Leah Gervais: Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Your Biggest Vision show, Leah here, and I hope you don’t mind my slightly deep and hoarse voice. I have just, uh, been talking about how I was at a wedding this weekend and had a little too much fun, which resulted in a bit of a loss of my voice. I don’t even drink anymore, and still, I guess I can’t party even sober without losing my voice. 

But that is why it is the way it is. No regrets, and I’m excited to be here today with you with kind of a, a i, what I hope to be a very thought provoking and helpful episode. Something that I think a lot of people want to talk about, but this is probably the thing that I see most business coaches feel out of integrity with, which is that they are making a lot of money and they have high numbers, but they don’t create consistency with it, and then they feel guilty about it.

And it kind of leads to this hot and cold experience. And, um, you know, I’ve been there myself. First of all, this isn’t meant to shame anyone else’s experience with business, but I do think that I have some insight on how to think about it differently that I hope is really helpful and also quite freeing if you’re feeling a bit stuck or guilty or under some sort of pressure that hopefully we can remove a bit today. 

So we’re talking today about how to create consistency in your business and I was inspired to talk about this by a few things and I’m going to get into what those are. Before I do that, I want to remind you to consider joining my coaching wait list if you are wanting to learn more about working with me directly. We have two or three. We still aren’t exactly sure how many we’re opening up, but we have two or three, uh, one-on-one coaching spots opening with me at the end of the summer, and I just decided that I think we’re going to do, um, a little special on them at the end of July to start in the fall.

So if you are interested in learning more about that or if you just wanna hear about it when it opens, or if you’re wanting to be one of the first to apply, then definitely get on the wait list. There’s no strings attached for getting on the wait list at this point. It is just for you to be there in the know and, you know, kind of in the front row of what we have open. 

Um, it is also where you will get some insight along the way. I send regular emails to those on my wait list. Uh, just giving some insights, uh, in what is and isn’t working in my own business and most excitingly, other than the coaching with me, but very excitingly, we offer a free session with me focusing on monthly recurring revenue to someone on the wait list every month.

So once you’re on the wait list, you’re in the drawing to get into that free session and you are eligible forever once you’re on the wait list. So the sooner you get on the wait list, the more likely you are to win that drawing and I would love to see you there. So you can join the wait list by going to leo dravet.com/wait list and you’ll be able to sign up there. 

Again, no strings attached. You’ll just be the first in line to know when things open and you get some extra bonuses, goodies and behind the scenes in my life when you’re on the wait list. The other thing I wanna mention as I typically like to do on this podcast is that if you are wanting some very technical strategic insights into business, then I recommend signing up for my free but private podcast seven Figure Secrets.It’s where I go more into the inner workings of my seven figure business. This particular podcast is more about, uh, fighting for your vision and more mindset concepts. Today we’re talking about how to create consistency in business, which frankly is quite a seven figure, uh, way of thinking as well.

But this week on the seven figure secrets, uh, podcast episode, we are talking about six lessons from my first six figure day. So if you’re wanting more high level content like that, if you’re further along in business, then don’t miss that. It is totally free and you can go to seven figure secrets podcast.com to sign up for it. Okay, let’s talk about what we’re here today, which is to create consistency and why I am seeing very successful brands, um, not experience this. So I wanna set the stage a little bit. Uh, a few days ago I decided to make a new vision board.

So I love vision boards. I also really believe in visualization. I admit that I’m not the smoothest with vision boarding. I don’t know if anyone else is like this, but sometimes I get caught in my own head when I’m making one about the logistics of the vision. Like, well, should I put my whole life’s vision on one board or just what I want in the next year or what I want to happen in five years or what is it gonna happen? 

Or should I organize my vision boards, like one for my house, one for my bank account? All that kind of stuff. And so this was no exception. So on this day, I decided to make a new vision board with this sort of business focus specific. And as I was making it, I was scrolling through Pinterest and I don’t typically get on Pinterest for fun, but I love getting on it when I’m creating a vision board or looking for some insights into inspiration.

And as I was scrolling through Pinterest, I found an article or a pin to an article or an episode on a podcast from someone sharing insights into their first multi-million dollar sales year in online business. Now I was like, I’ll click the bait, I’m here for it. I’ve made a million dollars in sales in a year, but I’ve never made multi-millions of sales in a year. 

Sure, why don’t I see if there’s something in there that could help me think differently or that could give me some different insight. So I’m scrolling through this article and it’s not much that I don’t know, I don’t honestly agree with the whole thing, but hey, who am I to say otherwise? I don’t have the multimillion dollar business yet, but it was helpful. Sure. I didn’t really have any, any, uh, strong reactions either way to the content itself, but I get to the bottom of it and at the bottom of this website is a link to this person’s Instagram.

So I click on it and I look at their Instagram. And what I find right after finding them initially and reading about their multi-million dollar year is that they’ve shut down. They no longer wanted their business and they had multiple posts, um, and some detailed content on why that was. 

Uh, you know, I don’t know the whole story, I only looked into this for about five minutes, but there were some things along the lines of, uh, downgrading, uh, a team to only have one person remaining on the team and closing multiple programs that had made these millions of dollars and completely just, just shutting the business down. Just ending it. You know, I, I, again, I don’t know the details, maybe there’s some things that are still going on, but more or less this person, after having decided to publicly share about all this success, was now deciding to publicly share that they no longer wanted it.

It was no longer worth it, essentially. And this was so fascinating to me and it’s not the first time I’ve seen something like that. Um, in the past year, two different coaches that I have learned from in the past and paid and looked up to and admired and tried to, you know, emulate some of what they’ve done. I’ve seen them join MLMs, which really surprised me because I don’t enjoy an mlm. It not just, well, I don’t really enjoy it as a consumer, I guess I can’t speak for all the products cuz I haven’t tried all of them.

But as a business coach, I don’t agree with the business model. I cannot fathom, uh, marketing something on behalf of someone else. Like why wouldn’t you just have a nine to five job at that point? Um, I don’t agree with that. And so I was very surprised that that’s kind of where the direction they decided to go.

And then, and I’m sure there’s things I don’t know, again, this isn’t about shaming a specific person. What this is about, why I am sharing this is because it’s clear that there’s a phenomenon and that many business owners are experiencing either burnout, no longer enjoying what they’re doing, uh, no longer finding it sustainable and, and stopping closing it, no longer wanting to move forward with it.

And while there are likely reasons that this is happening that either we don’t know or that aren’t our business, there are probably things we can take away from this and try to apply to our own business and approach to business and way of thinking. The main thing being, do you have a sustainable business? Do you have one that can support you through different seasons of life through different unexpected things that come up and one that continues to bring you joy?

And I think that in the pursuit for financial freedom, all too often entrepreneurs trade the freedom of their lifestyle and the freedom of their time. They end up working 24 7, they end up finding success on success on social media, but then feeling like they owe their social media audience continual glimpses into their life and like their audience has some authority to give their opinions about their life. And nothing about either of those things is sustainable and neither of them are probably why these entrepreneurs started to begin with.

I think freedom is a big, big motivator, but the lure of financial freedom can lead you astray from those other types of freedom. And then it doesn’t become sustainable because then you’ve actually just traded one freedom for another. Sure. You may have more financial freedom in the sense that you have a limitless income. You no longer have a nine to five paycheck, you’re no longer based on a salary.

That’s true. But if you’re working way more than you ever did at a nine to five, and if you’re having to, uh, sacrifice your own privacy or autonomy more than you ever did at a nine to five where you kind of have the luxury of being just very private, then it, it’s not going to feel good after a while. So what I wanna talk about today are some tips on sustainability in business.

 And this is not discouraging you to pursue financial freedom or to have that ambition. I totally believe you can, but there is a very healthy more long-term way to do it than just going at it battle costs because you will pay the price for that. Last week I was on a call with, uh, some of my colleagues in kind of like a peer group that I’m in and one of the things I was talking out loud with them was how lately this year scaling just hasn’t really been my priority as much as it has been in the past.

This year I’ve been able to do a lot more personal things, more personal things than I ever have since I started my business. Like mostly motherhood. That’s definitely the biggest one. I mean, I have, I spend, you know, multiple days, tons of hours per week with my son and I never did that in the past cuz I didn’t have a son. Uh, this year I’m training for the New York City Marathon, which is a very big time commitment. 

This year we are committed to doing a thousand hours outside challenge. So we’re spending hours and hours outside every day, even on workdays. And um, I’m also in a big, passionate moment with Broadway. I keep going to Broadway shows and I’m, you know, really trying to like to be more a bigger part of that community considering I live in New York City. All this is to say scaling my business, growing aggressively, hitting eight figures, I just don’t care right now is the honest truth.

And I know that that might not be the most hashtag girl boss thing to say or they’re not gonna make a mug out of me right now. But frankly I think they should because I think it’s normalizing seasons of life. And I also think it’s normalizing a freedom-based business, which gives me the luxury to not have to focus on scaling so aggressively that I’m sacrificing those things in my life that are important to me. Now I love my business and it’s not like I’m just not wanting to do it. 

That’s not true, but I have such a sustainable place with it that I can be in that happy zone of sustaining what I’ve built. A little bit of growth, sure, but not in an aggressive, all-consuming place. And, and this is something I’m proud of again. And, and it’s interesting because I think in the past this would’ve been something that I would’ve shied away from or that would’ve made me feel insecure because there are so many success stories out there that are so big and so fast and it’s hard, it’s almost impossible to not feel like you need to keep up with them.

And I get that. So if you’re feeling like that, you’re in the right place. Stick with me. What I realized talking this through with those, uh, with the, the colleagues on that call, my colleagues on that call, is that there have, there has, over the past 30 months, meaning over around the past two and a half years, I have consistently made at least $45,000 in cash in my business around that many, many months. It was a lot higher. 

You, you probably know that if you follow me, I’m very open about my income and this is cash not sales. And this is such a full circle thing for me because that is how much money I was making when I started my business at a nine to five job in a year. And in fact, I remember being in that nine to five job and hearing David Nagle, who I talked about frequently, he was a mentor of mine years ago and he talked about how you could anyone turn their annual income into their monthly income and they can do it quickly.

And I was like, this guy, what, what the hell does he know? How can someone make $45,000 in a month and how can they do it quickly and how can they do it consistently? And then I started to get on board with maybe being able to do it once if they sell something and it launches and it is super successful, but certainly not every month. 

And here I am sharing with you that that has been my reality for over two and a half years now consistently. And again, there could be some someone who listens to this and they’re like, ah, $45,000 a month, they’re so and so online in the energy guru space that’s making $500,000 in a month. I’m gonna go follow her. Totally cool. I’m not your girl. What I’m proud of here isn’t really just the dollar amount, it’s knowing to create consistency.

It’s the fact that over the past two and a half years I’ve been able to maintain that minimum while going through a pandemic like the rest of us. Like w while moving country or states, excuse me, across the country while getting pregnant, while giving birth, while breastfeeding exclusively for 19 months. I breastfed my son while moving back to New York and while primarily mothering. 

And that to me is the freedom that I wanted from a business when I began this years ago. And that to me is the freedom that keeps me in this and grateful for it and excited to do it every time that I do sit down to work, which isn’t that often. I work 30 hours a week and that is the kind of freedom that allows me to be a good coach and a present coach with my clients cuz I’m not feeling like I’m doing a million things at once.

And that is what keeps me going and keeps me in the game. And that is sustainability. Now I wanna make a few caveats here because I think it’s important to address a few things. As valuable as it is to create consistency is for me and as critical as it is to run the business, I do because it helps me plan how to, uh, pay my team, it helps me plan how to pay myself, it helps me plan out my expenses and my savings goals and everything else. I also believe that in the beginning, to create consistency doesn’t need to be your goal. 

And I know that that is a very, very hard mindset shift for people to make. If they have had a consistent nine to five paycheck for years, if not decades, it almost ends up feeling like you have to have a consistent paycheck in order for you to be safe or secure, et cetera.

And that’s absolute. That is a construct of corporate America. And there are plenty of entrepreneurs who do one launch a year, make eight figures, and then don’t really sell the whole rest of the year. There is no, uh, it’s not one of the 10 commandments that they must be paid every two weeks or you’re not safe or you’re doing things wrong or you’re irresponsible, whatever else. 

So I wanna make that differentiation very clear here. While to create consistency is a critical piece in a sustainable long-term business in the beginning, I don’t think it’s necessary and I think you kind of have to hustle your way to a consistent business. And we’re going to talk about my, the tips I wrote down here on how I’ve consistently had these, uh, 45 k plus cash months for two and a half years at this point in just a minute.

But I wanna make sure that we’re on the same page here, that I do believe in stages of business and in the beginning you’ve gotta hustle your way to consistency. You’re not going to experience  consistency in the beginning. You’re just not. And that’s okay. You are just getting things off the ground. It takes a tremendous amount of effort. 

And frankly, I think it’s the hardest part I do because you’re having to have a confident mindset, a assure mindset, and you’re kind of having to lean on beliefs that are, that feel artificial because you don’t have all this proof yet that it’s going to work or that you can do this or that you’re good at this or that people wanna work with you. At this point in my business, I have a plethora , many, many months, many, many testimonials, many, many, many millions of dollars of proof that I’m good at.

What I do, my clients get results when they stick with me and actually do the work that I tell them to do and, uh, that I can do this, right? So in the beginning, you don’t really have all that proof. You’re having to do the mindset work to believe in yourself and to take risks and to work harder and to get out of your own way. And that’s hard. And if you’re in that place, I encourage you to listen to the tips I have for getting toward a consistent business. But do not feel like you’re doing something wrong if you don’t experience consistency right now. 

So let’s talk about some, some of these tips here. Summer mindset, summer strategy. How can you foster a consistent business so that you aren’t the next person making a million dollars one year and then closing up shop the next year, which I’m seeing happen more and more and more again. Okay, first tip is to take your fricking time. All right? 

There are so many, so many. If you get on Instagram right now, I bet within 10 posts you’ll see someone talk about how they made seven figures in seven months or how they had a 10 K month, their second month of business, or how they had a million dollar launch or whatever. There’s no shortage of this quote, proof that quick money is possible.

What we need to understand behind this, and what I think is really critical is that one, you have no idea the context behind those things. Two, a lot of those people are quitting, right? Not every single person. But that is kind of the theme that we’re seeing here is people are hitting these very high income months or a very high income year burning out or not enjoying it or realizing they can’t actually hold everything that they sell or they don’t want to, and they’re closing. 

So keep those with a grain of salt. Here is the actual, uh, percentage of business growth that represents a healthy and quickly growing business. 10%, 10% annually. So if you make six figures in your first year of business, and then the next year you make 150, you are doing well, , you’re beating the average, you are beating the average growth in business.

If you make 50 k, you’re a year in business and the next year you make 55, you are doing well. That is the sign of a strong business. In my own journey, I have had some years where I’ve made quantum leaps and my income has gone up by hundreds of thousands and in other years it has gone up by, or I would say my lowest was probably a hundred thousand.

So I’ve probably beat the 10% average every single time. But it is really helpful to have that barometer about business growth and how that actually looks and how often people have faster growth than that, but then either can’t hold it on the backend because they don’t have the team in place, the infrastructure in place or the systems in place, or they sell all those things. But then that’s, that’s kind of it. Then they kind of burn out and, and go out on the other side.

The reason that I’ve had these consistent months is because I have taken my time with my business the whole time. I didn’t make money for the first two years at all, at all. I barely made over a thousand dollars in even one month. Most months I made either no money or a few hundred dollars I was using that time. I mean, I was frustrated in the moment, of course, but I built an audience during that time.

I created content during that time. I built relationships during that time and that all served me when I did start making money and started kind of dominoing from that point. Still continuously, I have not, I haven’t been the fastest growing in the industry. I’ve been fast, I’ve definitely been faster than a lot of other people, but there’s always going to be people that are faster than me.

And that is okay because I have no interest in burning out of my business and not working with my clients and not being able to do this anymore. So take your time, really sit with that. It is like the antithesis of an entrepreneur who likes quickness and likes fast results and likes instant gratification. 

But that is not always sustainable. In fact, it really is. Okay, second tip, and this is very practical, is to focus on monthly recurring revenue. Monthly recurring revenue comes in the form of payment plans, memberships, evergreen funnels, things like that. Things that consistently bring in money without you needing to actively sell every single month. These are not one-off sessions, four week packages or launch base business models. 

So having monthly recurring revenue, uh, streams and focus is, you know, not the only way to build a business, but if this is the type of thing you’re looking for, which is how to create consistency and support and being held by your business, then that is the structure you’re going to want to prioritize.

Tip number three to growing a consistently successful business and having to create  consistency is to stop aggressively growing your team. This is one of those classic mistakes from I, again, that genre of entrepreneur I see who makes seven figures in seven hours or whatever. They love the idea of having a team. And my team and I have this big team and it’s almost like there’s this ego thing around saying the word team a lot.

And the team is expensive. Team is the most expensive thing. It is incredibly expensive to, to pay for humans, to pay for their time and to adequately compensate for their skills. And you want to do that. You don’t wanna be paying people less than what they deserve. I’ve heard horror stories of people doing that, and I will never buy from the people that I’ve heard doing such a thing. So what do you wanna do in that situation?

Hire slowly. The last thing you want is to have a big month or a big year and feel like, okay, I’m only going to keep scaling at this rate because it’s what happened once and then all of a sudden you’re in a situation where you have a 50, a hundred thousand dollars payroll every month. I’ve seen it happen. That is very, that is, talk about stripping away your freedom. Hire slowly stop aggressively growing your team. My approach to my one-on-one clients, the people that I do private coaching with, is a lean, slim, effective, efficient team. I know some people will forever want big teams. 

That’s fine. If that’s you, that’s not me. I’m not the coach for you. If so, because, you know, my philosophy is about freedom and prioritizing motherhood and not being at the mercy of other people. And that includes a team.

Next tip toward consistent months is consistently generation, okay? I run ads every single day of the year, and I have for probably five years now. Every single day I have at least 10 people joining my email list. Often far more. And this is primarily ads, although I do get people joining my email list from my media features as well as from my Instagram bio as well as from Pinterest. 

So those things do happen, but it’s typically, and most effectively through Facebook ads, consistently growing my list allows me to consistently sell and it allows people to consistently get to know me and be nurtured by me. And it is the key, it is the foundation to the well oiled machine. If you want consistent sales, you need consistent leads. So stop with the hot and cold. Sometimes I’m doing this, sometimes I’m not. It has to be non-negotiable.

And if you’re just starting out, let that be the first lesson. Have a consistently generation strategy. It’s the only way to truly scale and to be consistent with your income. Okay, my final tip, my favorite tip to create consistency in your business is to live a sustainable and joyful life. If you are, and again, this might not be applicable if you’re in the beginning and you’re in that hustle chapter, I don’t think you can avoid it.

I’ve never seen anyone avoid it. I will say that I’ve heard stories , and then I’ve also heard those stories of those same people then closing up shop a few years later. But I’ve never with my own eyes and I have many entrepreneur friends, I’ve been in a lot of masterminds and I’ve seen my own clients with their success. Never seen the hustle chapter avoided. And so this is assuming you’re beyond that.

But even when you’re hustling, I still think that this applies. Enjoy your life. Be happy with where you’re at. Make the room every day for things that make you happy and that are part of the vision you have for your life. Take care of yourself, get enough sleep, enjoy whatever you do after work. 

Um, put exercise on your calendar if that’s something that makes you happy. Get groceries or go out to meals that are nourishing and make you feel good. Take yourself on dates, take yourself on or take your partner on dates.

 Um, go out with your girlfriends. Travel a lot. Don’t become a slave to your business because no one’s asking you to but you and it will. Who wants to build something, even if it’s very successful through a way that they don’t like that they then just have to maintain in order for that success to maintain.

It makes no sense. It makes no sense. And I also believe that’s a big reason I’ve had consistent months over the years because my b I’ve never really burnt out from my business. I’ve never really gotten to the place where I just feel like this isn’t sustainable. I can’t do this anymore. Um, I’m unhappy. Uh, this is taking over my life. 

You know, of course I have moments here and there when we’re working on something new or like, it hasn’t been perfect, but overall I have practiced boundaries and I just continually, and I’m in awe of the fact I’m still in awe five years later that I work for myself, that I don’t have a nine to five job, that I get to literally create things out from my mind and put them out into the world and make hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars from doing it.

And I think just having that mindset and allowing my business to support my life, not me, to have my whole life be supporting my business has really just allowed me to keep it going. And I think it makes people wanna work with me because they don’t wanna have the burnout train either. So enjoy the ride, get off of the destination train. 

Stop being so obsessed with where you’re going and enjoy where you’re at. It’s the only way you’re going to continue moving forward and continue going toward that destination because you’re able to sustain yourself on the way there. Cause then once you get there, there’s another destination and you wanna be able to sustain that too. So simple advice. Stop with the negativity. I’m feeling very passionate about this. So here’s just a little harsh pep talk. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop pretending everything isn’t working.

Stop feeling like you’re in a bad situation when you’re fricking not. If you have a roof over your head, if you have access to a bank account or a credit card or whatever else it may be. If you have people who support you, and if you have an idea and a passion, you are so much further ahead than a huge percentage of people alive in this world and way more ahead than they ever will be.

 And you need to start focusing and getting excited about those things and leveraging the out of it and watching yourself take off because of it. Rather than staying stuck in this victim mindset thinking that nothing’s working for me. Everyone else has it easier. And if you continue to advocate for that, it will only become the truth. 

You have no idea how powerful you are. You’re so powerful that if you argue for the doom of your success, you will experience the doom of your success. Okay, I hope you guys found this helpful and I hope that this was, um, a helpful perspective on the benefits of slow growth, the benefits of enjoying your life. 

In the meantime, some practical tips on how to think about your business to really see this happen. Um, and how to experience a business that supports you and enjoys yourself. While it does. I’ll talk to you soon. Visionaries, don’t forget to get on my coaching wait list at leahgervais.com/waitlist and I’ll see you there. Bye everyone.

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