Surgery, a New Car & Taking a Break without Losing Momentum
SUBSCRIBE HERE:
+ Everywhere else you listen to podcasts
Episode Summary:
Join me for this episode as I share my reflections on navigating recent life changes, including recovering from surgery to making BIG decisions. I'll share why even positive changes can be challenging, and how to embrace them with confidence. I hope this episode supports you in any life changes or challenges you might be facing.
Tune in to hear how an ‘unplanned’ 3-week leave for surgery taught me lessons about how to take a break from business without losing momentum. I also reflect on how taking maternity leave at the start of my business helped me to scale my business faster. Plus, we’ll dive into how you can make big decisions before feeling entirely ready while ensuring they feel aligned for you.
You can also check out my new FREE 5-day challenge – The Steady Income Formula – where I’ll show you how to create consistent cashflow with a compelling coaching offer so your business can support you in all life’s seasons.
Topics Discussed:
How having to take a 4-6 week leave (maternity) at the START of my biz helped me scale
What I learned from taking a 3-week 'unplanned' leave for surgery
How our industry gets sales wrong
How to make a big decision 'before' you feel ready but also making sure it's aligned
The #1 thing that gives you CLARITY
A prayer and pep talk if you're going through a big decision or challenge right now
Episode Resources:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
-
Hi friends. I know I'm supposed to be on a podcast pause, because I am still resting and recovering from my surgery. I'll give you that update, but I just had to come on and chat with you guys and just know how much I am so grateful for this Heart Centered Entrepreneur community. I'm so grateful we get to do life together. I think we're almost like four or five years on the podcast now. And if you've been with me from the start, I just wanna say thank you so much for being a part of this journey. So first news is I had my skin cancer surgery, everything was completely removed three weeks ago and my beautiful best friend came down and stayed with me and hung out with me during the surgery and after. And I am doing so well. So if you are a client of mine, thank you so much for your grace with allowed me to reschedule sessions and um, just so thankful for, you know, obviously a very difficult thing, but just all the support and love that I felt I just could not be more grateful.
Of course, I took the opportunity to create a new resource for my mastermind. Ladies, I have a document in the mastermind called Scale Your Business, take a Break and Scale Your Business. Because really I feel like so much of my scaling success came early in my business because I started my business when I was pregnant and about to take a big maternity leave, right? And what I noticed is because I was going to take a big break, I had to figure out very early on, how do I make the business operate without me? How do I really create consistent cash flow even when I take breaks away, right? I kind of established my business without foundation and I started seeing this pattern that all of my clients that scaled the quickest were because they had to take away for a reason. Like they had, they were going to Europe for a month, right?
Or they had some sort of illness or like they really had to leave for a month. And so I really encouraged the women in my business, in the mastermind to take a break, to take a three week break, to take a two week break, whether it's for vacation or something, because it really forces you to scale your business, right? To create systems, to figure out how to not do your marketing and visibility day to day in the moment to really have team you can trust and whether or not you're taking breaks from your business. It really just makes it run smoothly altogether. It's almost like they say, you know, the book Traction talks about like how to build a business that you can sell. And I really feel like even if you're not going to sell your business, preparing to almost sell, it almost forces you to make it more efficient, which is nicer for you too, right?
Okay, I digress. So anyway, I've had this document in the mastermind for a while, but I just have never had to take an emergency leave from my business. And so in doing this and taking really like a two and a half, three week leave from my business, unexpected, I created some new systems and processes and swipe templates and emails so that if that ever happens to you, I hope that it never does. But if you ever have to take an extended break from your business because of an illness of yourself or, or someone that you're caring for, I hope that you can use those email templates to be able to email your clients and connect with your team. And I just made it a simple three step process. Um, so hopefully that makes you feel a little bit more bulletproof if you're a client of mine, that you have those resources and templates.
It's so funny, I was doing a sales call for the mastermind and one of the ladies is like, my friend referred me to your mastermind because she just said the templates and worksheets you have are awesome. And I think it's really because I think when we're short on time, it can be so easy to have something to start with. Whether it's a client that has a late payment or we're launching a program for the first time or we're designing a group program, having some sort of starting point and framework I think is so key. And I think a lot of business coaches swing one way or the other where they're like, you know, here's the exact formula you need to follow to have six figure or multi-six figure success. Follow that to a T and do not deviate from it. Do not listen to your intuition.
Do not honor your personality or your life season or the extreme, which is like, there's no templates, there's no guidance. Follow your intuition. And it's kind of easy to get lost. And so I really feel like the reason why my clients have so much success is I have so many templates, so many frameworks, so many swipe files that I also have the belief that it's just a starting point and tweak it however you want or, you know, follow your intuition along the way. So anyway, I digress. The reason I wanted to hop on today is to say that something exciting is happening. You guys, I'm buying a new car. I'm buying a brand new 2024 Tesla. And I just wanted to celebrate that with you because anytime I do something new or big in my life, I just hope it's the biggest expander to remind you of what is possible, right?
If Anna, who is a single mama who is completely providing for her kids all alone, who is living in San Diego, which is not the most affordable place to live, right? If she can do it, if she can work part-time hours and create all this expansion, I can too. You can too. I hope that when I bought my house last year, you know, and was able to save that 200k cash, that to do the down payment and everything, like I hope that was an expander for you and I hope this is an expander for you too. So I'm just celebrating this for all of us and I wanna tell you the story just because I mean, this podcast has no real purpose other than like, I miss you and wanna talk to you. Okay? So I have been like, so, oh, and I wanted to talk to about like how I still feel scared to make big decisions and kind of how I think through it because I think there's this thing in the online space of like, it's, you should never be scared to like invest in your business or buy a house.
Like it should always feel completely aligned and like I do believe in alignment, but every time I spend money I get nervous. Okay, so I just wanted to validate that, and talk about my process in case you are in the middle of any big decision in your life or business. Maybe it's like starting your business and really going all in. Maybe it's quitting your job, maybe it's buying a house, maybe it's buying a car. Maybe it's changing your business model. Maybe it's like making an investment in a coach and you've really never done that before. Maybe it's hiring a team member, hiring your first VA or maybe getting ready to hire your first OBM or bigger team member, right? Like these risks can be scary. And if you're like a, I'm a safety freak, I am a safety freak. I like to cross my t's and dot my i's.And so, if anyone can invest, think about some money. I if I can do it, you can do it for sure. But I just feel like I do it in a really like thoughtful way. So I wanna talk about my process a little bit and also tell you a funny story. Okay? So I've been thinking about buying a new car for at least two years now, right? Actually probably more like three years. But I was like, I really wanna focus on getting my house acclimated to that and then figure out the next thing, right? So anyway, bought the new house, but it was still kind of on the fence because I bought my RAV4 before my daughter was born. So I've had it for over eight years and I get kind of like sentimentally attached to things, okay? Especially, I, maybe you can resonate this if you've been through a hard season.
If there is something that's gotten you through a hard season, it's hard to let it go, right? Like maybe for you it's like a friend and maybe that friendship is just ending, right? But it feels like, oh, but they were there for me during that time, right? It can be hard to let that go, right? For me, this car really was the car that got me through a very, very hard life season. Where it was, I mean, I had a lot of support, but at the end of the day, you know, any time we face some sort of like very hard thing or abuse, like it really is you against the world in some ways. And so I just really feel like I, that car was my safe space. Like that car was how me and my kids like would leave when we needed to be safe.
And so I just have a lot of appreciation for that car. And for me, a car as a woman represents independence, right? Like I think about times when like women didn't really drive right? Or like, I just feel like having a car is such a privilege and an honor and I do not take it lightly. I think about that when I bought my house, like it was only a few decades ago that women could not buy a house alone. And yet here I was able to go to the bank and buy a house. I am so grateful for that privilege. And so I think like saying goodbye to this car is just, like I am, it sounds so funny, but you guys, when I got rid of my yoga mat two years ago, I, you know, I had this old yoga mat from Walmart and I just used it through my divorce, through everything, and I just cried on that mat, I sweated on that mat and I knew it was time for an upgrade because it was so sad looking okay. But I was sad to let it go, right? It's just, for me, it's like the same thing. And I, so I think for me it's like, thank you for just letting this process be my little mini therapy session, but just having so much gratitude for that chapter, but also knowing it's time
For an upgrade because the RAV4 was starting to like cost me more money from like, after a car gets, 'cause I had bought it used when I bought it eight years ago, right? So it was starting to really like, I think I have like 200,000 miles on it and, um, what was I gonna say? You just starting to like cost me more and like going to the auto shop. And so I knew it was time. So even this month I like started researching cars more. I even took a Tesla for a test drive, you know, but my kids were like asking me and I'm like, no, it's still gonna be a few months. Still gonna be a few months, you know? And anyway, I kid you not, I dropped them off at camp this week and they're like, are we gonna get a new car?
Like they asked me and I'm like, no, we're not getting a new car. I go through Panera, through the drive-through before yoga. I was about to get some oatmeal, okay? And literally my car starts going up in, I thought it was smoke, it was actually steam, but like what I think is smoke and like my whole car gets enveloped in this large crowd of smoke. And I'm like, is this the way I'm gonna go? Like, it was not very fun, right? So I get outta my car and all of a sudden all this liquid starts pouring out from the bottom of my car. And I'm like, okay. Like what? Anyway, so first turned my car off, it's fine. I ended up being able to drive out to the parking lot and go in to get my food. Beause I can't forget about that, right?And I love my insurance company. They're amazing. Which thank goodness for good insurance, right? I had this fear when I was starting my business that I was going lose the stability. But I forget as a business owner, you can buy whatever insurance you want. So now I have the best ever car insurance. I mean, which I had before, but like I had the best ever medical coverage, right? Like my whole skin cancer situation is like costing me basically nothing, right? And I just say that because that was my biggest fear of leaving a corporate job because I didn't really know anyone who owned businesses. And so I was like, what about my 401K? What about my insurance? And I wish someone would've told me, Anna, you can open your own 401K and actually you'll contribute more to it on your own than you did with your employer, right?
Like, you can actually afford your own medical coverage even though it can be complex, right? Okay. Anyway, so I digress. I get out there, fortunately, my insurance company sends a tow truck. But the funniest story, you guys, so the tow truck driver comes out with his wrench, opens the hood of my car, I'm like, wait, wait, wait a second. Aren't you the tow truck driver? Like, what are you? He's like, lemme take a, he's even asked, so he just pops open the hood. I'm like, okay. Like no one was stopping him, right? He's like, oh, you just have a loose hose. Anyway, I poked my head in there. You guys know last time I poked my head in my car, I had a possum in there. I wonder if this is related. Do you guys remember that? I shared that in Instagram stories last month. I had a possum, a full possum nestled in my car. Possum was fine, I was not okay. I was shrieking. My kids are like, mom, why were you lifting up your legs? Like, because I'm terrified of a possum in my car. Okay?Anyway, so it turns out it was just a rubber hose was disconnected. So he was like, you just have to reconnect this hose. I'm like, okay, great. My dad loves doing stuff like that. So anyway, he ended up towing me. I was gonna have me tow me to the shop, but he ended up towing me to my house. And anyway, my dad was able to fix it, which is fortunate because I'm gonna resell my RAV4, hopefully. But it was like, I felt like it was just like the biggest like wink from the universe, message from God that like, Anna, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time to move on. It's okay. It's okay to get a new car, right? It's okay to change. And the reason I talk about this is because I think when we see people do upgrades, we think it's always like glamorous and fun.
And yes, I know this is like a lucky problem. Like I'm getting a new car. But I just wanna talk about that sometimes change is hard even when it's good change. And I think that's why some of us resist change because we're nervous about it, even if it's good change, right? I cannot tell you how many sessions I've had with clients where we're talking about what are they afraid of when it comes to getting fully booked with clients? What are they afraid of when it comes to making more money? Like I spend so much of my coaching there because women say, I'm nervous, I'm gonna get fully booked in my business and then I'm gonna be a bad mom, or I'm gonna be overwhelmed, or my clients are gonna be disappointed, or I'm gonna be making 400K a year and I have to pay more taxes.
Or you would not believe how much that fear of success holds us back, right? Because our brain doesn't want us to change even when it's good, positive change. And so I'm sharing this to let you know that sometimes we had to be forced into it. So I'm like, okay, God, I hear you. I'll get a new car, I'll work on it, right? So anyway, did a little bit more research, did a little bit more work, and ended up making the decision to buy a new car. So, so grateful. Get to pick that up this weekend. And I feel, so as soon as I made the decision and I put in my deposit, I just started crying happy tears because I feel so grateful. How blessed am I that I am able to afford a new car? Right? How lucky am I that I have a new house?
How lucky am I that I am safe and I have a house that is filled with peace and love and comfort, like that I have clean drinking water. Like really, really, really grateful. And I do not take that for granted for a minute. And so for me, after I made the decision and I was pouring tears, I was like, okay, good. I made the right decision, right? Because before any big decision, I just wanna normalize, it's okay to be on the fence. I always ask my clients this question, when they're making a big decision, what percentage of the decision do you want to be in order to make it? And where are you at now, for example, if you're thinking about like, should I get a divorce? Right? Maybe they're in a very hard situation, you know, and you're like, I really wanna be, for me, I wanted to be at 80% sure in order to get the divorce, which sounds weird, right?
But it took me years and years and years and years and years of trying to make it work and you know, just having a lot of guilt around the decision. And so I was like, if I can get myself to 80%, I know that'll be enough. Because I know I'll never be at a hundred percent, right? So there were seasons where I was at 60, where I was at 70, where I still feel like I had more to give, more to try. But then I knew once I was at 80, it was time to make the decision, right? And I say that because I think sometimes, I share in my book Freedom Fund that my coach Lacey told me this when I was deciding if I should quit my job. Like I was trying to find the perfect decision, right? And she was like, none of them are gonna be perfect if you keep your job.
There's gonna be upsides and downsides if you quit your job, there's gonna be upsides and downsides, right? Stop looking for the perfect decision. Find the decision that is best for you. And that changed the game for me. And as soon as she said that, like, I remember exactly where I was in my bedroom, I knew it was quitting my job because I was like, this isn't perfect. There are downsides of quitting my job, but it feels right and there are so many more upsides than staying in the situation of my day job, right? So I just think it's remembering every decision is gonna have downsides. You are never gonna feel completely certain or perfect about something that entails some amount of risk, right? We're never gonna feel like there, there's always gonna be, you know, there's, there's never gonna be a perfect decision. So anyway, I hope that that's helpful for you if you're on the fence of a big decision, a big risk.
And what I wanna say too is like, let yourself take your time, even in the process of deciding what new car I wanted to get the timing on this new car. I've been going back and forth with my coach on this for a few weeks and I was like, should I get this car? Should I get that car? Should I do this sort of thing? Should I do a loan? Should I buy in cash, right? Like should I… I've just been playing out all the scenarios and I'm just so grateful for a coach that is with me in that, right? And I would come to her one week and be like, I think I'm gonna do this. And she was like, okay. And I'd come to her the next week and I'd be like, I think I'm gonna do this. And she'd be like, okay.
And then finally I'm like, okay, I made my decision. And I think what I wanna say to you, if you have a coach, is just remembering to be messy with them. And the best coaches are gonna be okay with you changing your mind, exploring other paths. Because in that process of anything in business, we have to get messy. I think about all my most successful programs and launches, really they've gotten there by being messy along the way. Trying this program name, okay, that name didn't resonate. Guess I need to update the name of my program trying this format. Okay, that didn't work. Trying this bonus, right? Trying this messaging and marketing, like trying is the only way to get clarity, right? You've seen that diagram where it's like, we want complete clarity to take action, but it really is action that gets us clarity.
It really is those micro failures or that like, tried that shirt on and nope, I don't like how that looks on me, right? And you sometimes have to try things on. So stop making the no’s, stop making the failures mean that you did it wrong. Make it mean that you did it right. Right. This is not, this is not grade school. This is entrepreneurship. This is not a day job. This is entrepreneurship. And it's just a different line of thinking that like every mistake you make is the best data and the best education, right? There's not a single successful entrepreneur out there that isn't failing, that isn't making mistakes, that isn't “learning lessons the hard way”, right? And so I just wanna say that, okay, this was just a hodgepodge and an excuse to catch up, but I would love to hear from you if you're in the middle of any big decision.
And he other thing I wanted to say is take your time. I think there's a fine line between like, I felt like the, when I decided to buy my car this week, even though I didn't have to buy it with my RAV4 basically exploding because like, actually they fixed, my dad fixed the hose and it works fine now, but it just felt like in my head it was like the wing from the universe and like, ooh, I felt ready. I felt ready, right? And wait for that, wait for when you feel ready enough. Because I think sometimes there's this message in the online space that's like, just invest or take the leap like jump in the parachute will appear. Maybe that works for some people, but that does not work for me.
You know, what works for me? Having a regulated nervous system, you know what works for me? Being mindful, you know what works for me not being guilted or pressured into something. And that's what I wanna say. That's what I tell all my clients on potential clients on sales calls is like, I absolutely think you should buy this program. It will change your life. If it's true. If not, I'll be like, I'm not the coach for you. But what I will say is like, what do you need to feel good about this decision? Like, do you need to pray? Do you need to talk to your partner? Do you need to journal? Like what do you need to feel at peace about it? Right? I think that's why I have such a great client success rate and a great retention rate is because once clients become a client of mine, I'm saying the same thing to them, but in different scenarios, right?
Like, I'm gonna give you the best business advice I can, but at the end of the day, you're the CEO and you need to make that decision because you're running your business and I'm gonna stand by you and I'm gonna support you, but you make that call. And so I think that's why in sales it can be so empowering to just always like pass it back to the client. Of course. Like why would we do anything elsewise, right? But just really empowering the client to make their best decision to take their time to be mindful, but also like, not to take too much time, right? Because then I think we get stuck in overthinking. We get stuck in fear, we get start stuck in what ifs and it's really remembering that we really need to play the game of using time as data, right?
Like the, the quicker you make the the best decision you can, the good news is if it's a good decision, you're on your way. If it's a bad decision, then you know that, and then you can shift, right? But if you're just waffling in this like messy gray, then you're not doing either. I always tell my clients like, when you launch a product, give it a hundred percent because you'll either, either make a ton of sales or you won't make sales. But at the end of the launch, you'll have a ton of data. If you half-ass the launch, you won't know, did it not sell because I half-assed it or did it not sell because something is off. But if you come to me and you're like, Anna, I gave this launch my all and it still didn't sell, we can be like, great, now we know that that wasn't a factor.
We know that something else is, is it the size of your audience? Is it your messaging? Is it something right? And so just remembering that it's useful to you. No, I did my best. I made the decision, I'm moving forward, I'm having data, and then I can always shift, right? Okay, love you girls so much. Let me know if you're in the middle of any big decisions so that I can say a prayer for you for divine guidance. I just wanna say a prayer for you now too, that you'll be guided whatever you're in the middle of, whether it's a big decision, whether it's a lot of my clients have been facing like chronic health issues lately and feeling like stuck at knowing the best treatment. And so if you are stuck in the middle of a challenging chapter, a challenging decision, I just wanna know that I think about you, I love you and I'm just praying for God or the universe or whatever it is that designs divine source of courage and direction for you.
I just pray that that would be louder in your heart this week, that you would have breakthrough or direction or science from the universe, hopefully will not be in the form of your car blowing up. Thank goodness that happened in the drive-thru and not the freeway though, right? Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh God. We'll take small winks from the universe, right? Small winks, small nudges, small reminders. We do not need anything massive. Okay, sending you the biggest hug and thank you so much for all of your dms and kind support for the skin cancer thing. Basically, if you've missed the memo, I had basal cell, um, carcinoma, am I saying the right one? Basically the one that is non-life threatening, they were able to completely remove it with surgery. It's the most bizarre procedure and I'm so glad I took time off because it was very mentally challenging and a little bit of a rough physical recovery. But I am on the mend. It was a hundred percent removed and I am doing great and I just had this beautiful scar that I'm continuing to wear scar tape on and heal. So thank you for all your love and notes and dms. So many of them made me cry because I'm just so thankful for you and your support in this community and just very, very grateful. Okay, go before I start crying again.
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.