This past weekend was a game-changer for me both in my business and life. I was in a room full of like-minded mom business owners, all striving to make an impact on the world and their families. The experience was incredible, and I have never felt as comfortable in a room of strangers as I did at Free Mama Live in Kansas City, MO.
Lauren, the OG Free Mama, has created an amazing community of resilient and go-getter mom business owners who are ready to work on their businesses and themselves to reach their ultimate goals. I have been to many business conferences, but this one stood out because of the community and the speakers that met us exactly where we were over those three days.
My biggest takeaways all stemmed from knowing who you are and being unapologetically that!
Play Your Own Game
One of the biggest takeaways for me was the importance of playing my own game. It is essential to run my race, be my own boss, and not follow the trajectory that the internet tells me to take. I needed to hear this message from Lauren, who put in the work, time, energy, and effort (and tears) to grow her movement, revenue, and reach her goals. But on some level I felt the need to always compare my journey, one that we both started around the same time to hers. But this talk made me realize that I was too focused on playing someone else games, hers, but also we were both playing one that was carved within our industry. A mold that has felt out of alignment since the beginning, but was just brought to light during this conference.
I’ve learned over time that I need to keep my blinders on or as Lauren put it, don’t lift your head to see where everyone else is in their race, stay focused on our own race and getting the win.
Along this same vein is the concept of balance and how it’s actually not bogus…it’s just unlevel at times. Some seasons will require more focus on family and home life, while others will require more attention on work. It is up to me to choose where to focus my attention and efforts.
As I play my own game…swim my own race I have to always remember the joy is in the journey, and finding contentment, peace, joy, and enoughness in the present moment is crucial. Focusing on what I have rather than what I don’t have is an essential ingredient for success and happiness.
I Can Choose.
One of the biggest lessons I learned was that I can choose. I can choose my core values, how to sell my product or service, how to spend my money, and more. This concept was brought to light by Don Mamone and Tiffany Lewis. These choices may be clouded by past foundations that I haven’t found filters to overlay…yet to truly become who I am as a human. So pay attention to those subtle voices and chatter because they are emoting something…and in the words of Don, “ you can’t think your way out of a feeling.”
Boom.
Mic Drop.
There was a deeper piece of this concept of choice and it laddered up the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, or Ikigai. But Don was able to adapt it for business – it was a biz conference after all.
1.What do you love and what brings you joy — branding
2.What is the world missing — marketing
3.What is the offer we get to make— sales
4.How am I unique — experience
Once you discover these four things and work on aligning them..you’re unstoppable. Because doubt deserves no place in business…
“Confront the conflict or stay right where you are for eternity.” – Don Mamone.
A big conflict I’ve had in business throughout my journey was the notion that sales/selling is icky…but I learned to reframe this by hearing from Michelle Terpstra on stage, sales are service.
Sales are Service.
Money is a good thing. Not sure who shamed women business owners that we’re not worthy of having a totally awesome bank account. Having a healthy bank account can and often is the thing that helps you make the impact and creates change in the world. The end. Well, that, and it’s more than okay to charge my worth. Yes, mam. The big shift here was also in the process of having sales conversations which up until recently used to make me pit out my t-shirt every time is to focus on the prospective client – make the call ALL about them. Have them do the majority of the talking, asking of the questions and sharing of the stories. It’s our job to sit back and listen and then share how we can help them. Game changed.
Bonus – I like yoga now.
During the conference we had a morning where we were offered the opportunity to take an early morning yoga class. Since I was there for the experience, I obliged. Then, I got in the room and the spot I chose was next to someone who clearly regularly practiced yoga. I immediately felt comparison creep in — noticing a trend here, folks? But I was able to push it aside and work on being present (closing my eyes also helped here too.) and during the practice I noticed something and had a bit of an aha moment as I laid there on the mat still in fetal position for the final moment of shavasana — I heard a voice…I know, I know it sounds woo woo, but I did and it said, “When you are in alignment, money flows easily to you.” This is something that until that moment, I had never been still enough, quiet enough, present enough to actually hear these types of inner thoughts. Whoa. So yes, I will be continuing to practice yoga more regularly because of that quiet moment in a very loud world that we all need in order to hear our inner most thoughts and find clarity in our own game. If you’re in the Northern Virginia area — where do you get your yoga on? Slide on over to my socials to share it with me!
