My Greatest Business Wins and Challenges of 2021
Your Biggest Vision
Season 3, Ep. 50

2021 pushed me a lot and as it comes to a close, I am taking a moment to reflect on the evolution of this past year. So, I am pulling back the curtain to review some of my greatest business wins and challenges of 2021. I hope this episode accompanies you on a trip or holiday activity and gives you the opportunity to reflect as well as gives you a dose of inspiration for the coming year.

Tune in to hear:

  • A dose of reality and inspiration to get your mind into the magical spirit of this season

 

  • The three biggest wins and the three biggest challenges of 2021 for my business and how they have changed the course of my business 
  • What I am looking forward to in business in 2022
2021 pushed me a lot and as it comes to a close, I am taking a moment to reflect on the evolution of this past year.

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Leah Gervais 2021 evolution
S. 3 ep 50 2021 recap

Episode Transcription

Leah Gervais: Hello visionaries. Welcome back to the show. Hello from maternity leave. it is so wild that when this episode goes live, I will have a child. it’s very exciting though. Um, I hope that you are loving the holiday season. I hope that you are loving the reflection that you are probably doing about the last year and thinking about what could lie ahead in the next year. I love working in December and I don’t mean that in like a workaholic way. 

 

I definitely think it’s important to take time off, but I think because it is so much quieter, kind of externally because a lot of people are taking time off and, and you can be included. There’s almost like this magic of going behind the scenes going inner, um, thinking about what you really want for the next year, what really went well over this last year and kind of creating from that place.

 

So I hope that you are soaking that up. I also, for whatever reason, always get really just inspired and, and like get to learn more during the holidays. I think it’s because we travel usually more often granted the last year or two has been, um, exceptions to that role. Hopefully you’re traveling this year. I am not cause I will have a two week old, but I think because usually you’re on planes more, um, and commuting more and things like that. Um, I just I’m able to like listen to more books and more podcasts usual, and I usually really love that. So yeah, I hope that I hope that this podcast is accompanying you on some trip, hopefully some holiday related event or activity, and that it kind of gives you that dose of inspiration or reflection that really puts you into a magical place. Whenever you think about work this holiday season.

 

So I wanted to pull back the curtain on our 2021 with you and review some of the years, biggest business win, as well as some of the biggest challenges that we had. This was a year with a lot of both it was a big year for both. I think that our wins were phenomenal. It will probably be a year that kind of changes the trajectory of my business forever, you know, a year that will keep it, it like a foundational year, you know, a year you kind of never go back from, but it definitely had, it pushed me a lot as a leader, as a visionary, as a CEO. 

 

It pushed my mindset a lot. I definitely had to make sure that I was always thinking and supporting my brain to be as, um, just successful as possible, honestly, and to think in a successful way. And I definitely personally think I had a big advantage this year because I did not have one sip of alcohol this whole year, which is kind of crazy because when I decided to stop drinking, I don’t know, it’s just kind of, I, I decided somewhat spontaneously. It wasn’t like a long time coming. Um, and then I got pregnant three months later, you know, and I, I had no idea that I was going to be pregnant when I decided to stop drinking alcohol.

 

So it was sort of like this compound effect where yeah, just between the two things hopping and then getting pregnant. Um, I just, haven’t had alcohol in like a whole year after, you know, years of having regular wine, um, with dinner or, you know, going out to bars on the weekends or just having alcohol be a really big part of my life, honestly. So I love that and I’ll do a whole episode about my reflections on a year without alcohol. Um, and now that I, at the time of this recording will not, will be no longer pregnant. I not planning on starting again. Um, anytime soon, anyway, I mean, I really have no idea how I’m gonna feel, but yeah, it’s not part of the agenda. And it was so such a good decision for my mental health and for my anxiety. I really don’t see any benefit to drinking when it comes to mindset and mental health.

 

But again, that’s a different conversation, but on the flip side I was pregnant this year and that was a lot on my emotions. It was a lot on my physical health. It was a lot on my mental health. It definitely demanded more of me physically and mentally than almost anything ever has. Mostly in a really beautiful way. I’m very blessed that I had a great pregnancy. I felt good most of the time. 

 

I mean, other than some of your morning sickness or just aches and pains, from weight gain and things like that, but I really didn’t have any health concerns, which I’m extremely fortunate for and, and grateful for. And I know that, and I’m not trying to be insensitive here. Um, I’m just trying to kind of share where, what my year was like. My point is, uh, pregnancy definitely took up a lot of my mental space.

 

So while I’m really grateful that I gave up alcohol and that, that was something I did for myself before I got pregnant. And I do think that it is one of the reasons that I was able to level up this year in the way that I needed to in order to reach our goals. Um, I definitely was then met with, I don’t really wanna call it a challenge cuz it’s such a blessing, but just an additional component of the whole equation, which was getting and preparing for my first baby and having my body go through so much. So with those two things into consideration, let’s go ahead and dive into the three biggest wins and then the three biggest challenges that my business faced this year. So I in first place, I guess I did kind of, I don’t know if I actually ranked these.

 

I don’t think I ranked these, but the first thing that I wanna talk about as a win, I’m gonna alternate back and forth from a win to a challenge. And I’m just gonna be really transparent here. This is just, uh, you know, I don’t see anything, any need to hold things back. The biggest win that I, the first thing I thought of was our team growth this year. I am really proud of, of the way that our team grew this year, who our team grew with this year, the way that our team is set up for next year and the transition this year was the year that it really, really felt like it all moved from me running the ship to me, kind of building the ship but being one of many people that actually manages the ship. So if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know a little bit about how the last few years have gone in terms of team.

 

I went from in 2019 having an assistant and a few contractors here and there with things like Pinterest and graphic design to then hiring my sister, Abby, who is now our lead coach. I hired her full-time. And at first she kind of wore all the hats, um, in our company just because she was the only full-time person. Um, and that was somewhat of a financials stretch for me. I mean, it’s a big commitment to have a full-time employee. 

 

You, you cover, you know, a lot of, a lot more expenses than you do a contractor. I pay her, her taxes come out of like what I pay her. Um, so I just sort of had her do everything with me. I just sort of had her be my right hand woman. And I don’t think that that was the most organ eyes approach, but it’s kind of what I had to do because at the time I was still working with clients a lot of the time and still doing all of the sales myself and things like that.

 

So I just didn’t have time to properly learn how to be a leader and create her role. And honestly, I think it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed her to try out a lot of different parts of the business to see what she liked best. And, and for me to see what she was best at. And it turns out she’s an incredible coach herself, which is why she’s now become our lead coach. And she’s stepped away from some of the backend things, um, with that she had the responsibility of for a while because we’ve kind of honed in on her, her zone of genius. So anyway, this year was that big transition from sort of it just being me and Abby in all hands on deck to having more structure, having more of a team and having, uh, like clarity and infrastructure within my business about who does what, and it has taken so much pressure off of me, um, while simultaneously allowing us to grow so much.

 

And it’s been an amazing thing to see happen. I didn’t realize how gratifying it would be to watch my own team grow the way that it has and, and the way that it has filled me up. Um, and it has been very challenging for me. I don’t think that it’s one of the more natural parts of business for me. But, um, I am very, very grateful that the team has kind of turned out the way it has anyway. So we are going into the new year, a team of, I believe, six, maybe seven. Um, we are all women and I really think all very close and we all kind of share the same vision and it’s just really cool to be able to work together every day and to really see all of this come to life. Um, and I have to give a huge shoutout to them and a huge thank you to them because it’s because of the work that they’ve done.

 

And because of them that I was able to start working three days a week this year, I was honestly sort of forced to work three days a week, uh, during my first trimester of my pregnancy, because I was so and so sick and just so down, I really feel like it was one of the more mentally challenging parts or times in my life. And I don’t mean to sound, be dramatic again, nor do I mean to sound insensitive. I understand pregnancy is such a blessing, but it really hormonally imbalanced me. And I really struggled to keep up with my day to day tasks. So one of my team members suggested actually that I step back from work for as much as I was and go to three days a week. And as we kind of figured that out and tweak that together, we started realizing this could just be how things are, I could just work three days a week.

 

And that is then what we practice all of my pregnancy so that when I do go back to work after maternity leave is over, I still will only work three days a week. And then I can be with my baby the other two days a week, which is exactly what I want. So I’m very, very grateful to be in a situation. I can do that and to have a team that supports me doing that and to have a business that’s established enough to do that and to be financially in a place where it’s not at the cost of my income or salary. And I know that isn’t the case for a lot of people that have nine to five jobs who end up going part-time for, for childcare or because they prefer to, uh, so it’s not lost on me, the, the, the, how special that is.

 

And it is a great reason for you to have your own business. If it’s something you’re considering, and you’re in a nine to five job, you should not have to sacrifice the time you want for yourself or for your family or whatever reason you would need to have a unique schedule. Um, you shouldn’t have to make less money because you’re doing that. And I, I, I strongly believe that. So I, anyway, I would say that the number one biggest win is how the team has grown the way they’ve grown together, who the team is and what it’s really been able to do to shape the business, to be something bigger than me and something that doesn’t just rely on, like my hustle every day, which is what it was for a, a long time. And I think it is like that for a long time.

 

I don’t think that’s like a faulty business situation be him, but it’s just not sustainable. Even if I wasn’t pregnant, even if I wasn’t going on maternity leave, I was at the point where if we just continued to rely on me as much as we were, there was there’s, I’m only one person there’s only so much me. I was stunting the growth of it. So that has been incredible. Okay. The challenge that kind of is a company by that, and this was mostly a challenge for me, but still just a challenge worth pointing out is that our expenses went up a lot this year. And the pressure I was under went up a lot this year. This was probably the most pressure I had ever felt since I started my business this year. And this was for a few reasons first, most obviously, because our team grew a lot, both in size and in, um, the hours that they were working.

 

And I tried to be a very fair boss. I mean, I obviously try to pay them as generously as I can. So between those three factors, the team expenses went up dramatically team is so it is the most expensive thing in business, except for perhaps coaching, depending on where you are in your business and how much you’re spending on coaching. Um, team is something that you have to pay in cash. You can’t pay it with a credit card like you can other business expenses. Not that I think that’s a good financial plan, but it’s just something to point out. It’s something you have to physically have in your bank account every two weeks, um, to be able to pay payroll. And if you, you know, have, um, a few clients that pay late, or if you have a few invoices that are overdue, or if you have a launch that doesn’t go well, you can that savings or that checking account, wherever your cash is, can empty very quickly after you pay payroll.

 

Um, that’s just how it is, you know, it’s, it, it is what it is. It’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean you’re an irresponsible business owner. If you have a lot of money in your bank account one day and then payrolls due, and the next day you don’t, uh, but it’s not an easy experience and it is mentally challenging to go through. So I, the expenses went way up from our team, additional expenses that went up this year were Facebook ads. 

 

I’ve talked about this on other episodes, and I’m not gonna get too deeply into it here, but it’s no secret that because of the iOS updates and just like the overwhelming drama that so many of these tech giants have gotten into in the media over the past few years, um, you know, the issues with privacy and people having concern for things like Alexa and what it’s listening to and Facebook and what it’s listening to and yada yada yada, um, the iOS updates required a greater deal of privacy protection through Facebook and Instagram ads than we had ever seen, which made the cost of a ads and the tracking of ads increase dramatically.

I know that we weren’t alone in seeing, I’m not kidding. I’m not exaggerating 10 to 20 times the expense on certain ads than we used to see. So we used to, through our tested webinar ads, be able to get leads to a webinar for on a good date, like two to $3 a lead, probably on average, closer to six nowadays, I feel excited and confident if it’s around 15. Um, and even that takes testing and we still try to get that lower, but we don’t always, if it’s under 20, I consider that a win . So the price of a ads went way, way up this year. And it wasn’t something that to me, was an option to stop doing. Um, I talked again about this on a different episode a few weeks ago, where I talked about whether or not you need Facebook ads.

 

And we really viewed Facebook ads as a huge strategy for lead generation and for audience nurturing. And for me, being able to do that through ads and through paid marketing, rather than me having to do it organically, like constantly being on Instagram stories, or like constantly reaching out in Facebook groups, or like constantly posting on Instagram, it still was worth it to me, especially being as pregnant as I have been. And, uh, just going through as many changes and also just wanting more balance in my life. 

 

I kind of went through a moment this year where I just felt like I don’t wanna be on social media as much as I have been. So ads have been worth it to me, and they’ve been hugely expensive and I’ve still continued to do that. And we’ve just had to adjust to the changes. Um, and so between those two things, the pressure that I’ve been under, not to mention the new element personally, of realizing and recognizing that I am about to have a baby, and that, that is an additional expense I’ve never had to pay for.

 

And that’s something extremely important. And that I was gonna go on maternity leave from a company, literally bears my own name. Um, I just felt a lot of pressure. I don’t wanna say that I’ve been extra stressed out. This has not been a stressful year. I really believe in stress management. I feel like I really prioritize not getting too stressed. Did I have stressful moments? Of course, I’m human. 

 

Again, a lot of those probably had to do with pregnancy. Um, but overall I think there’s a difference between pressure and stress and the way that I frame it, at least for my own frame of mind and my own wellbeing is that pressure is something I ask for pressure is something I sign up for pressure isn’t negative. It’s not positive, it’s neutral. It’s just an experience you have when there’s a lot of responsibilities that you have, and there’s lot relying on you and that you need to make happen.

 

And up until this year to be to the truth is just that the amount of pressure I was under was, was just a lot less than, than what I am now. It’s not that I didn’t have stress. It’s not that I didn’t have responsibilities, but it was just my husband and I, and you know, he works too. So it’s not like I, it was really just the two of us plus with two incomes. Um, and we didn’t have a mortgage. We didn’t have any kids. We don’t have a car. We still don’t have a car. There’s very few assets that we have. And just very few kind of day to day responsibilities and bills that we absolutely needed to keep up with. Now, you still have savings goals used to, like, my family still relies on me for an income. It’s not like it was a free for all.

Um, and then having a much smaller team and having much cheaper kind of operating expenses, specifically marketing expenses, the amount of pressure was just a lot less. I probably didn’t know it in real time. and so it’s always good to kind of check yourself and think, where am I adding pressure? Sure. Where there isn’t even now I wanna recognize that like, I will have a baby, but you know, I’m one of three kids. 

 

So as my husband, like, I’m sure having three kids is a lot more pressure than, than having one or having a newborn. So it’s always worth keeping in perspective. Where am I adding pressure onto myself that isn’t actually here or that I can avoid. So all that is to say that my increased a lot this year and I was able, and I’m still able to keep the perspective that this is pressure I asked for and it’s pressure, I wouldn’t trade.

 

And I think that if you’re resonating with this and you’re feeling a lot of pressure on yourself, whether that’s through expenses that you have in your business, or it’s through debt that you have gone into to start your business or expenses within your fan, trying to remember that you are in a situation that you chose to be in, I think really helps keep it in perspective. And I continually throughout the year would just remind myself, I want this business. I want this team, I want this baby. This is stuff that I wouldn’t have any other way. I’m allowed to feel pressure around it, but I’m not allowed to feel like a victim and I’m not gonna let it be a negative situation in my life because there’s, I wouldn’t trade any of it. You know what I mean? And I think that whenever we can come back to that reminder that like, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

There’s no way I would ever wanna go back to a nine to five job. Again, there’s no way I wouldn’t want a team. Then it allows you to experience the emotions that come with growth, without it feeling negative, or like it’s something you can’t handle. And I think that that’s so important. And I just wanna normalize that more because even with my clients, um, many of them in my mastermind, as they’ve gone through the year, they’ve gone through kind of a similar metamor physic where they were solopreneurs, you know, just making as much money as they could to. Now they have teams, they have, they’re making, uh, considerable amount of money, but for some of them that has, uh, changed dynamics within their families so that they are the breadwinners and they are, you know, now more reli, their family relies on them more for income.

 

And, um, times it can be a lot. And to just sort of give yourself permission to say it’s normal to have moments where I feel like I don’t want, I don’t want to be under all this pressure, or I don’t know how I’m going to get through this, or, um, I feel really stressed and like, that’s okay to have those moments so long as you can continually come back to the reminder that like you chose these you in you’re processing the, the stress you’re processing the negativity. You’re not letting it roll you, I think is very important. 

 

So anyway, that was the, probably the biggest challenge for me personally, as a leader this year is just the increased pressure from my responsibilities personally and professionally, and the huge increase in our business expenses through things that I love, but definitely had to address, okay, going back to wins.

So let’s talk about the second big business win that we had, uh, this year, which is, and I’m just gonna shamelessly brag about it, that our clients were insanely successful this year, this year. I think my clients saw more success than ever, than any year before ever . Um, which I guess makes sense. It’s probably no surprise. It is the result of the fact that I’m probably better as a coach than I’ve ever been before, because my team has grown. 

 

Our clients are more supported than they’ve ever been before. We’re working with people that are more serious than ever before. Um, and it just has made sense logically as my business has progressed. And as I progress as a coach, that I’m, I’m, I’ve never been as good at what I do as I am now. Uh, and that’s resulted in our clients doing very well, but I can’t not consider it a win because this business isn’t just about me and my wins.

 

It’s about the impact that it has and our clients, my high level alone. So not considering my side hustlers, just, just taking into consideration my masterminds, um, of which I had two cohorts this year and my one on one clients of which I only had three. So I only took on three one on one clients this whole year. So just between them, the masterminds and one-on-ones, uh, they generated around 3 million, actually more than 3 million, which I am so proud of. 

 

I think is so awesome and is just such a Testament to the power of coaching and the power of dedication and the power of leveling, your mindset and your goals and yourself. I mean, so many of my masterminds and so many of my clients start, I saw them start and scale your side hustle. You know, they had an idea they had a dream, they had a desire to do something different, and now they are part of this collective, like multi seven figure, um, where result.

 

And so that’s been a huge win, and I don’t anticipate that changing. Um, if only if anything, I think that’s only going to grow next year. Um, but if that is something that you’re excited and, and wanna be part of, I once again, have to plug my mastermind, because that really is where so much of this growth happens. And I’m just so proud to see everything that they’ve done on. Now, the reverse side of that, and I hope you’re kind of seeing the pattern here. I, I kind of intentionally matched up the huge wins with the challenges that came with them, because I really wanna illustrate that the law of polarity is real with every win. There is like an equal challenge. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. I don’t want you to anticipate struggle with your wins in your accomplishments. That’s not what it’s about.

 

It’s about recognizing that it’s okay to have challenges and it’s okay to have struggles. And really the accomplishments belong to those who are willing to sit through the obstacles on the way to them. So, wow. We had clients generate over $3 million in revenue. Uh, my clients are, I think all, all of my high level client, all of the ones in my that I’m thinking of my one on one clients in my mastermind, um, are at like hit at 5k month. Um, you know, they’re all crushing. It. Many of them are having like multiple five and even six figure months. Uh, um, those are the clients that like did the work and saw things all the way through. So the reverse side is this year because we had more clients than ever because our income went up higher than ever because we had more growth than ever.

 

I also saw a lot of the challenges of being in a service based business. And a lot of my fears came true. Totally. Honestly, I’ve talked a little bit about this on other episodes, but this year was the year that I had more people try to break their contracts than ever more people. Um, just not pay than ever. I got more, uh, I got a few, I still didn’t get a lot and knock on what I’m grateful, but I got more, uh, mean reviews or just like, mean call than ever. Um, all the things that I’ve spent years being really afraid of, you know, things that I thought would be at the detriment to my business. Um, people just either not paying, um, or people changing their minds and then also people not doing the work or not seeing things all the way through and then wanting to blame you because they’re not getting the results that they want.

 

So all of that kind of started, or some, all of those things happened this year. None of them were a huge deal in the sense that like, none of them were big enough to stop me from making seven figures this year or stop I clients that did stick with us from having so much success. And like, none of it was just detrimental or as big of a deal as I thought that it would be. Um, but it all happened and it was all challenging. 

 

Even the contract things like people breaking their contracts and people, uh, not paying was particularly challenging for me because I knew that we had so many of these contracts in place. I mean, I, I’ve been very careful since the beginning about, um, you know, we have a lawyer and like she works with us to create our contracts and we like really have worked hard to protect ourselves, to make that we are protected from things like this, because we are reliant on, you know, we’re a service based business.

 

People pay us for this service and if they don’t pay us for that service, then we lose that money. And that’s very, very challenging to, it’s just not right to do to business owners because then that affects what they are able to with their team and the plans that they’ve had that affects their team’s livelihood. It’s just a really challenging situation. So that was just hard to navigate because I hated feeling like, well, one, it was hard to navigate because yeah, it puts you in a, in a bad situation, essentially it puts you in a situation where your business decisions and sacrifices are having to be made at, at the, at the, because of other people’s either IR responsibility or disrespect, or just lack of follow through. And, um, it, and it ends up just making you feel like you have to make these really hard decisions about how to handle things.

 

There shouldn’t even be problems in the first place. So, uh, those were challenges. They were again, I’m, I feel like I focusing more on it now than it actually felt in real time. This is not something that I thought about every day. It’s not every not something I thought about every week. If I could average it out, I would say that there is probably one of these situations every other month throughout the year. 

 

But they are, the reason I wanted to share them is because were very big fears of mine for a long time. I was very afraid of what would happen if people wrote me a mean email or a nasty email about my program or slandered my name on the internet, or if people just bailed out of like a contract that they had with me for, even though they had like contractually signed and been obligated to stay in it.

 

These things did happen and it’s frustrating and it’s annoying, and it’s not something that I want for you in your business and do not let it stop you from moving forward and know that even if it does happen, you will still be able to get through it. And it’s not going to be at the, it’s not going to define your business, or it’s not going to define, you know, what you can do for the clients that are there for you. And it also has nothing to do with you. I think that that’s where the way I took it at first, I was, I was like, what’s wrong with me? Do these people, not like me? And it’s like, no, you know, if people aren’t upholding their contract, cause that’s more about them and their lack of integrity than it is about you.

 

So don’t make it personal. Um, and honestly, what my lawyer always says is she’s like, just like, think about the carmic , uh, harms that can come with that kind of thing. You know, like if you have, if your clients, uh, are entrepreneurs themselves and then they are in the meantime, like, and then they’re breaking contracts, what do they think they’re bringing into their life? And like the contracts that they have. 

 

So anyway, it’s it not, not a huge deal, not the end of the world. And if it does happen to you, you will get through it and don’t dwell on it. Like, don’t let it take up your energy. Don’t let it take up a day. Don’t let it take up a week. Don’t let it take up, you know, anything that could prevent you from spending that time, being more productive or doing something else or doing something for yourself or doing something for your current clients, cuz that is who matters and that is who deserves your attention. 

 

Okay. The third win is obvious. If you follow me, then you know that they, we had a huge sales, we hit our first seven figure year. So to clarify, this was the first time in a 12 month period. It happened in August. So it was 12 months from last August to this August or I guess yeah. Um, where we made a million dollars in sales and a 12 months span, which was incredible. So that was something I was extremely proud of and something I was even more proud of having done, uh, six months pregnant and a true dream come true. Something that I really still have to pinch myself to realize is real. Especially considering where I was. When I started this business, I was making $45,000 a year as a paralegal in New York city. I had tens of thousands of dollars of student loans.

 

I had no idea what a blog was. I had no idea how to work. WordPress. I did not know how to use Facebook ads. I did not know how to make a sale. I had never sold anything in my life and I had no money to start at all. And I learned what I had to learn. I went into debt to pay for what I had to pay for, even though I didn’t have the money to do so. Um, and I really just had to imagine something better and bigger for myself. And yes it was, you know, it’s just, it’s been a big transformation and something I’m very grateful for. So, uh, that was a huge win. And I wanna reiterate that my sales strategy all the way to my million dollar mark is the same concepts and the same sales concepts that I have been using since I hit my first five figure month.

 

And I teach those in our program, service based sales, that is my sales training program. It has eight modules. It is gold. And it transcends your income goal. It transcends your platform. It transcends the trendy things that I think a lot of people teach on it is about giving and receiving is about upleveling. It is about making sales in a non-sleazy way. And from those concepts it’s allowed me to up level continually not relying on a single platform, not relying on a single strategy, not overly relying on any single thing other than my ability to help people and to offer a certain service. So if that is something that you feel like you could really benefit from, if you need sales strategy, if you aren’t selling consistently, if your income isn’t consistently rising check out service based sales, I really could go on and on about what a win this was.

 

Uh, I’ve done episodes on it that, um, you might wanna go back and listen to if you haven’t, but yeah, this a dream come true, a huge win, something that was definitely a team effort. Um, and something that I hope, uh, just shows anyone out there who is just starting out or who feels like they’re behind or who feels like they have a reason for why they can’t do things that you absolutely can. You can start from where you’re at. And if you feel like you’re at a disadvantage, then using those disadvantages and turning them into advantages is something you can do. It’s something you’re capable of. And it’s something that all entrepreneurs, you know, have in common is figuring out how to do the PO, how to make possible, what might seem impossible. Okay. And then the final challenge, which is honestly kind have a win.

 

I kind of did a Michael Scott here. If you watch the office where he is like, you’re supposed to ask me what my weakness is, and then it’s supposed to be a win or whatever he’s supposed to do. But my, the point is a huge challenge that we had this year that I believe has been a big win. I will report. Um, more back later once I have all the details is that we had to plan for my maternity leave, not had to, we got to plan for my maternity leave and knowing that I had never walked away for even two weeks, honestly, just completely, uh, what it was a big task. I wanted to take 10 weeks off. I wanted to be completely unplugged. I did not want our clients to have a gap while I was gone. I wanted them to still feel supported.

 

Um, I wanted our business to continue to move. I wanted my team to be able to continue to do their jobs. Um, I really wanted it to be a genuine maternity leave the way it would be if I were at another nine to five job where people would fill in on my behalf and, you know, allow the business to keep moving as usual. 

 

So I did a whole episode on how we planned for, and I will report more back onto how it went and what I think we could have done better. What I think we did. Right? So more to come on this, but I think the way I wanna end it is that challenges are worth it. Challenges are something you can handle. Challenges are something that happened for you. I mean, how fortunate am I that I, uh, one get to have a maternity leave to am in a position in my business where I am able to figure out how to step away for as long as I, uh, need to now and then can teach others.

 

You know, what I, what I did and didn’t do. And I know that there’s a lot of women, uh, listen to this. I know there’s a lot of women in our audience and I really hope that this reminds you, that you still can have it all. Um, and you can still make that happen on your terms, even if it’s challenging on the way to do so. There’s nothing you can’t handle. Okay. This was a long one. I hope that you guys enjoyed this episode. And as you reflect on your own wins and challenges from the year, I hope that you really can see how all wins kind of come with and through challenges they aren’t, and shouldn’t be enough to sway you from, uh, you know, going for that win and knowing that you can make that happen because you absolutely can. And that is the message I wanna leave you with today. As we finish out this year, and as we go into a new one, there is no challenge too big for, especially if you’re a big dreamer. So keep dreaming, keep believing in yourself. Keep moving forward. Do not settle. I’ll talk to you guys soon. All.

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