Celebrating 3+ Years of $10K Months (and 10 things I’m grateful for)
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Episode Summary:
Every month I have a 10 minute meeting with my bookkeeper to go over the basic financial metrics in my business, and this past month I realized that I have had $10K months for the past 42 months. Of course there’s been some months where I hit $30K+, but I think there’s so much to celebrate in the fact that it hasn’t dropped below $10K for so long. First things first – take a moment today to find what you can celebrate and to be brave and take a hard look at your money. Then, throughout this episode, I’m going to be sharing the 10 things that I’ve become really grateful for these past couple years as my business has begun to really thrive. Each of the 10 things has a bit of an action step that you can take, too as you design not only the business you love but the life you love.
So thankful for you as a podcast listener. What do you want to hear more of on the show? Any guests you’d like to see? I really want to know. Head on over to Instagram and shoot me a DM, you can find me @heartcentered.entrepreneur.
Topics Discussed:
Not making yourself wrong for being grateful where you’re at in business – it doesn’t mean you’re not ambitious enough
Remembering to create your dream life while you’re working on creating your dream job
The reminder that your income isn’t meant to make you feel stable, your savings is
Prioritizing the parts in your business that you love and doing your best to outsource the rest
How Anna invests in her business in a regulated way with calculated risks
Creating a vibrant life outside of your business to create more stability and identity
Digging into your niche and target audience and constantly refining your offers
Being selfish in your business to better serve your clients
Leaning on your belief in God or the universe to overcome loneliness and believe everything will be okay
Episode Resources:
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Anna Rapp (00:00):
Hello sweet friends, I've missed you <laugh>. I did a bit of batch recording so that I could be away for Ireland with my littles and so I know you probably haven't missed me or noticed that I'm gone, but I sure did miss you and just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you, the podcast community being there. I know I'm there for you, but you guys really are there for me too and it's just such a blessing to have a job that I so enjoy and I really see you guys not just as my community, but really as my coworkers. And I just wanted to say thank you for being here and just express my gratitude. You know, there's like a thousand podcasts you can listen to, so the fact that you have the Heart Center Entrepreneur podcast on your feed means the world to me.
Anna Rapp (00:42):
I was listening to some podcasts in the plane on the way back and just thinking about, I would love to hear like if you wanna share with me where you listen to this podcast from. Is it while you're doing dishes? Is it while you're driving your littles to school? Is it while you're walking your dog? I wanna know, message me. I'm excited because next week I'm gonna be recording a episode and talking more about Ireland and my 10 days away. And it was really such a life-changing experience and I cannot wait to unpack that, but I'm gonna hold myself back and stay focused because today I wanted to share with you that I hit my 42nd 10 K month in a row. I have this meeting every month with my bookkeeper. It's just about 10 minutes long, but I just look over the transactions that he's already organized and it just basically makes the end of the year and tax season really good, easy for me because every month I just kind of like do the monthly housekeeping of making sure how they categorize everything is correct.
Anna Rapp (01:38):
And so he basically like babysits me on the phone so that I have accountability. Otherwise it would be a task I would never do, right? And I take my, something else I do during that meeting is I have this really simple spreadsheet that I track a few things every month. Number one, how much cash came into the business. Number two, how much expenses I had, how much money I took home, my profit margin, all of that stuff. Just a few simple stats. And I was realizing, oh my goodness, like I haven't gone under a 10 K month in quite a while. And so I actually tallied it and I was like, oh my goodness. Of course some of them have been higher, 26,000, 39,000, but really never going under 10 k. And so I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate that because to be honest with you, sometimes I wonder, I'm someone that's a naturally optimistic person and you would think that would be a good thing and it is in general, but sometimes it bites me in the butt in that I can get complacent because there's been many situations in my life or business that have not been the best for me, but I really am able to see the bright side of everything.
Anna Rapp (02:44):
And so sometimes I'm not able to see the reality of like, no Anna, like you need to get yourself out of the situation. It's not safe or whatever, right? So anyway, that to say, I sometimes wonder like, oh, am I not ambitious enough? Like I'm very happy in my multi six figure
Anna Rapp (02:58):
Business. I'm not making a million dollars every year at this point. And I think sometimes I'm like, oh, is that wrong? But I'm just, I love my life, I love my business, I'm happy with where I'm at. And so I just wanted to take a moment and I hope you'll join me. And just putting a line in the sand and saying like, no, I am grateful for where I'm at and I am, I'm happy for what I've created. So I wanna share with you 10 things that I'm grateful for as I hit my 42nd 10 K month in a row. And I hope there's some nuggets in there for you around if you are working on working to create consistent take K months or if you are like my one-on-one clients and you are already past that and looking to go to multi six figures, go to the million dollar mark.
Anna Rapp (03:39):
Which by the way as I'm recording this, I likely have a one-on-one spot opening it in a few weeks. So make sure you join the one-on-one wait list if you're interested in that. I also have my mastermind cell with heart opening up and so I will drop the wait list link to that and the wait list is the best place to get first access when spots open because neither of those have openings right now, but there likely will be shortly. Sell With Heart. The mastermind is best for women that are not yet at six figures in their business. So they're working two, six figures. And then my 1 0 1 is best for women that are already at six figures, multi six figures and looking to grow and scale from there. But I love coaching. I hope I get to do it till I die and I would love to be your coach, be in your corner and help you get some wild results.
Anna Rapp (04:26):
Okay, so 10 things I'm thankful for. Number one is that I have a remote job and some people might see it as a downside that I see my business as a job, but I really think it's what's helped me get such wild results is I don't put a lot of pressure on my business. Like I'm like, hmm, it's a job. Like I show up, I do the work, I make money, right? Sometimes it's not the best, but usually it is. And for me, I've really designed a dream job, right? I coach two to three days a week, I do some work outside of that. I coach three weeks out of the month and then I have a week off for either light work or vacation or whatever. And I think most people forget to create their dream life, right? I have this challenge I call like my profitable dream week.
Anna Rapp (05:13):
And it is all about that really looking at what actions are you taking every week and do you actually like your job? Because we forget that we design our job. So if you don't like your job right now, you need to take it up with a CEO, AKA, you right? <Laugh>. And you need to do something so that you like your job. Like let's pretend right now you're talking to your boss. What do you want from your boss? Do you wanna ask for a raise? Do you wanna ask for a different schedule? Something I love asking my team members is like, how can I make your job more of a dream? I can't always make those accommodations right away, but over time, what is it that you want? And I asked my team this last year and they had said like, we want Fridays off.
Anna Rapp (05:54):
So I was like, great, have Fridays off. That's something I can do, right? You of course for your team want the best for them. Same thing for you. You are your own team member. And when was the last time you made your job something you liked, right? I did a podcast episode on this before about like, instead of asking yourself like, how do I make myself work less? How do I make my work more fun, right? How do I make it more enjoyable? And maybe you wanna give yourself permission to work different hours, have a different schedule, have more pay, have more flexibility. Maybe you wanna take your calls from the coffee shop, right? Like how can you, just for a second, maybe you even wanna pod this and journal on this. What can you do to make your job more fun and enjoyable, right?
Anna Rapp (06:42):
How, what's your schedule like? And maybe something that served you before is not serving you. Now, like for me, when I was breastfeeding, I really did a lot of work from my phone and I actually really liked that, but then there became a time where I was like, actually I do not like working from my phone. I prefer to answer my clients from my desk and then be done with work when that's over. And so really asking yourself like, what's the job I've created? And if not, can I take it up with a CEO at KAU, right? <Laugh>, CEO. Did I say that right? Okay. Number two, I am so thankful that I made my freedom fund to create stability, right? Know I've talked about this before, but I just have to say it again because I do feel like making my freedom fund is the thing that changed my life and it's why I wrote my book on it because I just asked myself like going to the grave, what's one message I wish I could leave behind?
Anna Rapp (07:33):
And I know that sounds morbid, but it really is that I wish every woman had 20 K in the bank for their personal and for their business. Because your income isn't meant to make you feel stable. Your savings is, and I think the reason why so many women feel unstable, not just in their life but in their businesses because they're expecting their income to make them feel stable. But here's the thing, income is not stable. Income is not perfect income is gonna go up and down, right? I know I create hated hit 42, 10 k months in a row, but like, you know, my income has been up and down on top of that. And so I think when we stop expecting our income to give us stability and we start expecting our savings to give us stability, that's where it becomes easier to create the consistent income.
Anna Rapp (08:21):
Okay? Number three, I am so grateful that I got super committed and I stay committed. And part of that honestly is because, you know, I started my business when I was pregnant with my daughter and I didn't have an option not to make it work. I really had the survivalist drive in me to make my business work. And in some ways it's a good thing. In other ways it's a bad thing because you don't wanna forever run your business from a place of survival or adrenaline, right? Someone online the other day had this post where they were like, you need to make every business decision as if your life depended on it literally. And as if someone was gonna take your life. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like we don't wanna live in that place of survival. Like we can have seasons of survival, right?
Anna Rapp (09:06):
Like I've had some kinds that have had some very difficult situations in their health and their life where it really was survival, but we don't wanna live like that, right? And so I am proud of myself that even as I have gotten out of bad situations, I've still found a way to really stay super committed to my business. And again, I've shared with this you before, but like having this belief, my success is inevitable. And just staying there and just really believing in the fact that you are lucky, you are blessed, everything works out for your favor, you are going to figure it out. You are smart, you are brilliant. Like having that in your mind, and it sounds cheesy, but makes the difference because business is going to have setbacks. Business is going to have failures, business is gonna have hard moments, business is gonna have challenges. And guess what? So will life, so will motherhood. So will anything you do because it's part of the human experience. But when you feel capable, when you feel resilient, when you feel strong, that's when it becomes easier because then you just deal with the challenges and then you're not also dealing with feeling like along the way and being unkind to yourself, right?
Anna Rapp (10:17):
Next one is, I have always had support. I have always had support, I have always had a coach, I have always had a therapist, I've always had team members since very early on in my business. And I just know again, part of it is just survival. Like as a single mama, like I have to have support, you know, in all the places I have to have babysitters. So I have sanity, right? But also I feel like I really embraced it, right? And I've given myself permission and I've done the mindset work to not feel bad spending money. And really, again, going back to that first point of like having a, a job that you love is really making sure that you have support so that you're mostly just doing the things that you like. For me and my business, I love to coach. I love talking with women on Zoom and I tolerate the other things, but I really love my work, right?
Anna Rapp (11:11):
I same thing for my clients that are like website designers and love to design, right? Like you've gotta be in a business that you love and then you've gotta do your best to hire support for as many of the other things as possible. Okay? The next one is related, and I don't really think I've talked about this very much before, but I invest, invest and I risk a lot in my life and business, but in a very regulated way. This again is necessity because I am someone that, number one, I have stranger danger. Number two, I am risk averse. Number three, I just am a safety freak <laugh>. So why did I become an entrepreneur? I dunno, right? Because the carrot of freedom is bigger than having to like surrender my ego around, you know, my fears, right? But I really feel like I am proud of myself for, for, for risking and investing.
Anna Rapp (12:02):
And I think what helps me is when I name it, like if I'm about to take a risk, like for me, like flying on the airplane to Ireland, super. I hate flying. I hate, I hate it, but I do it because I wanna travel. I want my kids to have that experience, right? But I just tell myself, is this a risk? Could bad things happen? Yes, but also it's, it's a risk to, to drive out, drive my kids to school, right? And so acknowledging this is a risk, but it's a calculated risk and I trust myself to make calculated risks, right? Maybe you're about to make a big investment in your business. Is it a risk? Yeah, maybe the investment won't pan out, but is it a calculated risk? AKA have you meditated on it? Have you prayed on it? Have you made your pro con list?
Anna Rapp (12:44):
Yeah, you probably have ad naum, right? And so it's just remembering that like life is risk, life is change, life is challenge. But that you can trust yourself with decisions, you can trust yourself with calculated risk. And so I would say like I just continue to risk, I continue to face fear. I continue to challenge myself, but, but I do it in a super calculated way. Like I'm not someone that feels like I need to invest in like a shiny 50 KA year mastermind. Maybe I'll next year, right? And I actually don't think that's bad at all, but I've just never felt like I needed to do that to this point in my business, right? I feel like I have been very true to myself and again, taken big risks, but also give very calculated risks. And I do it from a place of thinking.
Anna Rapp (13:34):
I'm very like pensive and I'm not very impulsive for the most part. And so that's something that's really served me continuing to, and I feel like people don't talk about that. They either are like investing and risking and doing it from this like rollercoaster high place or they're playing it really safe. And so I just think it's like, no, I risk because that's part of entrepreneurship and that's where the growth happens. But I do it from a place that's calculated and grounded and not rushed. Okay? Next is I've maintained a super active life outside of my business and this has improved as my business has gone on to mature. But I really have a vibrant life, amazing friends. I love my fitness, I love dancing, you know that I love being a mama for the most part. And for me, I've really created a life that I love.
Anna Rapp (14:28):
I've created an active life and I really think that like this is huge because I think it puts less pressure on my business to be everything, right? I don't take the business ups and downs personal because I get a lot of stability from my life. Okay? Next one is I market year round. Like I have never skipped a week of content since I opened my business doors. Like my content homes have shifted. Like I would say that I'm a little more present now on Instagram than I was in Facebook, right? I didn't have a podcast before, but now I have a podcast. But I really have created content and shown up in my marketing since day one and just have been very consistent every single week. Even when I was on maternity, I batched content. And this isn't to say that you can't take breaks from your content sometimes if that's what feels aligned for you, but I really feel like a big part of my consistency in my income is because I'm continually marketing, right?
Anna Rapp (15:24):
A lot of times our marketing effort is seen about 90 days to six months after the fact because it takes a while to nurture people into becoming clients. And so because I'm always showing up, I'm always planting the seeds for six months down the line. I'm always playing the long game. I'm always okay with someone on a call saying, I don't wanna join right now, but I wanna deposit to work with you in six months. I'm like, great, that's awesome. Perfect. Right? And I think that sort of relaxed energy and long game has just really served me in a big way. Okay? Next is I have stayed very narrow on my target audience, which honestly I shock myself with, right? <Laugh> when I was thinking through niches, really at the start of my business and as as I was locking down and choosing between audiences.
Anna Rapp (16:10):
And I'm so glad I picked entrepreneurs because honestly, you women are everything. Like I love entrepreneurs because you, we love making money, we love talking about money, we love pushing ourself, we love going for what's next. We love to challenge ourselves even when it's hard. And just coaching women who are ambitious, who have drive, oh my lord, it's been such a gift and blessing and I've really stayed narrow in my audience. I've really stayed narrow in my offers, right? I've really, you know, I think this is my 10th round running my mastermind, you know, and I just think I've really stayed boring. I really have a few simple ways to work with me and I've just continued to refine them, right? Make them better. Just the other day I went in and updated the Sell with Heart mastermind curriculum. And again, like when you have a few core programs for a long time, you just get to make them better and better so your clients get better results.
Anna Rapp (17:07):
But then you get to improve the marketing over time and make that better too. Okay, next is I have really kept coaching the core of my business and I have not faltered from that, right? At the end of the day, me showing up for my clients for those ladies is what I am most passionate about and it's what I spend most of my time doing. And I think there are several ways you can grow and scale your business, but the way I've chosen to do it has never compromised the coaching that I do. Whether you work with me at the highest level, one-on-one in my private mentorship, whether you work with me in my mastermind or whether you work with me in my course Getting coach, you get me obviously different amounts, right? Because hashtag boundaries and I wanna honor the people that are paying different amounts of money, but I am in those programs.
Anna Rapp (17:57):
Everything you buy from me, you'll get my support and my attention and my love and my care because number one, I know it's how women get the best results and that's what I care about. I'd rather work with a few women deep than a billion women and actually them not progress in any way. But it's also selfish in the fact that it's, it's what I love to do. I like to be on Zoom, I like to help women. And I find that like when you're selfish in your business and when you're doing what you like your clients benefit too because they can see and smell and feel that from a mile away. Are you just going through the motions? Are that you just another number? Are you just another paycheck? Or does someone have a passion for that? Right? And I know this gets confusing 'cause I talk about like, you know, I don't expect my business to fulfill me, but I create a business that I'm gonna be fulfilled in, if that makes sense.
Anna Rapp (18:48):
Okay. And then 10th, I would say the thing I'm most grateful for along the way to my 42nd 10 K month is just having a lot of faith and belief. I heard someone say the other day like, you know, fear takes faith, you know, it's just something bad that hasn't happened yet. But really belief takes faith too in something good that hasn't happened yet. I thought that that was so funny and so true, right? I wish I could remember where I saw that on Instagram. But I really feel like for me, I have a lot of faith and I'm so thankful for my parents for this because they really raised me with a faith background and really belief in trust and God. But whatever it is for you, whether it's the universe or God, for me, knowing that I'm not in this alone, knowing that I'm divinely guided, knowing that I have help and support is such a big gift because as entrepreneurs, like we were talking about, we are the CEO and that's nice, but it can also feel like a big burden.
Anna Rapp (19:42):
It can also feel lonely, right? And I feel like I have really surrounded myself with like community and friends along the way, but at the end of the day, even if we have a coach, even if we have biz besties, even if we have a team, we're still, the buck stops with us. And that can feel like a lot of pressure. And for me, because I have God on my side, because I really am connected with my intuition and self-trust, I never really feel alone because I'm like, okay, God, like I'm trying my best. You've gotta do the rest here. I'm showing up for this launch, I'm gonna show up on social media, but you gotta work the algorithm so people will actually see me, right? And at the end of something, like if I do something in my business and it quote fails or doesn't perform well, I think I have a lot of surrender there too.
Anna Rapp (20:26):
Course it sucks. But I'm like, okay, God, I tried my best. Why isn't this working? And how can I get it better next time? It just, it feels less lonely. I feel like in life and in business when we have that faith, we have that belief that we're being held, we're being divinely guided. And I believe that for you a hundred percent, you are not alone. There is God out there. There is the universe, right? There is for me, the other day when I was praying, I called God goddess because I really feel like you know, God isn't God man or woman, right? And for me, I feel like growing up I never really connected with the more feminine mother side of God. I always thought about God the father, but God really is the mother too. And so for me, I've just been connecting more with the feminine side of God and really asking her for her love, for her support, for her guidance.
Anna Rapp (21:15):
And I'm so thankful for that. And so my prayer for you is that you would feel that support. 'cause Of course, you know, I love to support you too. Whether I'm your coach and you're listening to this podcast or whether you're just a community member, you know, I'm in your corner, you know, I believe in you. You know, I'm here to give you a pep talk. But at the end of the day, you need that inner, inner, inner voice. You source energy, your self trust, your truth. Gods inside of you telling you you've got this because that is gonna trump anything. Anything is your own inner voice, your own self truth, that piece, right? So hope this was helpful for you, sending you so much love. And I encourage you to look at your stats, right? Can you look back and see what are the number one, if you are not doing a monthly bookkeeping date, if you have a bookkeeper, just ask them to babysit you on the phone every month for 10 minutes like I do, right?
Anna Rapp (22:11):
But if you don't, if you have that money date with yourself every month, like I really encourage you to keep some simple stats. I think we overcomplicate statistics, right? I always tell my clients this in the mastermind, we do our quarterly planning in about one hour and they're like, oh my gosh, I was overcomplicating quarterly planning, right? We overcomplicate business stats too, but I wanna ask you, are you recording every month how much you make? Just writing it down on a spreadsheet, right? And you may wanna look back and see how many of whatever K months have you hit in a row, whether it's 20 K months, whether it's 10, whether it's one K. Like have you had a streak of something and can you celebrate that and say, wow, I have created 10 K months for this many months in a row, or I have created three K months for this many months in a row.
Anna Rapp (23:00):
Wow, I'm amazing. Or maybe it wasn't in a row, right? But maybe it was total. Maybe it was like, wow, I created like, you know, 15, 20 k months in the last few years in my business, right? Because one of my pastors Travis said to me one time, I will never forget Anna, it's so much less about your hitting streak and more about your batting average, right? Are we expecting? And again, like most of my months have been well beyond 10 K, right? But that's just been like what? It has never dropped below. But I really think it's like looking at like, can you give yourself credit for what has been happening overall, even if you've had a low month, even if you've had a down season, right? We all have challenging parts of our life and business, okay? Sending you the biggest hug. So much love. And please, please, please, if you want my support, make sure you sign up for So with heart wait list there's actually an application for that to fill out or the one-on-one wait list if you wanna work with me. And I would love, love to support you. Have a beautiful rest of your day.
PS: In the midst of this challenging time I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help? One of the #1 ways I support my clients is by helping them simplify their business so that they can increase the flow of money without creating extra work. In this season simplified visibility and sales is needed more than ever.
So if you’re craving personal support as you reposition your free and paid work, I’d love to help you simplify your sales process so that you can produce income in your business even during a challenging time. If you want support you can check out my services and book a free discovery call here, or you can send me a DM on Instagram.