Leah Gervais: Hey visionaries. Welcome back to the, our biggest vision show Leah here, and welcome to one of the very last episodes of this year. I can’t believe it. I’m not going to go on some big tangent around how ridiculous this year was and how quick it went yet, how slow it was, but you guys know the deal. Nonetheless, I’m really excited to be here with you today with a very reflective episode. This has kind of become a little business tradition of mine in the past three years, where near the end of the year, I kind of do some reflecting on the year and try to summarize the year in a word, um, or pick a word that I feel like really contributed to my business growth from that year. Whenever I do this, I think I really remember how quickly my business has grown. And I don’t say that to try to, uh, be boastful about my success.

It just is kind of an ode to that saying that the, the days are long, but the years are short. And that is so true. And I guess I just want to bring that up in case you are either going through or have gone through days this year that have just felt long to, you know, time periods, chapters that have felt never ending, uh, times when you couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I don’t really mean with COVID here. I’m not trying to take that on, but just from a business perspective, if you’ve gone through chapters, if you’ve gone through moments of wondering, is it worth it? Is it going to work? And why does no one want this? Like, what am I doing wrong? Just know that I have 100% been in  those dark nights as well, and the dark nights of the soul.

And I have been through those moments that seem never ending this thing tortures. That seems scary. Uh, and when I kind of come to the end of the year and I look back, I am always reminded of how much more dramatic those moments seem in real time, in comparison to the bigger picture that you’re pretty much always working toward, right? Like even if you have setbacks, even if things don’t go well, even if you have something holds you back, you are still usually in momentum. And if you aren’t, if you feel like, you know, the year is exactly the same as it was last year, I highly recommend seeking out a coach or mentor some sort of guidance, um, to really help you see what ceiling you are up against. Cause you might not be able to see it yourself and that’s okay. We’ve, we’ve all been there.

That’s not a judgemental, um, piece of advice. It’s just the kind of perspective on looking at how your business is moving and making sure that it continues to move in growth. So anyway, the first time I did, this was in 2018 at the end of 2018. And I guess I’ll just briefly summarize what happened in each of the years in case you’re new to me. But, uh, the long story short is that in 2018, that was what I consider my breakthrough year. And I’ve actually kind of molded my coaching now around the labels of my own years. So that was my breakthrough year. That was the, we are that, excuse me, I broke through a lot, a lot of those ceilings. You know, I had a few years before that, of every year feeling pretty much the same year after year. Not really having any more savings to show for it, much of a race, not much career clarity.

Um, just a lot of no gray area in my life. And then in 2018, I really kind of stopped taking my own crap for lack of a better phrase. And I started taking my business seriously. It was a side hustle at the time I started investing in it, like it’s actually a business, not just kind of a craft hobby or something like that. Um, that was a very tragic year for me. My father passed away and kind of, I just internally shifted that year and just got so fed up with waiting for my life to turn out the way I wanted it and waiting for kind of clarity to come to me and instead just kind of went out and got it. And so during that year I was able to start taking my business seriously. I got it up to make more than it was at my nine to five job while I was at my nine to five job tragically lost my dad.

I quit my nine to five job. I got engaged and I had my first five figure month by the end of the year. So in a lot of ways, it was the most, probably the most challenging year of my life. It was obviously losing my dad was the single worst thing to ever happen to me. I hope I hope it will forever be the worst thing that ever happened, happens to me and I’m quitting. My job was scary and it, so it was a lot. And that, that time period in business that kind of first year, if you’re in there right now and just know that that is the hardest, you will find your stride. Yes, you will come with new devils new levels, but you will really find kind of a new rhythm. And so hang in there, cause I know that that year is tough, but on the flip side, that was a year where I really set the foundation for a whole new life for myself.

Um, that’s where I started spending money on my business so that I could learn so that I could brand it while so that I could really get it to that next level. That’s where, and when I got engaged to my, you know, just incredible, incredible husband, I couldn’t have dreamed of marrying a more amazing man. And I am obsessed with our marriage. Um, that is when I quit my nine to five, which will forever be one of the best decisions I ever made. So, um, anyway, it was a hot and cold year. And by the end of the year, my year of the, my word of the year, excuse me, was the word decision. Um, because the reason that that year changed so much, the reason that so much happened in that year, they, the reason that that year later foundation that has allowed me to sprout up is because that was the year that I learned the power of decision making.

And I did a whole podcast episode on it. So I encourage you to go back and listen to that. If that’s interesting to you and in the show notes for this episode, we also will link back to it. So you can find it there as well. But I really learned that year that I had spent years of my life making decisions based on other people’s values, making decisions based on what I thought I should do, making decisions too slowly, always asking other people’s advice, making decisions based on what I thought the responsible thing was to do. And this really had two dangers with it. First of all, it blocked me from listening to my own intuition and it trained me to listen to others, which is dangerous for several reasons. Secondly, it allowed me to spend so much of my life in indecision. I constantly was second guessing my own decisions.

I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision, I would he and hall or something for weeks, sometimes a month. Um, you know, many w without going, going into this, my whole business started out of my decision to decline law school. And I made that decision the last day, the deadline, I had to tell which law school that I had been admitted to, which I had to make the decision of which one I would be going to in the fall. And I had to decline the rest of them. And I declined all of them. And I made that decision on the last day because I had no choice. And I had spent all these months in indecision, I couldn’t just freaking make the decision and listen to my gut and have the courage to say, I don’t want to do this. What else can I do until I had to at the very last minute.

So I spent all that time stressed and worried and in denial and listening to other people and, you know, it was just, it was so disempowering and there’s several other examples of that. But this was the year that I started realizing that what I was doing, you know, this, this prolonged decision making process, this listening to others in my decision making process, it wasn’t working. It was keeping me in the same place over and over. And I still didn’t feel like I knew what I wanted with my life. So I started making my own decisions and quick decisions. I decided to start investing in my business, even though I didn’t know where the money was going to come from, I decided I was going to quit my job, even though I was totally grief-stricken. Um, I decided I was going to get my business off the ground, even though I was in debilitating grief where I couldn’t get out of bed.

Sometimes I decided I was going to be self-employed by the end of the year, even though I hadn’t had my whole business plan, I just started making these decisions and not looking back. And it’s amazing how much energy and space and mental capacity it clears up when you have actually decided that something is true for you. So you don’t entertain the doubts anymore. So once I made that decision, I stopped worrying, will this investment not paid-off? What if my business fails? What if no one likes it? What if I can’t do this? Because I already had decided that I could. So that was huge. And then it obviously made the decision to get married, which was the best decision ever. So that, that was my year, my word of 2018. And I still stick with that as a, as a big principle in my life.

And in my business, I still try to make very quick decisions, try to listen to my intuition. It’s a little bit different now because I have a bigger team. So, um, I consult with them, especially my sister, Abby, who is my, my true right-hand man. Uh, but in general, I do abide by that principle. And I really try to get my clients to, um, that level of self trust as well. In 2019, my word of the year was transformation. So I came out of 2018, kind of like taking a breath for the first time, because 2018 was such a whirlwind, a whirlwind of grief, a whirlwind of excitement, getting engaged, a whirlwind of stress quitting my nine to five job, a whirlwind of excitement quitting my nine to five job. It was just like, it was a total sprint. And it was honestly somewhat of a survival year.

Just I’m sure any of you who have gone through grief can, um, relate or even, you know, some, a different type of tragedy, maybe, um, a divorce or, um, a really hard breakup or something where for the, the weeks and months, for me, it was months that followed part of it was just like getting through the day, you know, like just making sure that you are taking care of yourself. And I even remember when my dad first passed away and there was such a to-do list type person, but I couldn’t function. Like I literally could not function. My dad passed away unexpectedly in case that isn’t clear, which is why I was so debilitated, although all passings are debilitating or not trying to minimize other ways, but that was what happened with me. And I would write on my to-do list in the mornings, brush your teeth, brush your teeth.

That is it. And if I could just cross that off, I still finished my to-do list for the day. Like that’s literally how I started getting back into it again. And then it, you know, slowly brushed your teeth, get dressed, brush your teeth, get dressed and go to your job. That’s all. Well, I’d ask him myself, didn’t care how productive I was in care. If I exercised didn’t care, how well I ate didn’t care if I needed wine before I went to bed, whatever, you know, I just really needed to kind of like do one thing at a time back then. But anyway, my point is I came out of 2018, 2019. I am here for the year is my first year ever. Self-employed um, I had just had my first five figure month and I was getting married. So I felt really on top of the world that year.

And I have to tell you, 2019 was the best year of my life. It really was. And I say that with such gratitude and a lot of humility for how blessed I was for all that happened, particularly how blessed I was to have a wedding before COVID hit. When down, you know, weddings can be, it could be years before many people have their wedding, but I also say it, um, on purpose because I couldn’t have known COVID would hit, but a lot of what happened in that year, I decided what happened for me. I made the decision and I set myself up for it. And I only share that to remind you that you really do get to design your life and you really do get to transform it if that’s what you decide to do. Um, so that’s what I went into the year with that intention.

I was ready for my life to transform. I was ready for all the hard work and all the processing and all the personal development and all the risks I had taken in 2018. I knew my, I knew my work wasn’t done, but I was really ready to start seeing the new chapter of my life, the chapter of my life, where I was confidently self-employed where I did travel several times a year while working on my business where I did consistently have five figure months where I knew, you know, I like found my craft and knew that I was good at it, uh, where I had a beautiful New York city wedding, where we lived, the way that I always had dreamed of living in New York. I was here for it and the year wasn’t perfect, but it really, there was, there was so much about it.

My dreams started coming true in the most spectacular ways, I guess the best way I can put it. So in 2019, I had my first, I hit six figures. I had my first, um, you know, 12 month span where I had a six-figure year. I celebrated at the Plaza with a friend. I was able to travel to Israel, to Italy, to Mexico, to Mexico, again for my bachelorette party to Antigua. 

 I worked from all these beaut- I mean, like some of those beautiful hotels I had ever seen, so not all of them, some of them had just totally vacation done, but, um, I really have no, nothing but amazing things to say about 2019, I worked a lot. It was a heavy work here. I mean, I’m still in a heavy work chapter. I think like the first five years of business are just work heavy. You know, there’s no denying it, I guess you don’t have to, but, um, I’ve always wanted to kind of go the quantum leap route. So anyway, that was basically my word of the year in 2019 was I’m ready to transform my life. I’m ready for the new foundation I have built to come to life.

And I think that that’s a really empowering decision to make, because I think that if you’re starting a business or a side hustle and part of your, why is about like changing your life, you have to be aggressive about actually doing that because no one’s going to do it for you. And what I often see my side hustlers do, and we talked about this with them is that, you know, you’re not meant to start a business and start a side hustle to just get by.

You’re not meant to start a side hustle to replace your nine to five income. You’re not meant to do it just so you don’t have to go into work. Like what, what does your Epic life look like? What’s your vision.That’s what I’m all about. That’s why I made this show. Your biggest vision. How, what, what really is that? And in those beginning days and years of your business, I just, I know that it can feel tedious and I know that it can feel scary, but if you always have that mentality that I’m not doing this just to get by, I’m not doing this just to get out of my nine to five job. You’ll never question if it’s worth it. If you always know that you’re doing it because you’re planting the seeds for the biggest vision of your life, then it makes pushing past those challenges in those scary times a lot easier.

So with that, I’m excited to share with you my word of the year in 2020, which is abundance. Now don’t turn off this podcast. I was a little bit nervous to actually share that this was the word of the year, because I know that for so many people out there this year has been, um, anything about abundance. I know it’s been a very tragic year on many levels, but one in which is financial for so many, so many people out there losing jobs, the stock market, I won’t get into it. 

However, I still felt called to share this, honestly, because I don’t know. How can I just sit here and tell you about how much money I made this year? That’s not what this is about. The reason I wanted to share this with you is because I feel like I have been quote, I’m going to say these words very carefully here.

So I feel like I’ve been learning “abundance” for years. I feel like I have started learning the concept since I started my business in 2016, probably even before that, I’ve learned abundance from growing up Catholic, which had kind of a different interpretation than the way I think of it now, but abundance, it’s one thing to learn it. And another thing to experience it. And I think especially the past three years, I have spent learning it, waiting to experience it. And this year I feel like I am still learning it. 

Of course the learning’s never done, but I truly am living in it. And it’s different than I thought it would be. And that’s why I wanted to talk about this with you guys and share my experience because, um, if you don’t feel like you’re experiencing it in your life right now, it could be because you’re waiting to experience something slightly different than what it is.

I think that that was the case for me. And I think that if I had understood this kind of deeper level of it, it would have just helped me experience it and live in it sooner. And what have honestly just helped my business and my life be a little bit more fun. And that’s really what I’m so grateful to say. I got to experience this year. 

So let me break down a little bit of what I mean. So when I started learning abundance and really trying to learn it in my life and in my business, I did probably what a lot of people do when they start learning personal development. I, um, read The Science of Getting Rich, which totally changed my life. I watched the secret and I started putting money affirmations around my apartment. Wow. That’s great. And I, don’t not recommend doing stuff like that.

It never totally felt like I was who’s tuning in with what actually was the abundance of the universe. It’s almost like these, some of these, you know, coaches, I’m not shaming them in particular, but sometimes it just feels like you are doing these, these exercises or these practices in a way to sort of like, band-aid your disbelief. And I think that that’s kind of what was, what happened to me. I would say kind of these mantras and I would think about abundance and I believed it, but it almost just felt like if I said it enough, I was, it almost felt like if I just said it enough, I was waiting for the universe to like, hear me. I don’t know if that makes sense. And maybe that sounds crazy, like, please DM me, if you’ve ever felt that way, like if you’re doing these sort of like personal development, mantras or routines or whatever, and you’re just like, okay, why am I doing this?

Am I just doing this so that like, God hears me and like sends me money. Like, I don’t really totally understand what the point of this is and that’s not necessarily true. I didn’t understand the point. The point is that you’re, you know, trying to reprogram your subconscious mind, you’re trying to choose your thoughts. 

You’re trying to make sure that you don’t have time for certain other thoughts, but nonetheless, I felt like I was never totally in tune with abundance and that it was like almost getting there and I did get there eventually, but here’s really what I learned. I think I kept thinking that once I was quote, experiencing abundance, I’m saying this in air quotes, I would just have money abundantly coming to me all the time, or I would always have enough in my savings account money just wouldn’t ever not be there.

That’s, that’s what I assumed. And I assume then how I would feel is, um, just free and confident and sure. And kind of like all the ways I want it to feel. So I think that I’m onto something here to explain this clearly. So let me just say that again. I thought that abundance would mean that I would have constant money coming into my life and that I would never have no money there and that I would never have a lack of money. 

And then therefore I would be free and confident and sure. And wealthy and all the kinds of things I wanted to feel. What really clicked for me this year is that abundance, the true understanding of it, first of all, totally transcends money. And what I’ve realized that it actually looks like in my life is detachment. So bear with me if this feels a little bit like a stretch here, but as I had mentioned, so I thought that I just needed to feel like I always had money and money was always there.

And then I would feel the result would be that I would feel free and everything. What I realized that abundance feels like is it feels detached. It feels detached from outcomes. So I think for so long, you know, let, okay, let me give you an example here. Um, if you are trying to fill a program of yours, if you’re a coach, let’s say, or if you’re an entrepreneur or maybe you’re trying to hit an income goal and okay, now let’s go with the income goal. 

I think that one’s a little bit easier, more universal. So let’s say you’re trying to hit an income goal and you think that once you like totally have abundance in your life and you’re experiencing it, you just will always hit that income goal. And then therefore you just will feel really confident and you’ll never worry that you won’t, et cetera.

What I learned is that abundance is detaching from the income goal. It’s realizing that it doesn’t really matter if or when or how you feel fit, hit your income goal, because there’s always more than enough for whatever reason you wanted to hit that income goal. And so the way this really worked out for me in so many fun ways this year was, you know, getting less attached to getting less attached to my own deadlines, getting less attached to, um, exactly what happened with, uh, certain programs of mine. 

Like if they filled up one or how it, it just was realizing that I didn’t need to have such a grip on when I thought I needed to be done with things or who was going to be in my programs or how much people paid or if they didn’t pay. And it just really was about following my own intuition and following what I thought was best for my clients and detaching from whatever happened after that.

And just genuinely thinking like, okay, I think that this is what’s best for this program. Or I think this is what’s best for this client, or I think this is what’s best for whatever I’m selling and if they don’t happen, that doesn’t mean I’m not experiencing abundance. That actually means that I am experienced about experiencing abundance because I did the best I could. 

And I’m going to walk away if it doesn’t actually work out or, you know, at that point, it’s, it’s up to them in the universe to kind of like do their part. And if that doesn’t work out, there’s such an abundance of other ways for me to hit that income goal or have my program go a different way or have something go a different way with the client or have a different client that I don’t ever need to get hung up on those things.

And this has felt so much better. And I think that my business has become an even better place in space and community. I always have felt like I’ve had a really incredible community around this, which I’m really grateful for, but I feel like it’s stronger than ever because my energy has been such that I am, you know, only available for what I think is best for my clients.

And I am, I don’t put any pressure on them or the situation or what happens after that, because I know that so long as I stand in kind of like my truth and in my expertise, there’s an abundance of ways for what I want to come to fruition. And I’m just detached for half from how that actually happens. So I hope that this is making sense. Let me kind of summarize again, to be clear how I thought abundance would w w how I thought abundance would, it would feel experiencing it is that I would always have money and never worry about money.

And therefore I would feel free and confident. What I learned is that how abundance actually feels is detached from outcomes, because, you know, there’s abundance of outcomes. And because of that detachment, I do not ever worry about money. I do not ever not have money in my bank account. I do not ever have a lack. And so I think that that is the key difference is like, when you detach from which outcome you’re open to all of the outcomes, and I’m not gonna get too much into this, but if you follow me on social media this year, you know, I’m not saying this in, in, in a way that’s like, Oh, I just stopped caring about money. My income went up. Like we went from, I had an 18K month in January, and many of you guys know that we had six figure months this year.

Um, we actually made the decision to stop sharing our exact income goals or income reports moving forward. And I did a podcast on that if you want to hear why, but I have openly shared. And, you know, for, for, for purposes of making this point, I want to share that I’m not just sharing this to say that abundance to me means, like, not caring about your income or not working for those high numbers. 

It’s about realizing that you can get there when you detach from how you get there, because you know that there are literally countless ways, an abundance of ways and abundance of clients and abundance of opportunities for you to get there. But when you are so stuck in a certain way, and you think that abundance means your way will work out for you no matter what, and your way will bring you money, no matter what, you’re blind to all the upper, to all the other opportunities that are right around you.

So I know that these things are a little bit hard to conceptualize them a little bit hard to apply, you know, to kind of like your day-to-day life. But I guess if there’s anything I could share to, well, actually I wrote down a few ways that I think I, um, practically helped have my mindset shift like this, but the overall message is that to experience abundance, the key, a key, I’m not going to say that a key, because I do think that you have to do, um, a lot of mindset work and a lot of affirmations and, uh, you know, really believe in it, even if you can’t see it yet. 

But a big key is understanding that abundance is not just having a lot of money. Abundance applies to everything in life, meaning there’s an abundance of, of clients at abundance of, of income, abundance of income streams, abundance of opportunities, abundance of, um, different things that you could do available to you all the time.

So you don’t need to get attached to certain thing because you believe in abundance. How many times can I say the word abundance in this podcast episode? So I want to share three practical things that I did this year that I didn’t even know would kind of lead me into this experience of abundance that I now fully feel like I’m part of. 

I don’t know why I feel like I so officially am part of it, but I really do. So I’m just going to go with it. Here are three things that I think helped me now that I like looking back, that I might not have known. So the first thing was setting firmer boundaries. I have never really thought of myself as a people pleaser. And my sister who produces this podcast is probably laughing because she’s like, yeah, you are not a people pleaser.

I’m pretty, I speak my mind pretty, you know, boldly, um, to give myself a compliment for it, but I’m sure it doesn’t always feel great. I’m on the receiving end. But my point is, I’ve never really thought of myself as a people pleaser, but I did realize this year that, um, there were certain parts of my business and I’m not faulting myself for this. Cause I think that this is a normal and beginning of business, but we all can shift out of it. Certain parts of my business sometimes functioned on fear, fear of not enough fear that if I didn’t sign this client, I wouldn’t have another com fear that if I told this client, we’re no longer a good fit, and this might not work, then that would somehow hurt the business fear that if I didn’t, you know, sell as much as possible, there wouldn’t be more than enough.

Speaker 1: (25:24)

Um, all those kinds of underlying fears. And these are very sneaky fears because we’re taught, you know, in business, there’s kind of this like rugged mentality that you need to do whatever it takes and hustle, and I’m not going to get into it like a hustle, um, you know, rabbit hole. But my point is, there is this idea that like, yeah, you, you got to make it work. You gotta do whatever it takes. And I, I believe in that to some extent I’m not ever going to be a person that just like thinks that you don’t need to have sold it to have what you want in business. I believe in the hustle. But I do think that there is a fear element underneath it. If you’re not careful where you end up hustling and doing things and, you know, overstepping your own boundaries, um, allowing your boundaries to fall allowing toxic things to happen, because you’re afraid that without them, your business could suffer, you could suffer.

Speaker 1: (26:11)

Finances could dry up anything like that. And I started realizing that was the case with me. And I actually want to give a shout out to, um, Cara Allwell, who I did a mastermind with this year. And, um, actually I’m going to mention her in next week’s podcast as well, but she really helped me in her mastermind see that I just didn’t have strong enough boundaries in my business and that I was judging myself for what I actually thought I needed in my business, because I thought that I was maybe asking for too much, or that I was putting up too many boundaries or that people would leave or all that kind of stuff. And the more I kind of talked it out with her, the more I realized that all of these fears of maybe I’m, but what if I’m asking for too much, or what if people leave?

Those are all scarcity based fears. They are scarce. And thinking that if I clearly define what I need to do my job best, you know, it’s like people are paying me to do this. I need to do a good job at it. And I’m afraid that it won’t be good enough, then that is fear that there’s not enough out there for it to work with what I need. And at this point in my business, not to sound arrogant, but that just simply cannot be true. I feel like I’m a very good coach. I think I’m one of the best business coaches out there that you can hire, honestly. And I have so many clients who have seen such success as with me. So to think that there’s not enough people out there that would be able to work within the boundaries that I need to do.

My job in the utmost in the absolute best way is simply a logical like statistically, it doesn’t make sense. So I started saying, okay, these, these are the containers that I more so need. And yes, I’m scared because yes, I’m worried people won’t want to be in them. And the exact opposite happened as, as I shared about our income, my income just went up and up and up this year. Um, I feel like I have attracted and I’m working with the most amazing clients I ever could have dreamed of. I literally don’t understand how this is my life most days. Um, and you know, my business is stronger than ever. And I, like I said, at the beginning of this, I think our communities are stronger than ever. So that was one big one is set your boundaries and don’t, you don’t need to apologize for them.

You don’t need to apologize for them. And also for those of you that, that have, uh, service-based businesses, if you are an entrepreneur and you’re a woman, most of my listeners are women. You know, we have to put a stand to breaking the cycle for overworked women. I mean, for literally all of time, women have worked too hard. Women have always been very, very hard workers. Women have always put themselves last they’ve we’ve, we’ve done it with our children. I’m not a mother yet, but I’ve obviously seen this and we are carrying that pattern in with business. And so we have to break the pattern. And if you’re something that really hit me was realizing that, like, I don’t want to set this example for someone who is, you know, who doesn’t have good boundaries. That is not really the goal here. That’s not the impact.

I’m trying to leave with my business and on the world. So that is one is set boundaries that you want your daughter to be able to follow or something like that. And set boundaries that allow you to, to have your truth. And I think that that really helped with my abundance mindset, because it just proved to me that so many of the fears that kept me from having abundance were, were just beers. There was scarcity fairs.

 Okay. The second thing that I did that I think helped was I started putting a defined amount toward a wealth account to every month. So I, you know, I’m not going to get into the personal side of the finances and how I’ve handled that in my business. But, um, I guess I will just say that I hadn’t always been as consistent with, um, saving a certain amount and I hadn’t always pushed myself at that amount every month, because again, I think I was scared.

I was scared. Like I don’t, I need to, you know, [inaudible], how can I do that? Where is that going to come from? Like, why don’t I have other things that I need to put first? I just, am I ready for that? I’m, you know, I’m still kind of new at like, my business has grown a lot, but it’s only first few years. 

Aren’t the first like five years, um, just where you’re really supposed to grow, grow, grow. And so this hasn’t just been and about like saving more money. It’s been about retraining that part of my brain that has said it, there’s not enough because there’s always been enough once I made the decision coming back to that keyword there, once I made the decision that every month, this amount is going to go into my wealth account, no matter what there always was enough.

Whereas before I never even tried, because I didn’t believe there was enough. And so just being able to have those little situations, I’m not saying you need to do that right now, if that’s not where you’re at in business, although it might very well be what you needed to hear right now, but what habit can you start to make, where you put yourself in a situation that you have to prove that there is actually enough hiring? 

My sister is another good example. I mean, my business had had, you know, pretty high income months, um, before she came on full-time, but the responsibility of having someone full-time consistently, um, with all of the other expenses that come in, addition to salary was nerve-wracking. And I was a little bit nervous just because I knew it was such a commitment. Like it wasn’t like I had to come up with a one-time type payment.

It was like, she’s literally quitting her job to do this. Um, that also, I think helped train my mind for abundance because I it’s never, ever, ever been an issue. Whereas before I psyched myself out that it wouldn’t that it would be so, you know, little things like that, how can you start putting yourself in situations where you can retrain your brain to literally see that there is always enough? 

And then the final thing that I think is a good tip here that I did well this year that helped me really step into that. This was I, I sold, you know, I went out there and I, I sold a lot. Um, I think a lot of people don’t sell enough and also I, a lot of what I sell, I have sold before and I’ve perfected it and I’ve tweaked it and I’ve worked on it and I’ve hired people to help me with it and I’ve grown it and I’ve continued to do it.

And I think that has paid off for many reasons. Um, but definitely has helped our income grow. You know, for those of you that follow me and know I have a program called scale, your side hustle, which I think is the best program out there for side hustlers. Uh, you probably know that we had very high launch numbers with it this year, which was so exciting. I am so proud of that program. 

I’m so proud of what it produces and I’ve launched that program like nine times, you know, eight or nine times. And I think that that’s just an important thing to remember, because part of the reason that I’m able to kind of have these, the results that we do now is because I’ve kept my eye on the prize and like, haven’t let myself get too. Um, I haven’t gotten too much shiny syndrome, you know, I’m not every month thinking, can I create something new?

Should I create a new course? What about a new program? Should I pivot? Should I have a new package? Like, it is hard as a creative. And I know that it’s hard for all of you out there who are entrepreneurs. If you are, you typically are creative, you typically want to always be thinking of new things. It’s fun to think of new things. 

And I get that, but you have to have kind of like the focus to see that my rule of thumb is make a hundred dollars, a hundred thousand dollars from something before you create a new thing. I know that’s not always possible in the beginning, but I think a good thing to work toward is to really be able to pick, like, create one thing, focus on it, try to have fun scaling it. I think it’s fun. I think it’s fun to think like, how could we do this even better?

How could we make this an even better experience for our clients? How could we make this the best thing possible? How can I make this, the best program out there for side hustlers? Like that’s a legacy that’s exciting to me. And yes, sometimes I want to create 50 million things and yes, I’ve called my sister at all hours of the morning and I’m like, Oh my God, I just had the best idea.

I think we should do a year long newsletter, which we might, and here’s the topic. And what do you think? You know, so I get it. I like, I like doing that stuff too, and you can be creative, but at the same time, really, really try to scale something and really try to like, keep that going and keep that selling. And I really think that that also will help your abundance mindset because you will see one thing that you create one time, continue to support you again and again and again, but that doesn’t happen if you don’t really focus on it and continue to grow it.

Okay. I hope that this was helpful for you guys. Please DM me @leahgervais_ about this episode. I’d love to hear your feedback. I’d love to hear. If you thought that this was helpful, I’d love to hear any shifts that you’ve had around what abundance is, but my final message to you is just remember that, um, the best you can detach from your own outcomes, the more you will not only experience abundance financially, but most importantly, you will not rob yourself of your own happiness and your own timeline because you will not be so attached to a certain outcome or a certain way of doing things. 

Now I’d love to hear your word of the year, but I’m sending you all my abundant vibes. And I hope that this was helpful for you guys. Please DM me and let me know your word of the year, what you thought of this. And I’m sending you lots of love and happiness and health over the holidays and into the new year, I will talk to you soon, visionaries! Here is to your biggest vision.

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