the bossbabe podcast - 444. Your Work is Not Your Worth: The Real Path to Freedom + Your Most Profitable Year in Business Yet

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Welcome to the first episode of 2025! Join Natalie + Lindsay as they reflect on their biggest lessons from 2024 + dive into how to redefine freedom in business while staying aligned with your values. This episode unpacks how freedom evolves over time, how Maslow's Hierarchy applies to entrepreneurship, and why your work is not your worth. The conversation is filled with practical insights on goal-setting, anti-goals, managing a lean team, and creating a sustainable and joyful business. Plus, hear about the exciting launch of the Bossbabe Planner (in Walmart stores now… what a freaking pinch me moment!) and how it can help you map out a fulfilling + intentional year. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: What freedom in business actually means and how it evolves over time. Why less complexity and alignment can lead to more profit + joy. How Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ties into business and mindset growth. Lessons on navigating team dynamics and maintaining high standards. How to set anti-goals to avoid burnout and create a business you love. A behind-the-scenes look at Bossbabe’s most profitable year yet + the creation of the Bossbabe Planner in Walmart stores now. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Intro 00:13 – Kicking off 2025 with reflections on 2024 and setting intentions for the new year. 01:04 – The surprising results of 2024: How Bossbabe achieved its highest revenue and profit year without making it the primary goal. 01:57 – The power of saying no: Cutting non-essentials and focusing on what moves the needle. 03:19 – Lessons learned in hiring, firing, and aligning your team with your values. 04:57 – Why you don’t need a big team to run a successful business — simplicity is key. 07:47 – Navigating cancel culture and embracing confidence in setting high standards. 09:43 – Why authenticity and alignment are more important than ever in online business. 12:37 – The importance of building a freedom-based business that prioritizes alignment and integrity. 16:12 – Personal reflections from Natalie: Balancing motherhood, business, and personal growth. 18:33 – How Maslow’s Hierarchy applies to entrepreneurship: From survival to true freedom. 22:31 – The magic of white space: Why clarity often comes from slowing down and creating space. 27:09 – Freedom redefined: Choosing how you work today to create a life you love tomorrow. 28:34 – Why freedom is more about mindset than money — and how to break free from “moreness.” 31:28 – Your work is not your worth: The mindset shift every entrepreneur needs. 37:43 – Behind the scenes of the Bossbabe Planner: Why it’s the ultimate tool for intentional goal-setting. 45:12 – The importance of planning: How laying out your year helps you avoid reactivity and overwhelm. 49:39 – Wrapping up: Creating a proactive, intentional year and prioritizing what truly matters. RESOURCES + LINKS Get Your Bossbabe x Bly Sky Planner Here. Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More.  Join The Société: Our Exclusive Membership To Help You Build A Freedom-Based Business. Learn Natalie’s Proven Method for Building a Profitable, Predictable, Freedom-Based Business and Get Back to WHY you Became an Entrepreneur in this FREE 90-Minute Training. 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 

Welcome to the first episode of 2025. I am so excited to be doing this. Lindsay, welcome. Hello. Happy, welcome. Hello, happy new year. So Lindsay has been in Austin with me and the whole family for Christmas, which was absolutely amazing. We had the best time and we wanted to record this and drop in with a little bit of a reflection from 2024, talking about intentions for 2025. And then also, I really want to dive into our goal setting process. I absolutely love hearing how other people set their goals and how they think about the year and then generally how people stay on track. So that's really what we want to get into. But I think starting with a little bit of reflection would be really powerful.

And maybe you can just share some kind of highs, lows, lessons growing. I first want to say we had our highest revenue and profit year in Boss Babe history in 2024 which feels so surreal because it was not even the intention going into the year. Like it was not a goal we set for the company, it was not something we've been working towards. The goal has been let's build something that is deeply aligned with us, is impactful, let's serve, let's show up, let's not compromise our values, our integrity, our priorities, and this is the result of it. So firstly, go us.

Yeah, no, I feel like even in the spring, we started cutting things off of our list that we had thought we might do when we did planning in January. And we were like super excited about and then by mid spring, we were like, ooh, that's too much. And we started cutting things off and still ended up here, which is a testament, I think of like what we'll talk about today. It's just relentless coming back to is this truly a needle mover? No shiny object syndrome, no like wishy washy yeses. Like everything we said yes to, we went all in on. And the things that were interesting but weren't actually going to move the needle, we like, it was hard, but we said no to and it worked. And of course we have an incredible team who are just,

you know, treat this like their own business and work really hard and always are finding ways to optimize and make things better and easier and smoother. And I think it shows in what we produce and how we change people's lives. The next round of a program or on the next launch, there's so many people that have seen the results and are so excited to be in, you know, it makes every launch moving forward even easier. I think it does show we have such a dedicated committed team. And we've obviously gone through team changes. Last year, we made a lot of team changes. And I really do think we are getting better at letting people go who aren't aligned and just, yeah, making decisions faster for the good of the overall team, because it really affects the overall team when there's someone on the team that isn't pulling the same weight. It's very,

very felt. And because everyone treats the company like it's their own business, they take it personally. I've realized for me, it's on me to make decisions like that very quickly. And I used to really struggle with that. Yeah, I think lots of lessons learned there. And also just on, we've talked about this with team on not hiring until we're ready. You know, like I think we got ahead of ourselves on a few things where it was like, oh, this was a great, this is a great idea. Let's hire and then we'll roll it out versus rolling it out, letting people get to full capacity and then hiring to fill the gap. So yeah, good lessons learned there.

And just like timing throughout the year and making sure that we're hiring when it's the right time in the business to be able to onboard people and then it matches up to the prioritization of that season in the business. So yeah, I mean, but overall, I think people are constantly, I see it on our calls all the time and our programs are people like, wait, you guys only have 10 people? Like, yeah, you don't have to have a big team to have a big business, especially if you do what we're going to talk about today, which is really planning well, sticking to systems, process sizing everything, having, you know, we don't do anything like

loosey goosey. We test things, everything has an SOP, stuff is planned out way ahead of time. Maybe, I mean, some of the lessons we learned this year, I feel like we're, we almost like overdid it sometimes on planning and data. And then we, you know, then when you go to want to shift something midstream, you're like, oh, but all the data that we're going to lose out on, because we were so prepared. And then we had to make like midstream changes. But you know, I think more than anything I've ever seen in our business, we stick to, we keep it as simple as possible and then we stick to simplicity and we don't add extra frill. And I think that's like a counterintuitive

from the outside. I think people think we have all these systems running, we have all these staff members doing stuff all the time and we're, you know, that there's all this complexity to get to these big launch numbers and really, no, I mean, all our whole team works and our whole team supports launches, but yeah, there's 10 of us. So that was a huge lesson learned this year is these kinds of results aren't the result of tons of complexity or tons and tons of people. It's really the result of knowing what works and just doing those things, doubling down when things work, saying no to distractions, taking good care of ourselves so everybody stays healthy,

that kind of stuff. Yeah, I will say going into this year, obviously we are going to be expanding our content team, but I'm unapologetically going to hold really high standards for anyone that is going to join the team. We've built a team. I just feel like we really need to protect and it's so fascinating because I've posted now on Instagram a couple of times about hiring in our content team. And I've asked for creative applications.

I cannot tell you how many applications I've had that is just an email with a CV a bog standard cover letter and the email says, please find my attached CV and cover letter. And I look at it and I'm like, you're not even trying. Like I've asked for a creative application. We have a company that is so great to work for. We offer so many benefits, a really great culture, really great pay, all that stuff. And I'm like, this is a really creative role. If you can't even show me what you would do at the company, like the answer is no.

And I'm really gonna be unapologetic about that. Honestly, I think there was a couple of years that I felt like I couldn't be unapologetic about that because the whole cancel culture was so intense and the way business owners were just being put down constantly. And I'm just gonna say it, to be honest, businesses with like a lot of followers on Instagram or

businesses that have a certain level of success, right? It's so fascinating because there are people on Instagram that will literally see us as like a David and Goliath situation. You're like, this is so incorrect. Like in comparison to just general businesses across the country, we are the tiniest of tiny, tiny, tiny company. Like yes, somewhat more success than solo printers or whatever. And yes, we have amassed a huge following and all that stuff.

But the way that people would come for companies like ours, mainly, if not always, women-owned companies, I think it just made me have a bit of hesitation about what kind of standards I was holding. And I'm just not doing it anymore. I'm really not available for that. You know, I mean, we can talk about it a little bit if we want to, but we've dealt with some shit this year. And I have really started to come into my own level of confidence around I'm not putting

up with it. And so from like a social media standpoint, yeah, I'm not putting up with it. And so from like a social media standpoint, yeah, I'm not putting up with it. And with having high standards when we hire, I'm going to maintain that. And I'm going to be reading on a project about who we're looking for and all that. I think 2024 taught me a lot of lessons and just had me really stand in my own power, which I'm really carrying in 2025. I mean, it's interesting. We talk about it a lot. And I said it recently, it's like 2025 has like mid decade energy, you know?

Like it's like 2025. I think it's people's like, finally we're through the COVID era. Like the energy feels different. But at the same time, there's still a lot of volatility. There's an inauguration coming up, you know? There's still like all these question marks in people's minds. And I think a lot of us, I mean, for me, I know I'm a little sketched out by the fact that we went into 2020 with similar energy and then we got smacked in the face.

But I do think that this year has felt more like a big monumental shift in online entrepreneurship than the last several years. I think the COVID era bred so many people who could just easily make money and kind of half-asset or easily make money but be wildly out of alignment with what they were teaching or selling to people. And 2022, it was still okay. 2023 like started to kind of unravel in that way. And then 2024, I think was this like clearing house of people just washing out because either, yeah, they're wildly out of alignment. What they sell is no longer needed. Trends have shifted, culture has shifted. And the customer is just so discerning. And I think that part of that,

like cancel culture and everything that came out of 2020, when there was this rush online, like we've now had several years to really learn what authenticity is on social media, who really has the mastery and the authority to be teaching and selling what they're teaching, who really gets results for their clients and who is talking total BS with what they show on social media. Like hint, hint, go Reddit people. Like that's what I do. And I'm so not here anymore for selling vapor to people.

I'm so not here anymore for selling vapor to people. I'm so not here anymore for selling results that aren't delivered, like promising things and then not even showing up in your own programs. Like how many times did we hear that this year? People we know that purchased programs or purchased expensive masterminds and then the leader didn't really show up to deliver, you know? And it's like so not who we don't do that kind of stuff. And also I hate hearing those stories because it kind of tarnishes the whole industry. And so I'm here for this like clearing of people where online business is not going to get easier, right?

Like in some ways there's tools that are coming, AIs making things so different, but it's not necessarily making it easier to run a business or easier to make money. And I think I'm here for the clearing of people that came into this industry because they thought it was easy. And then the COVID era did make it a little easier. And now like it's catching up and you actually have to bring authority and bring expertise and really deliver for your clients. And we work so hard to do that for our clients and by and large do such an incredible job

of that based on the testimonials and the feedback we get internally. And so I'm like, and we love to do it, you know? And so I'm just like, if you don't love being in this business, if you aren't really showing up and delivering what you're selling to people, if you don't want to work hard and continue to innovate and continue to evolve as an entrepreneur, like I think this is the turning point. Because I think from here on out, you're going to have like social media selling and online business is going to demand of you such excellence on all of those categories. Like the time of I can kind of half asset and make and have a seven figure business has passed. That's my rant.

Yeah. And I think that is still space for people buying from a lot of hype, but that's very short term. That's just not how you build a brand long term. Like you can share all the income claims and things like that as much as you want. But if you cannot deliver on the back end, it's just very short term and honestly that just leads to a very stressful business to run. And so I'm just a big fan of growing slower growing in a way

that feels really aligned growing from a place of integrity in your own work. If we're getting really honest, I mean, listen, my whole career, like especially running a company like Boss Vape, right? Like copying has always been a thing. Plagiarism always been a thing. This year in particular has been a challenging one for that. But what's been most challenging is the people that it's come from. And I'm not going to say too much more on that.

I don't like name names, but it was hurtful and very surprising. But what I have learned from that is I think I'm seeing people kind of scrambling to not know, well, what is my brand? What do I stand for? What is the thing that I teach? And when you aren't clear on that, you pull things from everyone else that seems to be working and you implement it.

And that probably works in the short term. It does not work in the long term. And I really think we get to be thinking long-term as business owners and we get to be thinking, what do I wanna be known for? What do I want to master? Like if you're here for the long run, then it's not about growing every single month

and having these humongous cash injections. It's about steady, predictable, profitable, repeatable. And it sounds boring, but if you're here to build a freedom-based business, those are the things that you really want to be looking for. And just ripping off someone else's business or frameworks or things like that, it's just not going to get you there. And it might take longer to do it in your own way, but it's so freaking worth it. And I think it's the people buy from people thing that we always say, you know, and people

buy from people when it we always say, you know, and people buy from people when it feels authentic and true and that that's actually that person's thing. And I think we sometimes discount that, you know, I can bring somebody else's work and somebody will buy it from me because they bought it from her. And it's just, I don't think that's how it works anymore. I think people are too smart for that now. And we're so tied into that. And we are so careful about,

you know, as we evolve, the brand evolves. And as we evolve the work that we focus on and what we say shifts and grows with who we are as humans and who our team is and how we deliver. And I think that would be a lesson from 2024 too, not necessarily just from us, but even in our clients of seeing people grow and evolve through the year and be like unapologetic about shifting the mission of the business, shifting the products they're selling, giving up on some things that just aren't working anymore and saying, you know what, it's not that it's a bad product. It's just that this is a lot people want from me anymore. So I'm going to go this way and like trusting that in staying so true to who I am, people

will buy from people. They'll still buy from me if what I'm selling is valuable and aligned and I'm doing it in a way that is an integrity. I'm such like a fan of just telling the truth, you know, and that that ultimately will attract the right people. So what other lessons from 2024, like personal lessons? You traveled a ton this year and we've talked a lot about that and like you sent to the newsletter right at the end of the year around like how much travel and just busy schedules and anti-goals. After that newsletter went out, I was at a Christmas party and somebody that's on our list was like, and Natalie sent this email about anti-goals and that was like the most

helpful thing I've ever read about goal setting. Like I've never thought of it that way. So yeah, what other like what other 2024 lessons? Yeah, so for anyone that didn't read the newsletter, I was reading a book called Never Enough by Andrew Wilkinson. And one thing he talks about is anti goals, or anti the Americans. And it was basically him thinking about all the things he didn't want, and setting goals from that place. And so for me, I was reflecting, I was actually reading it on a flight.

And I was starting to feel like, you know, there's been a lot of travel. So I went through my calendar and counted up and I'd done 19 trips in 2024. Now that did feel really aligned. I had the goal in 2024 to become a really great speaker. So I started speaking in 2023 and 2024. Like I'm kind of an all in kind of person. Like when I'm committed to something, I really want to master it. And that felt like a big next step for me was storytelling, speaking.

And I wanted to really throw myself in the ring with that. So I wanted to get on stages. I wanted to practice live in front of people. And so I loved it. And I did so many different types of trips. Most of it was speaking though. And we did some trips for fun too, but I feel like, of course, I'm going to master speaking after one year, but I feel like I really

got my feet in it. And I got some great experience that I'm going to be a lot more discerning about travel in 2025, and probably cut those trips in half, which feels really good. So that came up when I was thinking about anti-goals. And then on a personal level, you know, I think just for me, the last couple of years now, I've been in motherhood for just over two and a half years. And I think that has just been the biggest initiation for me in terms of the new identity. I've really discovered it myself, like the first year of Noemi's life, you know, I was dealing with a lot on the business side and my own postpartum stuff that I was not really from a place of like, who do I want to build into it was very reactive of like, how do I get through

this? How do I solve this situation? Like, there was a lot of shit to deal with. Whereas 2024 felt like the year that I got to really think about, you know, who do I want to be? How do I want to show up and find my feet properly in all of this? And I think I really did. And part of that for me has been speaking my truth a lot more, listening to my inner voice a lot more, and just being very open and honest about what that means. And it has meant some relationship shifts, like friendship, it's meant a lot of that.

And that can be challenging at the time, but I know the way I feel now after making a lot of those shifts feels really good. It's been being more unapologetic, you know, just this morning, I sent a text to a group chat I'm in saying, you know, I actually, I'm not prioritizing this. Like this isn't, I don't really wanna be on my phone

much outside of work. And this just isn't feeling like a place I want to invest my energy and I want to name it so that I'm not in story about feeling guilty or like that you guys think I've just disappeared with no explanation, this is my truth. And that's a really good practice to me. So I'm gonna take that into 2025 for sure.

And I just really want to work on myself. I just want to be the happiest, healthiest version of myself for all the things that are coming next. From a professional standpoint, you know, we have a really big thing coming in 2025, and I just want to be the best version of myself. So however that looks, I'm going to really be prioritizing. I think the anti-goals, I mean, I know for myself, it's always been more, right? Like goals have always meant doing more or better at something instead of like, how do I want to feel? And where do I want to source my energy from?

And what boundaries do I need to have? You know, like looking at all these other, you know, supportive structures in our lives that aren't necessarily like striving this energy energy of needing to do things more. I think this idea around taking care of ourselves and that people... It all ties together for me. It's like people buy from people. And so for us to show up in our own authenticity and to be good leaders in our business inside of Boss Baby, you and me, but also just in general people, if you're not taking good

care of yourself, and it doesn't necessarily mean like, I'm just talking about exercise, but just as a human, I'm like, are you good? How are you really, as our friend Jenna would say, I just see so many people, you and I were just talking about this this morning, people that are miserable, they're just miserable people. It's thinly veiled and they show up in their business

and they show up for their clients and they show up in their friendships and they're like, there's this thin veil of I'm okay, but really underneath the surface, something's really wrong. I don't know that it's a common thread for everybody that something's wrong, but I feel it from a lot of people. I'm like, you're just wildly out of alignment. Like, is this really what you want to be doing for work? Like, do you really want to be this visible?

Like, do you really want to not have more kids or do you really want to have more kids? Like, what's the thing that's the undercurrent of what this energy is that we feel? Because you can mask it, but ultimately, it's that energy that is telling the universe what to bring to you, right? And like how to present situations and just such a believer in like, the truth is going to find you. And if you're out of alignment, and you're pursuing things that aren't meant for you, or you're chasing something that's someone else's. And if you're out of alignment, and you're pursuing things that aren't meant for you, or you're chasing something that's someone else's thing, or you're copying, like we just talked about, like, you're going to be feeling the resistance and the hard in business. And then

that starts to become resentment, you know? And then we start down these paths that we talk about a lot around, why is my business not working? I resent my business. When I'm working, I want to be with my kids. And when I'm with my kids, I want to be working. And it's like, okay, instead of setting all these goals and sending ourselves down paths where we're pursuing things that aren't really for us, can we get back to these fundamentals of like, yeah, what are the priorities? How do I want to feel? What do I need more of day to day that's like energetic or environmental or situational, not financial or audience-based or ego-driven. I think it's such a, you know, there's structure that you can use to build some of that stuff in

and to hold yourself accountable to that. And I think a lot of it is like practice. It's just doing it and holding yourself to the truth and the standards that you set for yourself. And you talk about this a lot of like, we shouldn't need to have all these like big goals because if we can't hold ourselves accountable day to day to just get done the day to day things in excellence, the big goals aren't gonna happen. And so it's much more effective and much more telling of who you are

to be able to do stuff day to day. And so do we need big goals or do we just need to like set ourselves up for success every day and do the things you're talking about? Like call out the friendships that drain you, get rid of the programs in your business that drain you, hire or fire in a way that energizes you, take care of your body in a way that energizes you. I think so many of us are so, so, so depleted from years of burnout and years of self-sacrifice

for whatever reason that we've chalked it up to, that's probably valid. And once you reach a level of depletion, it's so hard to come back from unless you're so, so intentional about it. And I think, I don't know, I'm just, I see that so much. It kind of goes back to what I was already saying around this like clearing, I feel. I feel like people are washing out for so many different reasons. And some of it is lack of alignment in the business and like the business not working anymore.

And some of it is they're so burned out. They're so depleted. They like just can't physically muster it anymore. And they need to go find security in a different type of career. And that's totally okay. But I see that coming in 2025 around goal setting and planning is like less around big goals and big numbers and all that stuff and more around like, what does it feel like day to day to be in your life?

And is that really what you want? Because that's what other what like why do this otherwise? You know, like if your life doesn't feel how you want it to day to day, why are you working so hard? And I don't think the answer to all of that is anything complicated. I personally believe the answer to a lot of that if you're listening and you're like, I actually don't know what's in alignment with me. I don't know what it feels like to be, you know, on a path that feels really good. I think that the solution to a lot of this is white space. And so many of us can be so uncomfortable with white space, whether it's going on a walk without your phone, whether it's sitting just thinking for an hour

with no phone, no TV, no distraction, no book, no nothing. I think that is where like, what do they say, the answers you're needing will be found in the work you're avoiding or something like that. Like, yeah, so much of it is just that white space. It is just being and we outsource a lot of those answers to coaches, therapists, friends, partners, all outside of us. And I just think it all exists within us if we give ourselves the space to sit with it.

And that, I mean, definitely for me as well, it's going to be a big thing. I continue to prioritize in 2025 white space on my calendar. When I'm thinking through anti goals and what I do and don't want, I don't want calendar pack full of meetings. I didn't want it this year. I didn't want it the year before that. And you know, the years before that, I kind of didn't have a choice, but I've been really intentional about what I do and don't want my calendar to look like

and made a lot of choices from that place. Just another thing that we have made a decision around, which we can be super honest, is we are not taking any more one-to-one clients or any more VIP days or anything like that. Because when I was looking at anti-goals, I didn't want the calls on my calendar. And I love serving clients, but I want't want the calls on my calendar. And I love serving clients, but I want to do it in a different way. And so it's things like that, you know, is that a hard decision to make? 100% because I absolutely adore getting to work with women that have businesses at a certain level, businesses that I genuinely admire, like I get

so lit up by it. And at the same time, it doesn't align with what I want. And so decisions like, and also it's very lucrative, let's be honest, like huge women pay me, you know, six figures, multiple six figures for that kind of consulting on their companies. And to say no to that and to let go of that, you know, we won't get into detail, but we let go of another seven figure line item on our P&L going into next year and I did it with joy. I didn't do it with like nervousness or anything like that. I did it with joy because I'm like, wow, what a gift to be able to do something like this to prioritize a freedom-based business because you don't just set, okay, here's how I'm going to run

my business and then you just go on your merry way and you never have to revisit. As your business grows, as you grow, you constantly need to revisit and what freedom might have looked like in 2023, it might be very different to what it looks like in 2025. Our versions of freedom, our versions of choice, all of it is going to continue to evolve as we do in our lives do and our different responsibilities do. And so I think the real freedom is having the choice, being able to choose and to let go of a line item like that. I do it with joy.

Like what a gift that we get to do something like this. I think that's such an important thing to click down on, double click on, whatever the term is, is the, the ability to choose and the season and like defining freedom and letting it evolve over time. Cause I also think the thing with goal setting, especially the beginning of the year goal setting. And we were talking about this too around, you know, if you had asked us in January of 2024, where we would end at December 2024, and like what we would be doing in the business right now, what the priorities in the business

would be in December 24. If you had asked us that in January, we would have a totally like 180 degree different business. We had plans in January that we did not execute on it that were very different than where we're at right now. And like both of them would have been a version of freedom because we would have just built around that being the focus. And so I think permission granted to evolve through time as you grow, as things happen in your life, as your business shifts, as the market around you changes. Like we've had so many conversations this year

with people in the health industry. And I'm like, man, those GLP ones, they have come and disrupted so freaking quickly and wildly changed the layout of that whole industry. And I'm like, man, if you had made a plan as a health coach in January and you are now here in December, things are really different for you

with the GLP one landscape and huge opportunity, right? Depending on how you look at it. And so same for us. And I think the other thing with annual planning and goal setting is like, sometimes, I've been victim to this is like, you get to the end of the year and you're like, dang, I didn't hit any of my goals. But you totally discount the fact that in the middle of the year, something happened with your family or you had a baby or you moved or something shifted in your market

that changed the layout of your rhythms and the season that you're in, and you have to count that against a goal. And so I think when we look at freedom, it's not freedom meaning, I'm going to only work 10 hours a week ever, and I'm going to make this much money with such little effort. It's like, no, freedom means choosing, which may mean in some seasons, you choose to go travel 19 trips and speak on a ton of stages,

and you have a season of becoming really good at that and mastering a skill set, and that does take more work, ostensibly, more time and harder work, and it earns you choice down the road as a result of that season of more work. And so I think it's so important when we talk about freedom to remind people, freedom doesn't mean not working.

Freedom means choosing how you work right now for some future priority, you know? And so that you get the further you go through your career and the further you go in your business, you have the luxury of more and more choice. And I think it's so easy sometimes to be like, oh, you only have freedom if you make over seven figures, you only have freedom if you're 10 years into business. And it's like, oh, you only have freedom if you make over seven figures, you only have freedom if you're 10 years into business.

And it's like, no, you can have freedom at any level. It's approaching each season with awareness to go, this is a push season. This is a season where I am going to work a lot more because it's going to earn me the choice of how I want to work six months from now. I like to clear that up because there's so much shit that gets thrown around about freedom and how it's not truly accessible to people. And I'm like, no, it is freedom. Doesn't mean you don't work.

Let's just be clear there. That's not what it means. Well, yeah, let's be clear. Freedom, a lot of the time is a mindset. So when you are, if we think about Maslow's hierarchy, when you are on those lower rungs and you cannot pay your rent, you cannot put food on the table, you literally don't have financial security. It is not a mindset, it is not a choice, it is you need money to have that

kind of safety and security. Freedom isn't available right there. But when you move past that and things are paid for, freedom becomes a mindset because let me tell you, I know someone with multiple millions in the bank who does not feel any sense of freedom because they have created a prison for themselves in their own mind of moreness from a place of not enoughness. So they constantly don't feel like enough and so they are doing more busy as a badge of honor, all the things, all the ways I used to be. And that is hard to watch because you know, it becomes a mindset at that point because if someone chooses, do you know what? And I know they're not happy. That's the thing. Like if you're happy doing it, cool, you're free.

Cause you're making your own choice when you are not happy and you are not choosing it, you are doing it from a place of programming. That's where you're creating the prison. And so it really is a decision to say, you know what, what would feel so good to me this year is to make this much money, is to work this many hours, is to work on this kind of thing, to work with these people. like real choice. What am I working on? What am I making? Who am I working with? Real freedom.

And here's the important part. And I'll feel really content with that decision. And that's the hard part because so much of us grew up being conditioned into believing that achievement would bring acceptance, that, you know, constantly striving and being the best would bring love, that we thought more money equals more security equals more happiness equals more peace, all the things. And so we're actually going against our own programming when we are deciding

what kind of mindset we're going to put towards freedom. And that's one of the biggest struggles that I see in people that have the safety and security covered. They're not worried about those things that is covered. But getting beyond that is a mindset thing. And here's some of the ways that might show up. I'll get kicked out of that mastermind.

I won't be invited into those rooms. People aren't going to buy from me anymore. People are going to think that I'm lazy. Oh, they're going to think that I'm just a fill in the blank. They're going to think I'm not as smart. They're going to think I'm making less money because I can't make more money, whatever it is, and it might not even be financial for you, but it will show up in so many different

ways. That is the prison you are building for yourself. And if you want to work on freedom, it's not another million. It is, okay, well, what does it look like for me to be happy in content? And if it really is very different from my current reality, then what mindset work do I need to do? Do I need to reprogram to get myself there? I sent out an email a few weeks ago and it was, your work is not your worth. But for so many of us,

it's the only way that we've ever viewed our worth. And so that's how we will measure it and we will measure ourselves. And I'm not saying don't be super ambitious. I don't set these massive goals. Do it. I'm setting such audacious goals, but it's the mindset from

which you set them. I loved that email. And if you're not on our email list, you should be because we send such gold, but that one's in our archives and it's so good. I think it's incredibly confronting for people, especially entrepreneurs, because it's so, so much of our identity of who we think we are is about what we create. And I know I've been in this place, and I felt this again recently where I'm like, what is my creative outlet? And how do I make work creative?

Or do I need a creative outlet, like an art form? You know, and I don't consider myself like a hobbies person. And I get wrapped around the axon, like work is work, my work is work, but is it also creative? Like, is it also my Dharma in the world? Is it also the way I'm gonna change humanity? Is it the way I serve people?

And it is, you know, but it's so easy, I think, for us to equate our whole entire, like, not just our identity, because that feels, like, we talk about that a lot. That can get very heady, but like, our impact on the world, it's like the only way a lot of us, I think, are conditioned to believe will ever have an impact on the world is through our business or like through how we make money, because money is the currency of the world, right?

And it's like, what other ways am I having an impact on the world that have nothing to do with the work I do or the business I have or the way that I make money? And that question for me has been confronting because it's like, oh, yeah, well, parenting, you know, friendship, volunteering, like whatever it is for all of us. But I think we don't give ourselves very much credit for that type of thing. And we are so much measured and measure ourselves on the financial, you know, like where we derive our financial security from. And so I think that's big work for 2025. And I think it ties in everything we've been talking about. But for me, especially where it's like, how do I bring more creativity and

like, tie back the other parts of who I am into work so that it's not just that I can't have this one to one connection of like, this is important because it makes money. You know, like it's also important because it's where I channel my creative energy. It's also important because this is how I change people's lives with the things that I know. This is where I send my love out to people that I can help with 10 years or 20 years of experience that I have that can help them skip the line, so to speak. You know, the things I wish people had done for me or the

things people did do for me that got me to here, you know? And I think, I don't know, maybe I'm getting like too esoteric, but I feel like when we look at our identity and we look at our work and we go, how do we set goals and how do we plan for a year ahead of us? It's like just as much about security and making money. And I know those things are important and wanting to feel free and how we get to do that. But it's also freedom in expressing who you are and having an impact on people beyond just taking their money.

How do you want to be known and what expertise do you have that you can change the world with? I think more than ever, that opportunity exists in 2025. That I feel really strongly of like, people are ripe for leaders right now. Like they're ripe for experts. They're ripe for people who are truly authentically contributing and not in a immoral or ulterior motive way, but people who truly are passionate about things and want to help people with their knowledge and their passion. And I like that because I feel like business got a little bit down the path of like people just using it to make money, you know? And I'm like, what about your creative outlet?

Like, I want to feel your heart in this. I want to feel your love in what you do. And I want to buy from people who really love what they do. And it's an outlet for their art form. So I don't know if I make any sense, but I just, I feel like we've had those conversations and part of it is like ruthlessly continuing to come back to the things that we're really good at because the things that we're really good at are in our business at least aligned with the things that we can be the most creative in. But it's also this personal checkpoint that we all need to have and I like to do around the first of the year that's like, what gives you energy? What lights you up? What do you love to do beyond making money? Because it's so easy to be like, well, I love making money.

Well, yeah, we know. We know. But what do you like love to do? What do you love to talk about? What mediums do you love to create in? And are those things in your daily repertoire? Because if they're not, the recipe is ripe for burnout in my mind, or ripe for lack of alignment, which eventually will lead to burnout.

At a certain point, all you're thinking about in your business when you're getting your business off the ground is money. That's really important because at the end of the day, if you don't do that, you'll never have that creative outlet because you'll be working a full-time job somewhere else and you'll be exhausted,

probably be too exhausted to put time into it. But then at a certain point, you have to recognize when it's moving beyond the financial means and do something that you enjoy. If it's a freedom based business, listen, if you're raising venture, whatever, it's different. But if you are wanting to build a freedom based business, you're here for the long run. You want to build something that adds to your life that takes away from it, then doing something

that you really like with people that you like, I think is really important. And we're not the podcast, that's gonna be like, who gives a shit if you're having fun? Like get up at 5 a.m., achievement at all costs. Like that probably, that was me, you know, a few years ago. When not the podcast for that, but the podcast for, yeah, let's make a shit ton of money, but let's do it in a way that feels good to us.

Let's do it in a way that feels like you know what your priorities are and you're putting them first. and you are doing it without sacrificing your principles. Let's do it that way. Like that's, that's who I fall. So anyway, before I feel like we could talk about this all day and I think, you know, you guys, if you're listening on Spotify or Apple, if you're on Spotify, you can actually leave comments for us wherever you're listening, maybe DM us or leave comments for us. Let us know what kind of threads you want us to pull on a little bit more because I feel like you and I, we can

sit and put the wheel to rights for hours on end and we love it. But I also want to make sure like are we talking to stuff that is supportive for you guys and is relevant for where you're at in your life and business journey. So let us know because we do take all of that feedback really seriously. because we do take all of that feedback really seriously. So what I wanna talk about before we hop off is, so as some of you will know, we actually created a planner, a boss bid planner in collaboration with Blue Sky and it is available in Walmart across the country,

which holy fuck, didn't have that on my 2024 bingo card. I mean, I did, because I was planning for it since like forever, but also didn't, right? Like it's mind blowing. Really though, like I'm holding it. Seeing it in person is so different than the conceptual drawings we saw for a year, you know, like I'm walking into a Walmart and seeing it on a shelf with our brand on it and other people holding it at checkout. I'm just like, oh, hello.

That's our sweet. That's us. I hope you love it. And to see it selling out across, I mean, it's absolutely mind blowing. But I wanted to talk a little bit about why we designed it the way we designed it. Because yes, it was collaboration, but we designed every single element of this planner very, very specifically. And so let me talk you through a bit of the process. So every month when you get into the planner, you will have a full month view.

Now, what I really recommend doing at the beginning of the month is going through and putting your blocks in here based on your rhythm. So have your days blocked off that are complete white space, creative days blocked off, you know, researching days, scripting days, meeting days, coaching days, whatever it is, go through and listen, I'm a Capricorn, but maybe color code them, make it feel really fun, make it feel creative and put all of that out there. I don't know about you, but I'm a really visual person. I love putting pen to paper and just seeing it written down. Now I've put some notes in there. If you want to make notes of like you see a friend's birthday, you want to know grab a birthday card, you've got something coming up, grab an outfit for that notes is right there for

you to do exactly that because I love to lay things out and then just see like, okay, what do I need to be prepared for? And then I have put three sections in that overall calendar area to track three goals. Now, a lot of you might be like Natalie, I needed like 10 sections there. I intentionally put three because I really think working on three big goals per month is the absolute max. Sometimes I just have one, sometimes I have two. So that's how I would plan out my whole year.

And then you've got another view where you have a view of what your week looks like that you can fill in. And then we have a little dashboard page. And so I'll explain this to you if you can't get your hands on a planner you're in a different country, this will still make sense for you. But if you can get your hands on a planner, I really recommend you can go

into a local Walmart or you can order them on Walmart online. So you have a weekly dashboard. Now in this dashboard, I recommend putting in there highlights of the day, whether it's a theme of the day or whether it's an outcome of the day. So Tuesday might say podcast day and you just have like a full snapshot that you can see the week. Then we have a habits and goal tracking section. So I have five habits or goals that you can track. I really recommend putting in there a mix of personal and professional.

I always have in there workouts, steps that I want to do the way I want to eat. And then I have in there what my goals for this specific week are. There's sections you can have where you can put tasks in and if you want to delegate them to anyone, I always map that out every single week. There's a gratitude practice where you can put three things you're grateful for. My advice, and I've always done this, and I really recommend doing this, is put three preemptive gratitudes as a way of manifesting what you really want to create. So instead of like, instead of gratitude, I am grateful for like my family this week,

which totally you can put, but I would also say something like, I'm really grateful that this thing went well. I'm really grateful that this was the outcome of this thing. And you're really just putting it into the universe. You're manifesting, you're anchoring that in your brain. And then I have a section for three different self-care things you can do that week. It might be taking a walk.

It might be getting a facial. It might be dinner with a friend, whatever it is. I recommend putting that in. And I love doing that on a week-by-week basis is having this overall dashboard that I can refer back to and just see an overview of how I am running my life personally and professionally for the upcoming week. If this is all work-focused, then I'm going to feel out of balance.

If it's all personal-focused, I'm probably going to feel out of balance unless that was the intention, the plan. So that's really how I recommend using the Planette. I really, really recommend grabbing one. I mean, I think that $12 or $ $13 we've made them as affordable as we possibly can and everything that we have put in here, it's created from results. So we have done this ourselves for many, many years. And we ruthlessly went through all the different processes that we use to put

in here, what's going to be the most impactful. So that's how we do it. And what I would recommend in terms of timing. So I would go through your whole 2025 like this month, go through your entire 2025 and put all the key dates in all the key themes any launches anything like that. Then on a month by month basis go through every month fill in that overview and then fill in the weeks just so that like one of the issues. I know a lot of entrepreneurs faces. They're like I wake up in a day and I don't really know what to do to move the needle. By doing it like this and planning like this you are actually

seeing what's gonna move the needle and you're not waking up feeling like you don't know what to do it's all in there and it's all put together and if you need help with it you know post in the society come to the calls we've got a goal set and call next week but show up to the calls and come and ask questions. Hey, what are my goals? Is this, but I don't know what the needle movers would be. I don't know how to achieve this result. Can anyone help come and get support on all of that?

And then we can really help you to nail down those needle movers, but that's the process that we use. That's what we'll be using to plan. And then what's not inside of here, but again, just based on what we've talked about, I want to encourage you to think about is what do you not want? What do you want to avoid? How do you not want your calendar to look? How do you not want your planner to look at the end of the year and be really ruthless

and intentional about that? I'm just such a fan of the simplified layout that we did because the other thing that I think the trap of planning, I'm guilty of this is like lists with sub buckets, sub tasks on my sub tasks. And we do that. Like we do that as a business. We have all that in a sauna for projects. But I think with a week when you're looking ahead and you're trying to hold yourself accountable and also life is going to life and not get too wrapped around the axle if your day doesn't go from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. the exact way that you laid it out.

You know, it's like theming of days and understanding the three big needle movers for the week and if they need to be delegated and having accountability around habits. And it doesn't necessarily have to be rigid structured habits. It can be like, I want to make sure that I spend 20 minutes outside today, you know, or I want to read to my kids every night or whatever it is. And just, I think when it's this simple, you can't run from it, right? Like there's no excuse. It's once a week, you look at this dashboard and then we have the daily planning, which I also love because you can jot down little notes. And the way that I already started

using it because it also, it had like October, November and December, so I also love because you can jot down little notes. And the way that I already started using it because it also, it had like October, November, and December. So I already mapped out just the months of those. And it's so helpful. I forget how helpful it is to see a whole month laid out in front of you and just be able to look at, oh yeah, that's in two weeks. Like that trip is coming up or that person's birthday or that event or inside the business planning for something because stuff sneaks up on us. Like right at the end of the year, we were like, wait a second, it's the end of the year already? Like it felt like it was just September, then all of a sudden it was December. And when you

can lay stuff out, especially handwriting, I think there's also something to having a handwritten planner, all of us millennials will nod our heads in agreement. Like actually seeing your own handwriting on a month by month basis, it just gives me this feeling of like, I feel like I'm controlling what my priorities are. I'm controlling where my energy is focused. I'm controlling what's important and what's urgent. And I'm controlling where I source my energy from and where my energy goes. And I think if you can have a check-in on each week, it's like, are you sourcing your energy from the places you want to be, Natalie and

Lindsay? Like, are you, where is your area? Is your energy going to the places that you want it to be going? Okay, cool. Onward we go. And at the beginning of each week when you're doing this, if you're like, oh, no, last week I gave my energy to so many things that I don't want it to go to and I didn't do the things that I want to to source energy to keep me good, then it's like, okay, you have like every week you have this check-in. And so we intentionally kept it really simple. It's beautiful. It's easy to follow along with.

It's affordable. Like we really, we tried to check all the boxes with this one. I think we did a good job. And it's also very like, I don't know, it makes it beautiful. It sits next to me on my desk. I check in with it every week. I love it. I hope you will too. Here's the instruction. Go to Walmart, grab a planner, get some fresh pens, some new highlighters, some stickers if you're feeling extra creative. Come home, put a candle on, put some music on, clear your desk, sit at your desk, and get creative about what your proactive year is going to look like.

Let's not have this be the year that feels super reactive and like it's running you versus the other way around. So get your butt out to Walmart, put all those things in your basket, maybe even some chocolate, like whatever the things are that feel really good to you to just sit down and intentionally plan out your year. I think that's the recipe. That's the medicine. If you're listening and you're feeling a little bit stressed about what this year has in store,

there's some medicine. There is very little that a planner, some fresh pens, highlighters and chocolate cannot fix. Yeah, make a ritual of it. Fresh pajamas, maybe like, listen, let's and everything shower just beforehand. I live for this shit. It's just, it makes everything right in the world. If I'm having a hard day, I just need to do an everything shower, fresh pajamas, all the skincare and get out the pens, the highlighters, all the things and I'm good.

I'm good to go. Cup of tea, I'm good to go. I mean, I feel like it does something for our nervous system though. Like there is this balm in being able to look at a year and be like, I know, at least I, to the best of my knowledge, know what's coming. That gives me some sense of security and predictability, even if obviously life is going to life, but if you have it mapped out and that feels good to you, then you have this foundational thing from which to build from. And like we said, even with Boss Weave this year, what we started with in

January, we radically changed and ended up completely different in December. But, but it never felt frantic in the business. It never felt like reactive in the business. Having the whole year laid out in January allowed us to look ahead and be like, wow, okay, if we actually end up doing this the way that we want to, it's going to conflict with this other thing. So which one is more important? And it gave us the ability to look way ahead and go, okay, if there are two

competing priorities in July or September or November, which one would more important and it gave us the ability to look way ahead and go, okay, if there are two competing priorities in July or September or November, which one would we choose? And knowing that way ahead of time, we were able to make hard decisions calmly versus getting there and being like, shit, this is really stressful. Oh my God, we overloaded ourselves or whatever it was. And now we end up frantic and panicked and in fight or flight mode making decisions, which is what we're all trying to avoid.

And so even if it's just a high level outline, start there because I think that then as the year progresses and things firm up, you have that foundation to go back to to be like, okay, if this is what the rest of the year looks like, is this what I want? If not, okay, what decisions do I need to make? And what information do I already have to make those decisions? Future you will be so grateful you did this.

Amen. Well, you guys, happy 2025. Thank you for listening to the podcast and starting the year with us. What a freaking honor that is. We like to just have conversations that we're having anyway on the podcast because I love it when I listen to those kind of episodes and I'm like, ooh, this provoked a thought for me. So would love to hear for you what that is. And also if you're doing that Walmart shop with all those things, snap a picture of your basket.

If you know, you know, I'm gonna be doing that. I'm so, so excited for you all. And I just want to say thank you for all the support with the planner. It is such a dream come true to have Boss Babe be in stores. It's mind blowing. And with that, we'll see you next week.

Bye. Okay. We are beyond thrilled to share some incredible news with you. This feels like such a huge milestone moment for BossBabe and we are so excited we can finally announce it. BossBabe planners are officially available at every single Walmart store across the United States.

We've partnered with the amazing team at Blue Sky Planners to create the most detailed and effective planner designed to help you achieve your 2025 goals. This isn't just about organization. It's about building a system that keeps you focused, intentional, and on track for your biggest ambitions. Whether you're mapping out, and on track for your biggest ambitions. Whether you're mapping out your dream projects, balancing your business and personal life, or making space for what truly matters, this planner has everything you need. And now it's right within reach at Walmart stores nationwide.

This partnership is a true pinch me moment for everyone here at BossBabe, and I cannot wait for you to experience what we've created. So head over to your nearest Walmart or shop online to grab your BossBabe planner today. And don't forget to tag at Blue Sky Planners and at BossBabe when you do. We can't wait to see how you're using it to create the life and business you've always envisioned. Here's to an incredible 2025.

Wait, wait, wait, before you go, I would love to send you my seven figure CEO operating system completely free as a gift. All you've got to do is leave us a review on this podcast because it really supports the growth of this show. This is my digital masterclass where I'll show you what my freedom-based daily, weekly, and monthly schedule looks like as an eight-figure CEO,

mama and high performer. And I'll walk you through step-by-step how to create this for yourself. It includes a full video training from me and a plug and play spreadsheet to literally create your own operating system. It's one of our best trainings and it's worth $1,997, but I will unlock access for you for free

when you leave us a review. I know, wild, right? All you have to do is leave your review on the podcast, take a screenshot of it, and then head over to bossbabe.com slash review to upload it. And then you'll get instant access to the seven figure CEO operating system. Again head over to bossbabe.com slash review to upload your screenshot and get access. We are so, so grateful for all of your support and can't wait to hear how the podcast has

supported you.