's the perspective that I wish I had at the beginning of
my journey. Like there was so many things that I spent money on that.
Like, I'm like, oh my God, why didn't I just keep that and save it?
And, or why did I say yes to this?
Like there were so many of those decisions throughout the way that I kind of wish I had
someone else to listen to, to be like, oh, they got there and this is how they felt.
Okay.
Maybe I shouldn't be chasing that.
Maybe I'm chasing the wrong thing.
That perspective earlier
on I think would have been really powerful so I love that and then yeah your mindset moves to like
how do I steward what I have and most people listening to this they have so much that is of
value to them that is important like and it can be really easy to forget that when you haven't hit
some of these external goals you
might be thinking about um so it's always yeah it's always an interesting conversation and I
always think like whenever I'm around people that are much further ahead than me and they give me
perspective I always feel like oh that is powerful and I know that's probably just saved me 10 years
of headache and heartache so I'm I love that and I love being able to have conversations
like that here and bring in people that maybe have been a little bit further ahead and like
have that perspective I just think is very very powerful and yeah not neglecting your health and
yourself I also just you know when we're talking and wrapping this up about mindset every entrepreneur should have I really think we should have this commitment to always be doing the work so we can honor what's
true for us because when we talk about perspective and like the advice we wish we had I got into some
situations that I would never have gotten into had I valued myself and had the confidence to speak up
to be able to see my worth to be able to have quote-unquote uncomfortable decisions conversations
and I really wish I had spent the time in the beginning working on those skills as well as
the marketing skills as well as well as those things I really wish I'd spent the time in the beginning working on those skills as well as the marketing skills as
well as well as those things I really wish I'd worked on myself because I could have avoided a
lot of pain doing that as well so that also is just something I want to say to every entrepreneur
at every stage of your journey even if you've been in business a really long time but you feel like
you haven't done that work and it shows up in negotiation decision making partnerships whatever
it is invest in that like that is some time and money well spent trust me I wish I'd known that
earlier well and don't you think that maybe the most fundamental, most important mindset of an entrepreneur is you have
to be okay with discomfort. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable and you have to know what
discomfort does to your body. You have to be able to feel uncomfortable and stay true to yourself.
And I think that's what I've learned from the most successful entrepreneurial people I know is
all of their stories of like the big moments in their lives was when something really uncomfortable
happened in their life or their business. And they didn't run and they didn't make an excuse
and they didn't put their head in the sand. Like they, they made hard choices and they learned from
mistakes and they maybe had to go through something that was terrible or hard.
But they, like you said, it's like getting up and being kicked out of class.
Like they will never make that mistake again.
And I just think like if there's one part of your mindset you want to work on as an entrepreneur, it's that. It's learning what your tolerance for discomfort is, how you manage it in your nervous system, how you manage it in your personality, how you manage it in your team and your business, how you manage it in your personal life and getting better at that.
I think that's how from there is the downward effect of everything else we talked about.
Yeah, but you know what's really interesting?
I remember being really okay with discomfort in my business when it maybe came to uncertainty when it came to putting myself out there when it
came to that kind of discomfort I was fine with it I'm like I know this is gonna get me results
I'm fine with it I was really afraid of discomfort in my emotions discomfort with letting people
down or how I perceived it making other people feel uncomfortable through an uncomfortable
conversation like I could be so comfortable in the things I could control and then I would avoid
the uncomfortable conversations I would avoid you know speaking up for myself and my worth
just in case it would make someone else uncomfortable maybe because I didn't see my
own worth and I thought maybe that it would not you know there's lots of things but I was fine with that other discomfort but I hadn't
done the work to be able to be uncomfortable in myself and in conversations with others
and I think a lot of entrepreneurs will relate to that because for me my default was achievement my default was doing hard things
my default was I'll work the longest hours I'll put the most time in I'll learn the mastery
that was my default but my default was then I'm also going to avoid the really hard emotional
stuff or I'm going to avoid having to go to those places within myself that was work that I also should have done
like the the external stuff's important but so is the internal yeah I mean I think that's the
other piece of maybe that's the even deeper layer of all of this is like and maybe you agree with
this I I don't know if I agree with this but I'm gonna say it I I think a lot of the most successful
maybe not the most well-known but but the actual most successful entrepreneurial people who have success over and over and over as entrepreneurs and who are actually like healthy, happy humans, they have done an immense amount of inner work. They have a very high tolerance for exactly what you just described, the internal discomfort
of what it is to be an entrepreneur and to have so much uncertainty and to have to have
risk tolerance and to be in uncomfortable situations that you can't control.
And also the positive side of entrepreneurship.
I also think one of the things we haven't talked a lot about is like entrepreneurship
can also be immensely fulfilling, immensely rewarding physically,
like financially and recognition wise. Like a lot of people, especially these days,
like a lot of entrepreneurship is getting massive recognition in the, in the form of a following or
virality or financial rewards. And I think you also have to have immense inner, you know, this, this very well honed inner world in order
to hold that capacity to the positive side of all of it, not just the hard stuff.
And I think when I, when I meet people who like this person I met the other night,
who's this investor in RT's business and who I was just in awe of, you know, and I'm like, man,
he's had as many businesses fail as he has succeed and has now has, you know, hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. And, and it was like,
every single thing has taught him a lesson about how to hold capacity, how to hold energy,
no matter if it's good or bad. Right. And I was like, damn, that's the differentiator of
massive entrepreneurial success is like,
you can hold the energy no matter what is happening and you can stay in it and you can
maintain your inner alignment. And I think that's ultimately what we're getting at with like
everything we've talked about today. And I would say you and I, we are aware of that, but we're
works in progress. You know, like this is, this is the work that we're currently in internally. And we talk about you and I a lot of like, okay, how do we just
hold energy for this happening and stay as neutral as possible? That's really hard.
Yeah. I love that. I mean, mic drop. I think we can call a lot of podcasts, you know,
the inner work, baby. That's what it always comes back to ever
and we got to do the inner work for it to show up in the outer i'm here for it okay if you love
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