Personal Brand Journey with Jamie M Swanson

Want more Predictable Monthly Revenue? This is a recent workshop I did all about it, where you'll learn: The 5 Types of Predictable Revenue (with specific examples)The 4 Mistakes that keep Entrepreneurs from actually creating Predictable Monthly RevenueMy goals + plan for building this in my own biz in 2025Wanna learn more?Free Bingeable Email Course: How to use email only funnels to convert into $1k buyers consistently on autopilot --> https://eversellingemail.com/funnel?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bepodcastChat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabvWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Jamie gets personal and share the 5 Mindset Shfits she's personally making that will keep you from playing small and help you create the online business that you really want.Apply for Brighter Together Mastermind: https://brightertogether.co/applyMentioned in this Episode:• Modcasting with Jerry Potter (Affiliate Link): https://jamiebright--fmsm.thrivecart.com/podcast-workshop-for-entrepreneurs/• Dark Side of the LIght Chasers by Debbie FordWanna learn more?Free Bingeable Email Course: How to use email only funnels to convert into $1k buyers consistently on autopilot --> https://eversellingemail.com/funnel?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bepodcastChat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabvWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Almost everyone I know is seeing business declines in 2024... I've been through this before, and it came RIGHT before I broke through and had my first 7-fig year. Here's what I learned from the experience and how I'm approaching my business to thrive in 2025 (and how you can too).Thanks in advance for sharing this episode with a friend who would like it, and for leaving a review! Apply for Brighter Together Mastermind Here: https://brightertogether.co/apply?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bepodcastFree Everselling Email Bingeable Course --> https://eversellingemail.com/funnel?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bepodcastContact Jamie about coaching at jamie @ wearebrightertogether.comWanna learn more?Free Bingeable Email Course: How to use email only funnels to convert into $1k buyers consistently on autopilot --> https://eversellingemail.com/funnel?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bepodcastChat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabvWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Join the Brighter Together Mini Mastermind Experience Here: https://brightertogether.co/join that starts September 6th.Wanna learn more? Listen to my PRIVATE Podcast here: https://gettheprivatepodcast.com Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

Have your launches or evergreen funnels been performing worse than normal lately? Have things just not worked the way they used to in your business? It's not your fault. In fact, most businesses are seeing a significant decline in revenue right now because of the recession. Listen to this podcast episode with Annie Hyman Pratt to learn how to survive the recession, 3 costly mistakes that could cost you your business, and a template for how to communicate any changes you need to make to your team in a way that builds trust and helps you retain your best team members. Order a copy of Annie's book "The People Part" at https://anniehymanpratt.com/book About Annie Hyman Pratt: Annie Hyman Pratt's mastery is developing leaders, teams and infrastructure that drives business growth—so entrepreneurs can do the strategic and creative parts while also having the time, freedom, and positive impact they desire. She founded the consulting and training company Leading Edge Teams based on her unique, decades-long experience as former CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, a successful C-level executive, and a highly sought-after business adviser. Leading Edge Teams provides entrepreneurial companies training and executive coaching in groups and one-on-one, online and in person. They have an unparalleled track record of helping businesses achieve massive, sustainable, team-driven growth. Whatever challenges you may be facing in your business, Annie has likely already seen them—and solved them. Some of Annie's current and past clients include high-level entrepreneurs and businesses like: Jeff Walker (Product Launch Formula), Fatburger, MOCEAN (a creative entertainment company that works with Disney, Sony, Warner Brothers, Netflix, Amazon, and other studios) , Dave Asprey (Bulletproof Coffee), Stu McLaren (North Results), Susan Pierce Thompson (Bright Line Eating), Ryan Levesque (ASK Method) and Reid Tracy (Hay House). Connect with Annie at: https://www.leadingedgeteams.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniehymanpratt/ https://www.leadingedgeteams.com/youtube Wanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

This one is a bit more vulnerable than most... Curious about Brighter Together? Lets chat at https://wearebrightertogether.com Mentioned in this episode: Seth Ellsworth https://breakthroughchallenge.com Wanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

Hear the 3 Main Takeaways I got from attending Stu McLaren's Impact Mastermind in Jan 2022. Mentioned in this episode: Hello Audio for Private Podcasts: www.gethelloaudio.comWanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

At a certain point, joining a Mastermind can be one of the BEST investments you ever make in your business, but how do you know when it's time? This episode will give you 3 signs that joining a mastermind will help you grow your business faster while avoiding expensive mistakes along the way, or if it is still a little bit too early for you. Have questions about Brighter Together Mastermind after listening to this episode? Reach out to me at https://www.wearebrightertogether.com and I'd be happy to answer your questions and chat about if it's truly a good fit for you or not.Wanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

I've seen more entrepreneurs make this mistake than I can count in the 11 years I've been running an online business full-time. Don't let it happen to you as well, especially if you're putting together an evergreen funnel for your business!Wanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

It's rare that an evergreen funnel works right out of the gate. My newest funnel worked FABULOUSLY with warm audiences but then totally bombed when we took it to cold traffic. So here's what we did & how we knew what to test next.Wanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

If people don't trust you, they won't buy from you. From this episode: Videoask: www.GetVideoask.com Get 10% off using discount code KesFBt6LWanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

Wanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

I'm revealing ALL the behind-the-scenes details of my high-ticket mastermind funnel in this episode of the Bright Entrepreneur Podcast. Resource from the show: Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way --> https://howtoscaleguide.com (The links to the $49 training and Scaling Implementation Mastermind Experience are in the guide!) Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabvWanna learn more? Free 5 Step System to Scaling Your Business the RIGHT Way (Plus access to my PRIVATE podcast feed) --> https://howtoscaleguide.com Brighter Together Mastermind Info: https://www.wearebrightertogether.com Chat with Jamie (anything goes, but I'm especially interest in your questions or feedback about the episode!) https://www.videoask.com/fgg8ofabv

A conversation with my long-time friend Molly who also started a new biz after a big Covid Pivot. You can find Molly Keyser on Clubhouse @MollyKeyser and you can find Jamie Bright on Clubhouse @JamieBright Check out Molly's free 5-Day Course Kickstart Challenge here: https://bit.ly/3uRKolS Connect with Jamie Bright on Instagram at @JamieBrightAdventures Transcript: Today I get to introduce you to one of my longest friends in the online space. Her name is Molly Keyser. She was in the photography industry with me and also made a big pivot in her business last year after COVID hit. And we had the most wonderful conversation that went. All over the place. We talked about the biggest mindset shifts that we've made since we started our businesses and how we are growing our businesses differently. Now, we talk about the importance of messaging and how that shapes everything. We talk about focus. We talk about hiring. We get into all sorts of wonderful topics. I know you're going to enjoy it. So let's dive in to this phenomenal

A conversation with my long-time friend Molly who also started a new biz after a big Covid Pivot. You can find Molly Keyser on Clubhouse @MollyKeyser and you can find Jamie Bright on Clubhouse @JamieBright Check out Molly's free 5-Day Course Kickstart Challenge here: https://bit.ly/3uRKolS Connect with Jamie Bright on Instagram at @JamieBrightAdventures Transcript: Today I get to introduce you to one of my longest friends in the online space. Her name is Molly Keyser. She was in the photography industry with me and also made a big pivot in her business last year after COVID hit. And we had the most wonderful conversation that went. All over the place. We talked about the biggest mindset shifts that we've made since we started our businesses and how we are growing our businesses differently. Now, we talk about the importance of messaging and how that shapes everything. We talk about focus. We talk about hiring. We get into all sorts of wonderful topics. I know you're going to enjoy it. So let's dive in to this phenomenal

Connect with Megan Kuethen, the "Queen of Ops" at @thequeenofops on Instagram. Like this episode? Would you take a moment right now to please leave a review? That'd be amazing, thank you! Send a DM to Jamie Bright @JamieBrightAdventures on Instagram and let her know what you thought of the episode!

Connect with Megan Kuethen, the "Queen of Ops" at @thequeenofops on Instagram. Like this episode? Would you take a moment right now to please leave a review? That'd be amazing, thank you! Send a DM to Jamie Bright @JamieBrightAdventures on Instagram and let her know what you thought of the episode!

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: Hey friend today instead of our regular podcast opener, I thought I'd play a little guitar for you. I'm out of practice, but why not? Right. just kidding. Not going to do that. I don't know why I thought that would be a fun opening, but here I am. Let me put my guitar away. Oh, my gosh, I'm sitting in my closet recording. Cause the sound is better here. And my guitar happened to be here and I haven't picked it up in ages. So I thought I would. But today, what I really want to talk to you about is the intention behind what you're doing. Why are you growing your business? And I want to talk about why it's so important to answer that question and what got me thinking about it in the first place. So it's going to be an awesome episode and I cannot wait to share with you

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: Hey friend today instead of our regular podcast opener, I thought I'd play a little guitar for you. I'm out of practice, but why not? Right. just kidding. Not going to do that. I don't know why I thought that would be a fun opening, but here I am. Let me put my guitar away. Oh, my gosh, I'm sitting in my closet recording. Cause the sound is better here. And my guitar happened to be here and I haven't picked it up in ages. So I thought I would. But today, what I really want to talk to you about is the intention behind what you're doing. Why are you growing your business? And I want to talk about why it's so important to answer that question and what got me thinking about it in the first place. So it's going to be an awesome episode and I cannot wait to share with you

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript:   In the last episode I talked about how important it was to shift your mindset, if you want to get out of the messy middle and really scale. So in today's episode, I thought I would share three of the biggest mindset shifts that I believe need to happen in order for you to get out of the messy middle, because these three things will keep you stuck. Long-term and until you recognize them, it's going to be really hard to move beyond them. And that's genuinely what I want for you It's going to be a good one. So let's dive in real fast

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript:   In the last episode I talked about how important it was to shift your mindset, if you want to get out of the messy middle and really scale. So in today's episode, I thought I would share three of the biggest mindset shifts that I believe need to happen in order for you to get out of the messy middle, because these three things will keep you stuck. Long-term and until you recognize them, it's going to be really hard to move beyond them. And that's genuinely what I want for you It's going to be a good one. So let's dive in real fast

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: Confession. I don't do email. I just don't. I hate it. I hired somebody to start doing it for me in 2013. And I have not looked back since in fact, I don't even have email on my phone and. Yes, I have an email address, but it's fully managed by my customer service gal. And she is my favorite person in the entire world most days, because she can do everything I need in very little time and respond to stuff that needs responses from me by asking me a quick question, and then I'm not distracted by email all the time. Now that being said, I do have one personal email address that I use for like my kids, teachers, and you know, all the things that require it, that aren't business-related that I have to deal with on my own. And somehow somewhere I ended up signing up for a newsletter with James clear. And I, I've gotta be honest. I haven't read email newsletters in years because that's why I wanted somebody else to do my email because I will read them and I get sucked into them and I get pulled into all the hype and I need to focus. Like I don't need more stuff. I don't need more education. You probably don't either. I need focus. I need to just do what I know I need to do and move forward. But I saw this newsletter come through from James and he's amazing, he wrote atomic habits. One of the most brilliant people. I follow a note. And when I do go into that inbox, which is like once a month or whatever, I never check it. But when I have to, because I know there's something there from a teacher or something, and I see his stuff, I'll read it because. It's some of the best content in an email I've ever seen. And so today I want to share with you a nugget that I took from his email and talk a little bit about how that can help you grow in your business and help you identify what you should be focusing on right now.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: Confession. I don't do email. I just don't. I hate it. I hired somebody to start doing it for me in 2013. And I have not looked back since in fact, I don't even have email on my phone and. Yes, I have an email address, but it's fully managed by my customer service gal. And she is my favorite person in the entire world most days, because she can do everything I need in very little time and respond to stuff that needs responses from me by asking me a quick question, and then I'm not distracted by email all the time. Now that being said, I do have one personal email address that I use for like my kids, teachers, and you know, all the things that require it, that aren't business-related that I have to deal with on my own. And somehow somewhere I ended up signing up for a newsletter with James clear. And I, I've gotta be honest. I haven't read email newsletters in years because that's why I wanted somebody else to do my email because I will read them and I get sucked into them and I get pulled into all the hype and I need to focus. Like I don't need more stuff. I don't need more education. You probably don't either. I need focus. I need to just do what I know I need to do and move forward. But I saw this newsletter come through from James and he's amazing, he wrote atomic habits. One of the most brilliant people. I follow a note. And when I do go into that inbox, which is like once a month or whatever, I never check it. But when I have to, because I know there's something there from a teacher or something, and I see his stuff, I'll read it because. It's some of the best content in an email I've ever seen. And so today I want to share with you a nugget that I took from his email and talk a little bit about how that can help you grow in your business and help you identify what you should be focusing on right now.

Mastermind Promo Show Notes Links:  Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript:   A few weeks ago, I had an incredible conversation with my friend, Jay Wong. Now I've known Jay for years. I think it's years now. Wow. And we don't connect super often, but when we do connect, we go deep and he's always somebody whose advice I value immensely. And over the last few years I have watched Jay go from struggling to sell a course on how to start a podcast to running this incredible multi, multi figure agency, helping people deliver podcasts. And he's grown this massive team and he's just crushing. It he's even made some big pivots. And he said something to me in our conversation that I've heard before, but he said it at just the right time to really shape how I'm thinking about 20, 21 and subtly shift the direction I'm going in this year. And I cannot wait to share it with you in today's episode

Mastermind Promo Show Notes Links:  Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript:   A few weeks ago, I had an incredible conversation with my friend, Jay Wong. Now I've known Jay for years. I think it's years now. Wow. And we don't connect super often, but when we do connect, we go deep and he's always somebody whose advice I value immensely. And over the last few years I have watched Jay go from struggling to sell a course on how to start a podcast to running this incredible multi, multi figure agency, helping people deliver podcasts. And he's grown this massive team and he's just crushing. It he's even made some big pivots. And he said something to me in our conversation that I've heard before, but he said it at just the right time to really shape how I'm thinking about 20, 21 and subtly shift the direction I'm going in this year. And I cannot wait to share it with you in today's episode

Join the Waitlist for the Launch Your First Mastermind Workshop here >>> https://www.launchyourfirstmastermind.com Have questions for Jamie or are you interested in the Brighter Together Mastermind? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieBrightAdventures Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: One of the most fun and admittedly, sometimes frustrating parts of running an online business is that things are always changing. This means you always have something new to learn and figure out which can be really fun if you get bored quickly with doing the same old thing over and over again, but it can also be incredibly frustrating. If it means that you're getting left behind and the market is shifting and you haven't kept up. Now, if you are at the forefront of this and you see where things are going and you can react quickly being the first in your market to make a massive shift that everyone kind of follows suit with, it can be a huge benefit. And so today what I want to share with you. Is the shift that I see happening in the online education space that I am watching very closely and I mean, I've been in this business for just about 10 years now. So I've been watching and I know when the shifts are happening and they happen every, I would say every 18 to 24 months. And we're right on the edge of another big one. So that's what I'm going to share with you today in this moment,

Join the Waitlist for the Launch Your First Mastermind Workshop here >>> https://www.launchyourfirstmastermind.com Have questions for Jamie or are you interested in the Brighter Together Mastermind? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: One of the most fun and admittedly, sometimes frustrating parts of running an online business is that things are always changing. This means you always have something new to learn and figure out which can be really fun if you get bored quickly with doing the same old thing over and over again, but it can also be incredibly frustrating. If it means that you're getting left behind and the market is shifting and you haven't kept up. Now, if you are at the forefront of this and you see where things are going and you can react quickly being the first in your market to make a massive shift that everyone kind of follows suit with, it can be a huge benefit. And so today what I want to share with you. Is the shift that I see happening in the online education space that I am watching very closely and I mean, I've been in this business for just about 10 years now. So I've been watching and I know when the shifts are happening and they happen every, I would say every 18 to 24 months. And we're right on the edge of another big one. So that's what I'm going to share with you today in this moment,

Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Follow me on Clubhouse @jamiebright Transcript: A few days ago, I got an invitation to clubhouse, which is one of the newest, fastest growing apps that I have heard about in space in a long time. Now clubhouse is So you can't even get in. It's similar to how Pinterest and launched way back in the day. And so it's causing a lot of buzz and a lot of scarcity and people really wanting that exclusive invite so they can get inside and see what all the fuss is about. So today what I'd like to do is actually tell you a little bit about my first impressions of the platform and why I am so incredibly excited I really hope that this one makes it and sticks around it has a of potential, especially for people who love it. Audio, which I assume you do since you're listening to my podcast and for people who really want to connect with others in a meaningful way. So that's what I'm going to talk about in today's podcast. here's what I want to share with you. First and foremost, I want to talk about what clubhouse is, how it's run, what it looks like on the inside, why you might want to get an invitation to it that talk about. How do you actually get an So you can be a part of clubhouse. And then third, I'm talk to you today about some of the opportunities see clubhouse bringing to the table and how I personally am going to be approaching it in a strategic way. Hopefully both to grow this podcast as well as, you know, the rest of my business, because that's what I am. I'm an entrepreneur. I want to, you know, move forward. I want to grow my platform. I want to help as many people as possible. So I always want to be growing my audience. So when new apps like this come out, I love to think about how I can use a platform, both in an innovative way, but also an interesting way. That's going to make people who are checking it out, want to follow and watch what I'm doing and emulate it. I want to provide great value on the platform. And then two, I'm always thinking about different ways that I it creatively. To grow my audience as well. So I'm going to share you here and give you tips that I've gleaned in the couple of days I've been on it. So I will say I'm not a pro at clubhouse. I haven't been on it very long, but I do think that this is going to grow and I think it's going to grow quickly. And I'm very excited about the possibilities and want you to be one of the bright entrepreneurs in the know about it from the very beginning, even though it's not quite the very beginning. It feels that way because everyone started talking about it. Okay. So number one, what exactly app look like? Well, the app is actually quite simple, basically, having a list of zoom rooms that you into that have the inside listed. So right let up my app and see if I open up the clubhouse app. I have what's called the hallway. And there's, um, somebody talking about having a big impact in business and life by fostering outstanding relationships. Cool. Interesting. There's somebody talking about small business Saturday, we've got money to spend on your amazing products, which allows you to come in and pitch your product. How cool is that? Um, there's travel speed dating. Are you my future Bay? Okay, so I'm not into that one. That's fine. Somebody talking about sexual consent in the church, somebody talking about time travel, let's talk about it. Right? There's all sorts of random things in here. Some of them are going to be pop culture. Some of them are going to be business-related. so this is called the hallway. And if your friends and the people you're following start a room, then you will see this in your hallway so that you can also enter that room and join the conversation. So you click on a link to join a room. When you join a room, you're hearing people talk. Live now, there are no recordings that you can go back and listen to later. And I think that's part of the appeal is that if you're not there, you miss out on it, but that's also part of the beauty of it that these are conversations happening with real people. And it's voice only. There's no video and there's no. Chat function like you can't sit and chat in the comments. So that's how it's different from zoom. For zoom. You can go in, you can have a big zoom meeting and you can have your video on and off or your audio on and off. Or you can chat in the comments. It's not that way in that there's no video at all. There's only a profile picture and there's no chat. So the only way, if you want to talk, you actually have to raise your hand and go onto what they call the stage. And the person who starts the room gets to moderate that. So they can allow people to talk or not, and they can mute people. They can kick people out, they can do all the typical moderation stuff, but. It's a beautiful platform because you're actually hearing people have conversations live. What I've found is that these rooms generally stay open for quite a long time. People come and go and it's explicitly said on there that it's not rude to ghost within clubhouse. So if you come into a chat, you're not having it, or you've got to run or whatever, you don't have to say. Sorry, guys got to go. You just quietly leave. Actually the button even says leave quietly, which is just. Super beautiful and really graceful so that people don't have to feel bad breaking a social norm about communication that outside of the platform might be seen as rude. However, because the platform is made on conversations and it's meant to listen in and participate. They totally understand if you have to go and you don't want to interrupt the conversation that's happening, especially if you're in a room with a thousand people who want to talk or have a conversation. Now, most of the rooms are quite a bit smaller than that, that I've found, but there are some rooms that are quite a bit bigger. So it's a little bit like zoom in that you do have a room. But you don't have video. You just hear voices, but you can go back out into the hallway and you can see all the different rooms that are listed. And so it's just really addicting. It's really a beautiful platform for you to go in and have conversations about whatever it is you want to have a conversation about and really talk to real. People, I absolutely love that so much. And there's so much support in the platform that I've found. And people have been really gracious to people who are new coming in and learning the platform for the first time and engaging for the first time. So I love it because I feel like it's a very personal real app. You actually get to engage with people in a real way, because voice is really personal. It's part of why I love podcasting because podcasts that I listened to, I feel like I know them. I hope that you feel like, you know me in some weird little way. And so there's a big appeal in this app because it does feel so authentic. You can't, sit and type out a post for 20 minutes before posting it and make sure every word is right. You've got to talk. And when we talk things come out sometimes and we can talk over each other and be rude, or we can be polite or, you know, we have to learn to moderate when it's a big group like this. And it's really an interesting platform in that way. the other thing that they have not just rooms is they have something called clubs. Now you have to manually apply to have a club, which clubhouse is new. I mean, right now, as I'm recording this podcast, it is definitely in beta. There's definitely some bugs and. They are rolling things out pretty quickly, but it's still taking a little time. So clubs is something that they have to approve for your account manually. So the process is very slow. You fill out a form that's on air table at the moment. Like that's how old school get her done done is better than perfect that they are, which I really love about them. And you can request to have a club that's associated with your name. Now, if you have a club, people can actually follow the club. And if you want to, you can approve them as a member of the club. You can invite them to actually be a member. So there's kind of two tiers, and then you can start a room that's hosted by your club. And when you do that, it actually goes out to all the people who are following your club as a notification, which is super cool. And you can schedule things on a calendar. For upcoming conversations that you want to have on the platform. So people can go up to a calendar and if they're following your club and you've posted it from your club, they're going to see that you don't have to have a club to schedule your conversations. You can actually do that even without a club, but it's definitely neat to have a club because then you can do things that are members only, or that are open to the greater followers of your entire club. It's just another way for you to. kind of help set yourself apart as an expert in a specific kind of topic or niche, or like I'm doing. To build a community on clubhouse. So mine is called bright entrepreneurs. Guess what? That's because I'm trying to create a movement, a bright entrepreneurs and a community, a bright entrepreneurs. And I just really love that format. I want to be known as an entrepreneur who knows her stuff. I want to grow my own podcast right here. The one you're listening to. So, shamelessly, I'm just going to ask you to share it with friends. You think would like it, but. As I build my profile on clubhouse and I build a club for bright entrepreneurs, which I haven't even had approved yet. So I don't have it there. I'm kind of in that waiting period, which they said can take one to two weeks right now because of their backlog. But assuming that that gets approved, then I can grow this club on their, not just my own personal followers. But followers within that club who then get notified of anything we do there, which is just neat, because then they don't have to follow me as a person if they're not interested in some of the other topics that I'm hopping into and having discussions around. And I will use that club very intentionally to talk about business stuff, similar to, like I talk about here on the podcast, I can share my, things I'm thinking about in terms of growing my business or. Anything really the beautiful thing is because it's not recorded. I can share the same thing over and over and over again with new people, I can get a little bit more intimate and I don't have to worry so much about it being perfect because it's in real time. And once it's done, once it's said it's gone, it's like conversation. I love it. It's a little bit more like being in a conference, but virtually, and I just adore it. I mean, yes, there's some differences because not everyone can be in a room talking at the same time, like at a conference, but it's a really beautiful way. To find people who are interested in topics that you're also interested in, either by you posting them and starting rooms, and then letting other people who find the room, come in and start the conversation and naturally be attracted to you. But also by going on the platform and finding conversations that are already happening around your niche and joining in on them and really showing your expertise. It's great. All right. So how do you get an invite to this? Well, you have to know, but he was on the platform. When I joined clubhouse, I was given one invitation, which I passed on to a mastermind member. Who's in the brighter together. Mastermind. Yeah. And we have a little chain there. That's going. So once somebody gets in, they commit to inviting the next person in our mastermind who commits to inviting the next person in the mastermind until all of us will get in that way. But you only get one invitation when you join. So I don't have another invitation to give you right now, but apparently if you go in and use the app and the people that you invite go in and use the app, you. Somehow earned some sort of clout and you can get more invitations each week. If you're active in your people are active. So you only want to invite people who, you know, are really going to use the app and be active on it so that you can get more invitations and bring more of your friends. So you can try and find a chain of people who are doing an invite train, I did one on a. Facebook group that I was a part of somebody had their one invitation. They got that week. And so they said, okay, I'm going to give it to the first person who comments below as long as you absolutely promise to invite the person who's right below you. So that's how I got in is that I was able to get in through an invite, train that way now. you might have to find one of those on Facebook. You can put up a post, like I did on my profile that said, Hey, I would love to have an invitation to clubhouse. If anybody knows anybody with one, I would love to join. that's kinda how I got tipped off to the fact that there is a group with a big. Chain going on. So that's one way you can find an invitation. The other thing is that you can sign up on their app and apparently they have a waitlist and you may be sent an invitation via text message eventually. Now, I don't know anybody who got in this way because everybody I know, came through a chain and an invite process, but that is what they say they do. And so. You can go to the app store and download the clubhouse app. You can actually reserve your username, which is fantastic. Even if you don't have an invite, go reserve your name right now. And hopefully they will eventually send you an invitation. If you don't already get one from somebody else that you know, now there's a little bad news for my Android users. it's only available on iPhones or iPads. I don't know if they're going to be coming out with an Android version eventually or not, but honestly, if this is a platform that you want to get to know and access and build, especially if you have a podcast or you just love having conversations. I think it would honestly be worth going out and buying a cheap used iPad or iPhone that you can use just to run the clubhouse app. And maybe you're just like, heck no, no way. That's fine. That's totally cool. for me, if I could get something for one to $200, I really think there's a lot of opportunity to grow a big audience on clubhouse right now, pretty easily. Because so many people are looking for people to follow. They want to find their people. And it's very active right now, but so many people are new that they're afraid to start their own rooms and put themselves out there as a leader, because they're trying to learn the ropes that there's just tons of opportunity. It's just a beautiful playground right now. And I think you could grow very large, very quickly and become known within the community if you wanted to go there. And I don't know if this platform is going to stick around. I don't know if it's going to be bought up and sucked up and whatever. I mean, maybe it's going to be like Periscope where people came on and it was big for like six months. And then Facebook lives rolled out and it basically killed Periscope and, you know, whatever else. But even if that's the case, I feel like it's an opportunity to make real connections with real people who would end up migrating with you wherever you go. They do have a place to put an Instagram link and a Twitter link. So I don't use Twitter, but I absolutely use Instagram. And I've already had somebody on the platform literally within the first three hours that I was there. Go to my Instagram account, where it says that I do clarity coaching days and asked me about doing a clarity coaching day with me, which is super exciting. I've already got people who are interested in hiring me and becoming one of my customers because of the first few hours I was there and I engaged. And that was it. It was super simple and it's a great way to get more exposure on your other platforms as well. All right. So now that you know what it is, how to get an invitation and some of the possibilities are there. I want to tell you a little bit more specifically about the opportunities that I'm seeing and what I plan to do going forward. I've already talked a little bit about it because I just like to talk and things come up beforehand and I'm really excited about this app, but, by the way, if you. Are on clubhouse and you want to follow me? You can find my information in the show notes. I'm at Jamie bright as in bright entrepreneur. So that's my handle. Jamie bright. You can go there and find it there. So that's super awesome. Go check me out. Follow me. I would love to hear from you. And, uh, if you want to send me a note, you're going to have to do it through Instagram because you can't send notes or messages via clubhouse without jumping in a room with somebody. Which just sounded really dirty, but you know what I'm talking about. Right. Right. All right. So here's how I'm going to be using clubhouse and what I would recommend doing as well. So first and foremost, if you want to grow your audience, which I'm assuming you do, you're going to want to join in on some existing conversations that are already happening in the rooms and share your expertise. So look for conversations that will allow you to talk about the things that you're most excited about. Or that might have people who are interested in your topic. So if there's an existing thing going on, um, definitely participate in that. And you can look through the calendar to see if there are any things upcoming that you can even schedule on your calendar to make sure that you're there and you don't miss them. That's a really beautiful feature. Second. you may want to start your own room. About whatever topic it is that you are most knowledgeable about and see who shows up. Now, if you don't have a lot of followers or very many people that you are following, it might not show up right away for a lot of people. You might have to build some traction because the hallway where all the different rooms are listed is definitely highly influenced by who you're following. And what clubs you're a part of. And who's following you. I think, I don't know the exact details. So a little bit, that is a speculation, but it's definitely highly influenced by those things. So you want to start participating. You want to start following people. You can find people who are interested in your topics by going into the search bar and searching for those topics. It'll actually only bring people up, not rooms, which is kind of a bummer. I wish they had a search and maybe they will eventually that lets you search for rooms about specific topics. But it's beta. It's very basic. So I'm sure stuff like that will come. There are also clubs that you can follow, but again, they don't have a search directory of all the clubs yet, but they do have it of the people. And many of the people who have started clubs, for example, Akila is a friend of mine who has a club, all about SEO and about podcasting. So if you search for SEO, she might show up on the list as an active user. And if you go to her profile, You'll see in her about section that she wrote, that she is about. She has a club about SCO and a club about podcasting and at the bottom of her profile, there's a list of the clubs she's in. And the first two are the clubs that she runs. So you can find them there that way. So you can use the search kind of in a backwards way to find people who are interested in your topic, but also may have clubs about them that you can then join. And it's pretty safe to assume that anybody who's joined a club about that topic are going to be interested in that topic. So you can start following those people and hopefully start getting into more of the conversations that are happening around your topic. It's pretty cool that way now. If you do start your own room, which I highly recommend you do when you start the conversation, you're going to want to think of it as a conversation and not as a presentation. So a lot of that comes down to asking questions. And allowing other people to answer, empowering them to join the conversation. Now I'm not going to go into all of the details on how to bring people onto the stage and enter into the conversation because they have these lovely. Welcome rooms that will teach you everything you need to know when you get on the app and by doing it, you'll learn. So I don't want to go into all the tech stuff right now, but it's not that hard to be able to curate who can come up. People can raise their hand if they want to speak so that, you know, who'd like to actually come on the stage and have a conversation with you. And the more you can empower other people and ask good. Questions the better your conversation is going to be. So one of the things that I want to be doing is I want to go in and I want to basically try and crowdsource really helpful information for people and be seen as a curator. So I'm hoping to invite a couple of friends who are already on clubhouse to come with me into a room and probably schedule it and basically have a panel it's like ask, you know, what's the best. Marketing tip that you have from 2020. That's a great examples. Do McLaren did that on his podcast for a bunch of us in his mastermind. And that led me to make a whole podcast about my best tip. And you can do the same thing on clubhouse. I want to do something like that, where I basically just start a room that says. You know, best marketing tips from 2020 from real entrepreneurs, come listen and share your own tips. So that way, not only is it me sharing my expertise, but it's also allowing the people who are in the room to get on the stage and share their expertise. Everybody here, who's there to grow a business and there's a lot of entrepreneurs on the platform. They want to be seen as an expert. So if you can empower them by asking good questions that allows them to show off their expertise in a way that's not spammy, that might get them extra followers. That's really powerful. kind of how I'm thinking about it that way. I'm also, you know, when you're in a room, if you are the moderator. You that you can do this thing called resetting the room, which basically means every so often, you're going to remind people what the topic of the room is, what the conversation is going on and what they can do to join the conversation or what question you're asking everybody to answer and tell them that they can raise their hand to come up and speak about it, because then people will, you know, who may have joined late. Cause some of these rooms stay open for hours. You don't have to do it for hours, but. It's really neat. The conversations can go really long if there's a lot of people involved. When you do that, you can also say by the way, here's who I am and give a really quick little introduction and encourage people to follow you if they are your ideal client or you can say, if you want to be a bright entrepreneur who dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, you know, you can speak to the bright future identity that they want to have. Then you can say, follow me. And I'm going to be doing more conversations like this. Give them a reason to follow you. Tell them what they will get from following you. Based on the conversations that you're going to be starting in the rooms at clubhouse. It's really simple, but people are looking for other people to follow right now so that they have more rooms in their hallway that they can join. Because a lot of people aren't starting their own conversations. They're waiting for others to start them and they're just consuming and you really only get. Half a dozen to a dozen different conversations at a time. At least that's what I'm finding right now. Maybe I just need to follow more people, but right now my hallway, isn't super huge. I think people are more likely to hop off. If they don't see a room that's interesting to them than to start their own room. And so if you are starting rooms that other people find interesting, then you're going to start attracting a lot more followers. And right now, at least while the platform is newer, it's not oversaturated with everybody trying to do the same things. Now you do not want to be overly salesy. You do not want, I mean, you can sell, you can absolutely share. You can absolutely offer things on there. But you're going to want to have real conversations and let people reach out to you, I think is probably the best way to do it. I don't see going on there right now and being really pushy about launching something or trying to sell something. I don't think that's going to work real great with the culture at the moment. I do think more and more people will do that and they will find ways to do it well. And I think it's possible. Like, I don't feel like I'm overly pushy with how I share stuff here on the podcast. I just use my bright future content framework, you can actually get that content template that I use back in episode six of season three. So you can go back and listen to it. If you haven't, you could use that pretty easily without seeming very pushy or salesy in a room. But the goal is not so much to sell as it is to build your expertise, to get people to follow you. And to check you out on other platforms because they see our expertise, they hear, they don't see it, they hear your expertise and it's pretty incredible that way. but the big thing is people are just looking for others to follow. And I don't know how long that's going to last, but as it's growing, if you can establish yourself as a voice that people are following other people, see. Their friends following you, and they're going to want to follow you as well. It's just got a lot of opportunity now that it won't have later, because so many people are so new to the platform and a lot of people are following other people back. Right. So if someone follows you, they're like, Oh, who's this person. Let me check them out. Oh, I should follow them too. That looks interesting. Make sure that you have a bio that's really clear. Now I couldn't figure out how to get. Spaces between my paragraphs, you know, like the line break between my paragraph. So pro tip go write your bio in notes on your phone and format it however you want it to be. And then copy and paste that out of there and paste it into the bio that you have on clubhouse. Cause then it looks the exact same, which is lovely. So there's a little tip for you as you're doing your bios. But there's just such an opportunity to grow there right now. And to grow fast, if you're engaging with people, if you're having awesome conversations, if you're a wonderful moderator, if you're starting rooms that have topics that people are interested in, they want to join in. They want to see what the fuss is about, and they want to follow people who are talking about stuff they care about. So it's an awesome opportunity to grow now. All right, my friend, if you are sitting there and you're saying, Oh my goodness, I want to get into clubhouse, but I have an Android or I don't have an invite or whatever. I'm sure that at some point you're going to be able to get in. I don't know what their timeline is. I don't know how many invitations I'm going to be given, or when I've heard it's about one to three invitations per week. But after I get my mastermind people in, because my brighter together, mastermind, peeps get first chance at my invitations, but once those people get in, what I will do is I'm going to go to telegram and I have a telegram channel right here for the podcast, and I'm going to offer my telegram people, my invitations next. So as soon as I've gotten my mastermind, people in, I will go there and start offering invitations. Now it might be awhile, but that is where I will go next. So if you have not yet signed up for telegram for this podcast, telegram is just a free messaging app. It's where I share when new episodes are available and a little behind the scenes things here and there, it's kind of for the insiders who really want to know what's going on, because I know it's a new app for most of you. It's also where I run my mastermind groups because it's so nice not to be on Facebook. It's so much quieter. So if you'd like to be a part of my telegram group, that's actually only open to people who are following the podcast via email. So all you need to do is go down into the show notes and sign up to get notifications. When the podcast goes live via email, and once you've signed up, it's going to take you to a page that will allow you to join. The telegram group as well. That's really only for insiders. So that's the way you get in there. So you can go to bright entrepreneur podcast.com/email, and that will take you to a place where you can sign up for the email notifications. And then that will allow you to get into telegram as well. It's optional. So go do that now. And with that, my friends, if you have any other questions about clubhouse, I will put up a post in telegram where we can talk about it and chat about it there, because I think it's definitely worth talking about more. And I am so excited about the possibility. Of growing an audience on that platform and what it's going to turn into, it's still super basic, but I think it has the potential to really change things in a massive way. And I don't think it's going anywhere unless one of the big companies buys it up and takes over it. But it's really the next big platform for entrepreneurs. At least that's how I see it. And I'm super excited about it. So definitely head over to telegram. We'll have a conversation about it there, and I'll be answering questions about it. There. In the meantime with that, my friends remember that we are Prider together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Follow me on Clubhouse @jamiebright Transcript: A few days ago, I got an invitation to clubhouse, which is one of the newest, fastest growing apps that I have heard about in space in a long time. Now clubhouse is So you can't even get in. It's similar to how Pinterest and launched way back in the day. And so it's causing a lot of buzz and a lot of scarcity and people really wanting that exclusive invite so they can get inside and see what all the fuss is about. So today what I'd like to do is actually tell you a little bit about my first impressions of the platform and why I am so incredibly excited I really hope that this one makes it and sticks around it has a of potential, especially for people who love it. Audio, which I assume you do since you're listening to my podcast and for people who really want to connect with others in a meaningful way. So that's what I'm going to talk about in today's podcast. here's what I want to share with you. First and foremost, I want to talk about what clubhouse is, how it's run, what it looks like on the inside, why you might want to get an invitation to it that talk about. How do you actually get an So you can be a part of clubhouse. And then third, I'm talk to you today about some of the opportunities see clubhouse bringing to the table and how I personally am going to be approaching it in a strategic way. Hopefully both to grow this podcast as well as, you know, the rest of my business, because that's what I am. I'm an entrepreneur. I want to, you know, move forward. I want to grow my platform. I want to help as many people as possible. So I always want to be growing my audience. So when new apps like this come out, I love to think about how I can use a platform, both in an innovative way, but also an interesting way. That's going to make people who are checking it out, want to follow and watch what I'm doing and emulate it. I want to provide great value on the platform. And then two, I'm always thinking about different ways that I it creatively. To grow my audience as well. So I'm going to share you here and give you tips that I've gleaned in the couple of days I've been on it. So I will say I'm not a pro at clubhouse. I haven't been on it very long, but I do think that this is going to grow and I think it's going to grow quickly. And I'm very excited about the possibilities and want you to be one of the bright entrepreneurs in the know about it from the very beginning, even though it's not quite the very beginning. It feels that way because everyone started talking about it. Okay. So number one, what exactly app look like? Well, the app is actually quite simple, basically, having a list of zoom rooms that you into that have the inside listed. So right let up my app and see if I open up the clubhouse app. I have what's called the hallway. And there's, um, somebody talking about having a big impact in business and life by fostering outstanding relationships. Cool. Interesting. There's somebody talking about small business Saturday, we've got money to spend on your amazing products, which allows you to come in and pitch your product. How cool is that? Um, there's travel speed dating. Are you my future Bay? Okay, so I'm not into that one. That's fine. Somebody talking about sexual consent in the church, somebody talking about time travel, let's talk about it. Right? There's all sorts of random things in here. Some of them are going to be pop culture. Some of them are going to be business-related. so this is called the hallway. And if your friends and the people you're following start a room, then you will see this in your hallway so that you can also enter that room and join the conversation. So you click on a link to join a room. When you join a room, you're hearing people talk. Live now, there are no recordings that you can go back and listen to later. And I think that's part of the appeal is that if you're not there, you miss out on it, but that's also part of the beauty of it that these are conversations happening with real people. And it's voice only. There's no video and there's no. Chat function like you can't sit and chat in the comments. So that's how it's different from zoom. For zoom. You can go in, you can have a big zoom meeting and you can have your video on and off or your audio on and off. Or you can chat in the comments. It's not that way in that there's no video at all. There's only a profile picture and there's no chat. So the only way, if you want to talk, you actually have to raise your hand and go onto what they call the stage. And the person who starts the room gets to moderate that. So they can allow people to talk or not, and they can mute people. They can kick people out, they can do all the typical moderation stuff, but. It's a beautiful platform because you're actually hearing people have conversations live. What I've found is that these rooms generally stay open for quite a long time. People come and go and it's explicitly said on there that it's not rude to ghost within clubhouse. So if you come into a chat, you're not having it, or you've got to run or whatever, you don't have to say. Sorry, guys got to go. You just quietly leave. Actually the button even says leave quietly, which is just. Super beautiful and really graceful so that people don't have to feel bad breaking a social norm about communication that outside of the platform might be seen as rude. However, because the platform is made on conversations and it's meant to listen in and participate. They totally understand if you have to go and you don't want to interrupt the conversation that's happening, especially if you're in a room with a thousand people who want to talk or have a conversation. Now, most of the rooms are quite a bit smaller than that, that I've found, but there are some rooms that are quite a bit bigger. So it's a little bit like zoom in that you do have a room. But you don't have video. You just hear voices, but you can go back out into the hallway and you can see all the different rooms that are listed. And so it's just really addicting. It's really a beautiful platform for you to go in and have conversations about whatever it is you want to have a conversation about and really talk to real. People, I absolutely love that so much. And there's so much support in the platform that I've found. And people have been really gracious to people who are new coming in and learning the platform for the first time and engaging for the first time. So I love it because I feel like it's a very personal real app. You actually get to engage with people in a real way, because voice is really personal. It's part of why I love podcasting because podcasts that I listened to, I feel like I know them. I hope that you feel like, you know me in some weird little way. And so there's a big appeal in this app because it does feel so authentic. You can't, sit and type out a post for 20 minutes before posting it and make sure every word is right. You've got to talk. And when we talk things come out sometimes and we can talk over each other and be rude, or we can be polite or, you know, we have to learn to moderate when it's a big group like this. And it's really an interesting platform in that way. the other thing that they have not just rooms is they have something called clubs. Now you have to manually apply to have a club, which clubhouse is new. I mean, right now, as I'm recording this podcast, it is definitely in beta. There's definitely some bugs and. They are rolling things out pretty quickly, but it's still taking a little time. So clubs is something that they have to approve for your account manually. So the process is very slow. You fill out a form that's on air table at the moment. Like that's how old school get her done done is better than perfect that they are, which I really love about them. And you can request to have a club that's associated with your name. Now, if you have a club, people can actually follow the club. And if you want to, you can approve them as a member of the club. You can invite them to actually be a member. So there's kind of two tiers, and then you can start a room that's hosted by your club. And when you do that, it actually goes out to all the people who are following your club as a notification, which is super cool. And you can schedule things on a calendar. For upcoming conversations that you want to have on the platform. So people can go up to a calendar and if they're following your club and you've posted it from your club, they're going to see that you don't have to have a club to schedule your conversations. You can actually do that even without a club, but it's definitely neat to have a club because then you can do things that are members only, or that are open to the greater followers of your entire club. It's just another way for you to. kind of help set yourself apart as an expert in a specific kind of topic or niche, or like I'm doing. To build a community on clubhouse. So mine is called bright entrepreneurs. Guess what? That's because I'm trying to create a movement, a bright entrepreneurs and a community, a bright entrepreneurs. And I just really love that format. I want to be known as an entrepreneur who knows her stuff. I want to grow my own podcast right here. The one you're listening to. So, shamelessly, I'm just going to ask you to share it with friends. You think would like it, but. As I build my profile on clubhouse and I build a club for bright entrepreneurs, which I haven't even had approved yet. So I don't have it there. I'm kind of in that waiting period, which they said can take one to two weeks right now because of their backlog. But assuming that that gets approved, then I can grow this club on their, not just my own personal followers. But followers within that club who then get notified of anything we do there, which is just neat, because then they don't have to follow me as a person if they're not interested in some of the other topics that I'm hopping into and having discussions around. And I will use that club very intentionally to talk about business stuff, similar to, like I talk about here on the podcast, I can share my, things I'm thinking about in terms of growing my business or. Anything really the beautiful thing is because it's not recorded. I can share the same thing over and over and over again with new people, I can get a little bit more intimate and I don't have to worry so much about it being perfect because it's in real time. And once it's done, once it's said it's gone, it's like conversation. I love it. It's a little bit more like being in a conference, but virtually, and I just adore it. I mean, yes, there's some differences because not everyone can be in a room talking at the same time, like at a conference, but it's a really beautiful way. To find people who are interested in topics that you're also interested in, either by you posting them and starting rooms, and then letting other people who find the room, come in and start the conversation and naturally be attracted to you. But also by going on the platform and finding conversations that are already happening around your niche and joining in on them and really showing your expertise. It's great. All right. So how do you get an invite to this? Well, you have to know, but he was on the platform. When I joined clubhouse, I was given one invitation, which I passed on to a mastermind member. Who's in the brighter together. Mastermind. Yeah. And we have a little chain there. That's going. So once somebody gets in, they commit to inviting the next person in our mastermind who commits to inviting the next person in the mastermind until all of us will get in that way. But you only get one invitation when you join. So I don't have another invitation to give you right now, but apparently if you go in and use the app and the people that you invite go in and use the app, you. Somehow earned some sort of clout and you can get more invitations each week. If you're active in your people are active. So you only want to invite people who, you know, are really going to use the app and be active on it so that you can get more invitations and bring more of your friends. So you can try and find a chain of people who are doing an invite train, I did one on a. Facebook group that I was a part of somebody had their one invitation. They got that week. And so they said, okay, I'm going to give it to the first person who comments below as long as you absolutely promise to invite the person who's right below you. So that's how I got in is that I was able to get in through an invite, train that way now. you might have to find one of those on Facebook. You can put up a post, like I did on my profile that said, Hey, I would love to have an invitation to clubhouse. If anybody knows anybody with one, I would love to join. that's kinda how I got tipped off to the fact that there is a group with a big. Chain going on. So that's one way you can find an invitation. The other thing is that you can sign up on their app and apparently they have a waitlist and you may be sent an invitation via text message eventually. Now, I don't know anybody who got in this way because everybody I know, came through a chain and an invite process, but that is what they say they do. And so. You can go to the app store and download the clubhouse app. You can actually reserve your username, which is fantastic. Even if you don't have an invite, go reserve your name right now. And hopefully they will eventually send you an invitation. If you don't already get one from somebody else that you know, now there's a little bad news for my Android users. it's only available on iPhones or iPads. I don't know if they're going to be coming out with an Android version eventually or not, but honestly, if this is a platform that you want to get to know and access and build, especially if you have a podcast or you just love having conversations. I think it would honestly be worth going out and buying a cheap used iPad or iPhone that you can use just to run the clubhouse app. And maybe you're just like, heck no, no way. That's fine. That's totally cool. for me, if I could get something for one to $200, I really think there's a lot of opportunity to grow a big audience on clubhouse right now, pretty easily. Because so many people are looking for people to follow. They want to find their people. And it's very active right now, but so many people are new that they're afraid to start their own rooms and put themselves out there as a leader, because they're trying to learn the ropes that there's just tons of opportunity. It's just a beautiful playground right now. And I think you could grow very large, very quickly and become known within the community if you wanted to go there. And I don't know if this platform is going to stick around. I don't know if it's going to be bought up and sucked up and whatever. I mean, maybe it's going to be like Periscope where people came on and it was big for like six months. And then Facebook lives rolled out and it basically killed Periscope and, you know, whatever else. But even if that's the case, I feel like it's an opportunity to make real connections with real people who would end up migrating with you wherever you go. They do have a place to put an Instagram link and a Twitter link. So I don't use Twitter, but I absolutely use Instagram. And I've already had somebody on the platform literally within the first three hours that I was there. Go to my Instagram account, where it says that I do clarity coaching days and asked me about doing a clarity coaching day with me, which is super exciting. I've already got people who are interested in hiring me and becoming one of my customers because of the first few hours I was there and I engaged. And that was it. It was super simple and it's a great way to get more exposure on your other platforms as well. All right. So now that you know what it is, how to get an invitation and some of the possibilities are there. I want to tell you a little bit more specifically about the opportunities that I'm seeing and what I plan to do going forward. I've already talked a little bit about it because I just like to talk and things come up beforehand and I'm really excited about this app, but, by the way, if you. Are on clubhouse and you want to follow me? You can find my information in the show notes. I'm at Jamie bright as in bright entrepreneur. So that's my handle. Jamie bright. You can go there and find it there. So that's super awesome. Go check me out. Follow me. I would love to hear from you. And, uh, if you want to send me a note, you're going to have to do it through Instagram because you can't send notes or messages via clubhouse without jumping in a room with somebody. Which just sounded really dirty, but you know what I'm talking about. Right. Right. All right. So here's how I'm going to be using clubhouse and what I would recommend doing as well. So first and foremost, if you want to grow your audience, which I'm assuming you do, you're going to want to join in on some existing conversations that are already happening in the rooms and share your expertise. So look for conversations that will allow you to talk about the things that you're most excited about. Or that might have people who are interested in your topic. So if there's an existing thing going on, um, definitely participate in that. And you can look through the calendar to see if there are any things upcoming that you can even schedule on your calendar to make sure that you're there and you don't miss them. That's a really beautiful feature. Second. you may want to start your own room. About whatever topic it is that you are most knowledgeable about and see who shows up. Now, if you don't have a lot of followers or very many people that you are following, it might not show up right away for a lot of people. You might have to build some traction because the hallway where all the different rooms are listed is definitely highly influenced by who you're following. And what clubs you're a part of. And who's following you. I think, I don't know the exact details. So a little bit, that is a speculation, but it's definitely highly influenced by those things. So you want to start participating. You want to start following people. You can find people who are interested in your topics by going into the search bar and searching for those topics. It'll actually only bring people up, not rooms, which is kind of a bummer. I wish they had a search and maybe they will eventually that lets you search for rooms about specific topics. But it's beta. It's very basic. So I'm sure stuff like that will come. There are also clubs that you can follow, but again, they don't have a search directory of all the clubs yet, but they do have it of the people. And many of the people who have started clubs, for example, Akila is a friend of mine who has a club, all about SEO and about podcasting. So if you search for SEO, she might show up on the list as an active user. And if you go to her profile, You'll see in her about section that she wrote, that she is about. She has a club about SCO and a club about podcasting and at the bottom of her profile, there's a list of the clubs she's in. And the first two are the clubs that she runs. So you can find them there that way. So you can use the search kind of in a backwards way to find people who are interested in your topic, but also may have clubs about them that you can then join. And it's pretty safe to assume that anybody who's joined a club about that topic are going to be interested in that topic. So you can start following those people and hopefully start getting into more of the conversations that are happening around your topic. It's pretty cool that way now. If you do start your own room, which I highly recommend you do when you start the conversation, you're going to want to think of it as a conversation and not as a presentation. So a lot of that comes down to asking questions. And allowing other people to answer, empowering them to join the conversation. Now I'm not going to go into all of the details on how to bring people onto the stage and enter into the conversation because they have these lovely. Welcome rooms that will teach you everything you need to know when you get on the app and by doing it, you'll learn. So I don't want to go into all the tech stuff right now, but it's not that hard to be able to curate who can come up. People can raise their hand if they want to speak so that, you know, who'd like to actually come on the stage and have a conversation with you. And the more you can empower other people and ask good. Questions the better your conversation is going to be. So one of the things that I want to be doing is I want to go in and I want to basically try and crowdsource really helpful information for people and be seen as a curator. So I'm hoping to invite a couple of friends who are already on clubhouse to come with me into a room and probably schedule it and basically have a panel it's like ask, you know, what's the best. Marketing tip that you have from 2020. That's a great examples. Do McLaren did that on his podcast for a bunch of us in his mastermind. And that led me to make a whole podcast about my best tip. And you can do the same thing on clubhouse. I want to do something like that, where I basically just start a room that says. You know, best marketing tips from 2020 from real entrepreneurs, come listen and share your own tips. So that way, not only is it me sharing my expertise, but it's also allowing the people who are in the room to get on the stage and share their expertise. Everybody here, who's there to grow a business and there's a lot of entrepreneurs on the platform. They want to be seen as an expert. So if you can empower them by asking good questions that allows them to show off their expertise in a way that's not spammy, that might get them extra followers. That's really powerful. kind of how I'm thinking about it that way. I'm also, you know, when you're in a room, if you are the moderator. You that you can do this thing called resetting the room, which basically means every so often, you're going to remind people what the topic of the room is, what the conversation is going on and what they can do to join the conversation or what question you're asking everybody to answer and tell them that they can raise their hand to come up and speak about it, because then people will, you know, who may have joined late. Cause some of these rooms stay open for hours. You don't have to do it for hours, but. It's really neat. The conversations can go really long if there's a lot of people involved. When you do that, you can also say by the way, here's who I am and give a really quick little introduction and encourage people to follow you if they are your ideal client or you can say, if you want to be a bright entrepreneur who dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, you know, you can speak to the bright future identity that they want to have. Then you can say, follow me. And I'm going to be doing more conversations like this. Give them a reason to follow you. Tell them what they will get from following you. Based on the conversations that you're going to be starting in the rooms at clubhouse. It's really simple, but people are looking for other people to follow right now so that they have more rooms in their hallway that they can join. Because a lot of people aren't starting their own conversations. They're waiting for others to start them and they're just consuming and you really only get. Half a dozen to a dozen different conversations at a time. At least that's what I'm finding right now. Maybe I just need to follow more people, but right now my hallway, isn't super huge. I think people are more likely to hop off. If they don't see a room that's interesting to them than to start their own room. And so if you are starting rooms that other people find interesting, then you're going to start attracting a lot more followers. And right now, at least while the platform is newer, it's not oversaturated with everybody trying to do the same things. Now you do not want to be overly salesy. You do not want, I mean, you can sell, you can absolutely share. You can absolutely offer things on there. But you're going to want to have real conversations and let people reach out to you, I think is probably the best way to do it. I don't see going on there right now and being really pushy about launching something or trying to sell something. I don't think that's going to work real great with the culture at the moment. I do think more and more people will do that and they will find ways to do it well. And I think it's possible. Like, I don't feel like I'm overly pushy with how I share stuff here on the podcast. I just use my bright future content framework, you can actually get that content template that I use back in episode six of season three. So you can go back and listen to it. If you haven't, you could use that pretty easily without seeming very pushy or salesy in a room. But the goal is not so much to sell as it is to build your expertise, to get people to follow you. And to check you out on other platforms because they see our expertise, they hear, they don't see it, they hear your expertise and it's pretty incredible that way. but the big thing is people are just looking for others to follow. And I don't know how long that's going to last, but as it's growing, if you can establish yourself as a voice that people are following other people, see. Their friends following you, and they're going to want to follow you as well. It's just got a lot of opportunity now that it won't have later, because so many people are so new to the platform and a lot of people are following other people back. Right. So if someone follows you, they're like, Oh, who's this person. Let me check them out. Oh, I should follow them too. That looks interesting. Make sure that you have a bio that's really clear. Now I couldn't figure out how to get. Spaces between my paragraphs, you know, like the line break between my paragraph. So pro tip go write your bio in notes on your phone and format it however you want it to be. And then copy and paste that out of there and paste it into the bio that you have on clubhouse. Cause then it looks the exact same, which is lovely. So there's a little tip for you as you're doing your bios. But there's just such an opportunity to grow there right now. And to grow fast, if you're engaging with people, if you're having awesome conversations, if you're a wonderful moderator, if you're starting rooms that have topics that people are interested in, they want to join in. They want to see what the fuss is about, and they want to follow people who are talking about stuff they care about. So it's an awesome opportunity to grow now. All right, my friend, if you are sitting there and you're saying, Oh my goodness, I want to get into clubhouse, but I have an Android or I don't have an invite or whatever. I'm sure that at some point you're going to be able to get in. I don't know what their timeline is. I don't know how many invitations I'm going to be given, or when I've heard it's about one to three invitations per week. But after I get my mastermind people in, because my brighter together, mastermind, peeps get first chance at my invitations, but once those people get in, what I will do is I'm going to go to telegram and I have a telegram channel right here for the podcast, and I'm going to offer my telegram people, my invitations next. So as soon as I've gotten my mastermind, people in, I will go there and start offering invitations. Now it might be awhile, but that is where I will go next. So if you have not yet signed up for telegram for this podcast, telegram is just a free messaging app. It's where I share when new episodes are available and a little behind the scenes things here and there, it's kind of for the insiders who really want to know what's going on, because I know it's a new app for most of you. It's also where I run my mastermind groups because it's so nice not to be on Facebook. It's so much quieter. So if you'd like to be a part of my telegram group, that's actually only open to people who are following the podcast via email. So all you need to do is go down into the show notes and sign up to get notifications. When the podcast goes live via email, and once you've signed up, it's going to take you to a page that will allow you to join. The telegram group as well. That's really only for insiders. So that's the way you get in there. So you can go to bright entrepreneur podcast.com/email, and that will take you to a place where you can sign up for the email notifications. And then that will allow you to get into telegram as well. It's optional. So go do that now. And with that, my friends, if you have any other questions about clubhouse, I will put up a post in telegram where we can talk about it and chat about it there, because I think it's definitely worth talking about more. And I am so excited about the possibility. Of growing an audience on that platform and what it's going to turn into, it's still super basic, but I think it has the potential to really change things in a massive way. And I don't think it's going anywhere unless one of the big companies buys it up and takes over it. But it's really the next big platform for entrepreneurs. At least that's how I see it. And I'm super excited about it. So definitely head over to telegram. We'll have a conversation about it there, and I'll be answering questions about it. There. In the meantime with that, my friends remember that we are Prider together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in a Clarity Coaching Day? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: I have a confession to make back in September, I ran a 52 mile trail race, which is crazy. I know it's, it's like a double marathon in an entire day on super remote rugged trails. And I talked a lot about it back in October during my launch series, which was a five-part bonus series that I use basically to launch my bright future method workshop. but here's what I want to confess to you today. I have hardly run it all since my race. And I am super out of shape and I was feeling really, really awful about it. I was feeling like, man, I am never going to be able to get out on the trails again. And I know that sometimes we get that way in our business as well. We feel like we're just not making any progress that we are just stuck. We've lost our desire to do anything. And we're approaching that burnout point pretty dang quickly. So today I want to talk about how we can get unstuck and start making momentum in our business. So I didn't mean to get out of momentum with my training and take such a long break, but back in August at the very height of my training where I was literally running a half marathon one day and a full marathon. The next out on the trails to train for this insanely long 52 mile race. I tripped. I fell. I fell in the woods and the sad part is it wasn't even on a super technical part, but I clipped my toe on a root or a rock or something. And I felt now I didn't fall particularly hard, but my left knee hit a rock and it must have hit in such a way that. It heard it kind of bad. Now it didn't like injure it where I couldn't run on it. In fact, I didn't think anything had really happened, but as I continued finishing my run and I think I still had another, I don't know, six to 10 miles left after that point. So it was on a long run. It wasn't a short run. Um, I got back to my car and my knee was really starting to hurt and it was starting to flare up. And so I took kind of an easy week and I didn't do a lot on it. I gave it some time to heal and I knew it wasn't like a massive deep injury, but I also knew that it needed a little bit of rest. And so I gave it some rest. And the next weekend I went out and I had had my longest week, or it was like 18 and 32. I did my 18 miler and I did it really gently if that's possible. I know this is insane. Just bear with me and. When I did that, I'm like, okay, it's, it's a little sore, but it's not bad. And so the next day I went out to do my 32, which was my longest, just one. And I got a mile and a half in and I'm like, Nope, turning around, going back because it was already starting to hurt and starting to hurt. More than it had the day before. Like I could tell that if I continued running on it and did a full 32 miles, it was not going to be happy. And it might actually keep me from being able to do the full race, which was September 12th. I took three and a half weeks and I barely ran it all. I did a couple of very short runs, but I was really wanting my knee to heal so I could go out and do my 50 mile race. And I talked about tapering. And a past episode during that bonus series. So you may want to go listen to that because it was really interesting experience where my brain also felt like, Oh my gosh, I'm losing all of this running, you know, this athletic base that I've built up. And it just, it was really hard for me to step away and be wise and wait. But then I got to the day of the race and it was amazing. I, my knees didn't hurt hardly at all. At the beginning, it was a touch sore, but not bad. And I was able to run the entire thing. And the last section was actually really hard on both of my knees at that point, just because it's a lot of miles. And, um, I knew I wasn't injuring it. I knew it was just sore, but it was still hurting. And so anyways, I took quite a bit of time off after the race, because I really did not want to have long-term injuries in my knees. And I wanted to let them heal. I just run literally six, 700 miles over a summer, and I love being out in the woods, but I had some work stuff that had to happen. I was going to be launching. And so it was a pretty busy time. It was actually kind of nice to have a lot of my time back to work in my business instead of being out in the woods, even though I love the woods, I was training for a good 15 to 20 hours per week, which is a pretty insane commitment.   So I intentionally decided to take a few weeks off and see how my knee was doing well near the end of October, I started hiking and running on it again, and it was still a tiny bit sore, but it wasn't too bad. And so I was getting out there. I wasn't training long miles like I had been, but I kept finding excuses for staying in the weather was changing. It was icy. Now it was. Not fun. Um, there was a couple of weeks, like two separate weeks where the weather was gorgeous and I spent pretty much the entire week outside as much as I possibly could. And those were wonderful, but I still knew I had lost some of my base having not done a ton of running since the mid middle of August. And then hunting season hit and hunting season in Minnesota means I need to stay out of the woods. Because people are shooting guns and hunting season is very prevalent here because a lot of people actually rely on the meat that they get from deer to get through the year. And it helps their family in a massive way. So I have no problems with the deer hunting season itself, but you're not going to find me in the woods. With people hunting. I do not want the chance of a stray bullet hitting me, even if I'm in blaze orange, just because I want to go out and run. And many of the trails around here, I actually closed for a solid two weeks. So that came as well. And here I find myself this past week and it had been a couple of weeks, three weeks, almost, not quite since I had ran at all or hiked or anything. And I was just feeling so unmotivated And I know that I lost a ton of the athletic base that I had worked so hard to build, and I was really feeling discouraged and I knew that I just needed to get out there and start doing it again. And that it would come back eventually. But just the thought of going out one in the cold, because now it's full on winter here too on the ice, which is slippery, which means you can't really run it all and you have to be a lot more careful and it's just more miserable. And just three being out there knowing that my body couldn't do nearly as much as it could in this past summer, it was really just disheartening. Like it felt depressing. And I'm sure the fact that I haven't been exercising also made it feel worse because that really releases a lot of endorphins. And man, I come alive in the woods. I just forget. And part of me just wanted to hibernate. All winter long, eat all the delicious foods and just give up for a little bit, you know, like we all have those moments when we're just like, ah, screw it. Let's just eat all the things and sit around and whatever it is, right. We have our, we all have our things. And so here's what I did because I'm like, you know what? My ski season is coming. It's not here yet. I was hoping it would be here by now, but we don't have snow enough to ski, unfortunately. So until then I knew that if I just waited, I might just get super lazy and lackadaisical all winter long because maybe it's going to be a winter without a lot of snow. Maybe I won't be able to ski hardly at all. And I didn't want. To lose out, not just on the athletic base, but the energy that I get from exercise. I didn't want to lose out on the habit that I have when I exercise of just getting outside and more than anything, I didn't want to lose out on the stillness and that peace, joy, and love that comes from being in the woods and being quiet. I mean, I love to find places of solitude to just sit. And meditate or contemplate or whatever, or pray, whatever word you want to use. And just soak up the silence. There are so few places where you can get true silence and winter, especially as beautiful as for silence because the snow just dampens all the sound around you. And so I knew I needed to get it back out on the trails, and I knew that the first few times they're going to be. Pretty uncomfortable, but that it was worth it. And that if I wanted to get back up to where I was, or even part of the way back up, that I just needed to get out there. And I also knew that I probably hadn't lost as much as I thought it just feels that way, our brains just tell us these stupid things. And so. If you're in your business right now, and maybe you've just been exhausted, maybe getting kids figured out what their schooling options has been really frustrating and exhausting to you, or going back into lockdowns or the holidays. I mean, there's all sorts of stressors. All sorts of stressors around us that might be dragging you down that might be cutting into your energy level. That might make you feel kind of stuck. And maybe it's been harder than normal. Maybe the conditions haven't been, what you've needed them to be. Maybe you're having limitations placed on you because of COVID or whatever it is. This year has been especially difficult for many people, not everybody, but for a lot. And the ones who get through it are the ones who finally say, you know what, despite all of this stuff, I'm going to make a commitment to moving forward anyways. And that's what I did as well. I'm like, you know what? Yes. It's cold. Yes. It's IC. Yes. It's kind of miserable. And the sun rarely shines this time a year here. So it's going to feel really dark and dreary and yes, I've lost a lot of my base. And so it's going to be really a lot of extra work. And when you're hiking through snow, it's especially just all this stuff, right? Oh, this stuff, all the stuff. I had a hundred excuses. And what if my knee isn't good enough? Cause it's still feeling pain and whatever else. And I just said, Nope. I'm going to commit to going outside at least 10 minutes a day. And I'm going to say specifically outside at first I was thinking, Oh, I'll just do any exercise, but I know for me and my spirit, I need to go outside. I need to have that solitude, that quiet that I get from nature that I can't get anywhere else. And so. I did that. I decided, okay, I'm not going to commit to 10 mile runs. I'm just going to say 10 minutes now. I will absolutely stay out far longer than 10 minutes, but it's just committing to something tiny that starts me moving forward and gives me momentum that is going to help me get back into the pattern of getting up every single day. Doesn't matter if it's raining and it's disgusting or it's sleeting or whatever else. 10 minutes is all I have to put up with it. Right? And by the way, the rain can be really fun, right? If you embrace it and you come at it with an attitude of, Oh, this is different, what's lovely about this. And if you don't worry so much about getting dirty and you let yourself jump in the puddles and play and be a kid, it's actually one of my favorite things to do. It's very fun. So don't let the things that you're like, Oh, that sucks. Stop you from doing what you need to do. So the first thing I would say, if you're feeling stuck is one, make a commitment to doing one small thing. Every single day, that's going to start you moving again. And if you only do the 10 minutes or whatever it is, that's okay. That's okay. That is a win because you are taking action and getting back into momentum. Number two. Tell people about it. I don't know about you, but I am a woman of my word. And so if I tell somebody I'm going to do something, I do it. So I went to the people in my mastermind and I said, Hey friends. I need you to hold me accountable to getting outside at least 10 minutes per day, because I know that if I tell them I need to do it, then I'm going to do it. And I'm going to show up and say, okay, here's my pictures. I was out there, proved it today. And I know that it's going to help me continue building this habit of getting outside. That's going to help me reestablish this base that I've lost. That really is going to make my momentum grow because. This is the same in business, not just exercise. We will get far more from taking small, consistent action over time. Then we will, by doing one big, massive, crazy push and then crashing for a month or two and feeling burned out and then coming back and doing this crazy push where it all consumes everything we do. And maybe we get really great results from that, but it can really cause you to burn out fast when you do it that way. And if you can find a more sustainable habit, practice, whatever you want to call it, that you can do small amounts of every single day and move in the right direction. That's going to be far more valuable to you and sustainable to you than these massive pushes that then. Leave you burned out where you just want to abandon ship for a while because when you have momentum moving forward, just a little bit of an extra push every little day, or every Workday is going to be far more effective than, you know, think of pushing a rock. If you, once it's moving, it's easy to keep going, but if you let it stop, then you've got to put a lot of effort into getting it going again. So it's really important that we keep our momentum going. And even if it's just 10 minutes of something that you know is going to move your business forward every single day, put those 10 minutes into practice, there's probably something that if you did it every single day, you know that that's going to keep you moving forward and growing faster, maybe it's reaching out to somebody every single day and asking them personally, if they'd like to be a part of what you're offering, maybe it's reaching out to network with other people who have your same audience to see if you can be on their podcast, or if they want to connect or be a JV partner or whatever it is. I'm sure. Reaching out once a day to see if somebody wants to collaborate over a year is going to open up some incredible opportunities for you that you've never even dreamed of, or maybe it's doing Facebook lives or emails or blog posts or whatever it is. But if you take a moment right now and think about it, My guests, if you're truly a bright entrepreneur, is that, you know, that there's something you could be doing every single day that would move you forward. That really isn't a lot of time that you could commit to right now. And then you could find somebody to tell who can keep you accountable, which is the second part The third thing. Is to remember that there will always be something that could hold us back that we could use as an excuse. And when we do that, we're actually being a victim. We're actually playing that victim card and saying, Oh, these external things outside of my control are keeping me from doing it. Sure. I'm not going to be out in the woods during hunting season, but I absolutely could go to some of the parks around here that don't allow hunting and have done some sort of workout there or been out in nature there. I didn't, they're not my favorite. They require me to drive a little further, but I used it as an excuse to not get out and exercise because it wasn't as convenient. And there's always going to be things in our business that hold us back. Maybe our market has shifted after COVID or maybe you feel like everyone else is doing something a certain way. And so you can't do it differently or whatever it is, there are always going to be things that could keep you. From reaching your dreams and growing the business that you really want to have the difference between entrepreneurs who never really make it. And the bright entrepreneurs who create successful simple businesses that seem to grow on their own is that bright entrepreneurs know that they can get past everything instead of seeing something and saying, Oh, guess it's not going to work. And I throw in the towel, they're going to say, what does this make possible? And that's a question. I hear Stu McLaren asking all the time. I've definitely grabbed that from him. And I think he grabbed it from one of his mentors or business partners, but what does this make possible? Okay. So my photography business totally collapsed because of COVID. Well, what does this make possible? Well, what this made possible was me being able to shift into something that I've been wanting to do for three and a half years, but didn't have the space or capacity to start. I've been wanting to run masterminds for ages. They make me come alive. So maybe the obstacle that's in your way. Is really allowing you to do something else or make something else possible that you never would have dreamed of if that obstacle wasn't facing you or perhaps that obstacle isn't even real. It's just the limiting belief that you have to move past. Maybe you think nobody will pay for what you have to offer, but you haven't actually put yourself out there and ask them. And when you finally go out and ask them, you find, Oh, Fuck. There's all these people who actually want what I have and are thanking me for telling them about it. So sometimes the obstacles are just our own fears that we have to work through, but whatever it is facing, the things that are in front of you that have been keeping you stuck and refusing to be the victim. And instead saying, what does this make possible? What could I do to get around this? How can I make my dreams happen anyways, when you ask those questions and you really open yourself up to doing something in an alternative way or facing the fears that are holding you back, that's how you make progress and get unstuck for me. Yeah. There's all these things that could have held me back. Yes. Sometimes, you know, if my knee is truly injured, it was wise to take a little time off, but I didn't need to take this much time off and I could have absolutely been doing other workouts or I could have just went and sat in the woods without having to go very far in if I had really wanted to do that and not used my excuses to keep me out of momentum, frankly. So I have committed to 10 minutes a day of getting into the woods or at the very least exercising. But my ideal is to be outside at least 10 minutes a day, no matter what the weather is. So I am dreaming and hoping that we get dumped on that. We get a ton of snow soon, so I can actually be out skiing, which is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. It's so much fun, but until then, even if we don't have enough snow, which I could use as an excuse not to get outside. I'm going to go out and I'm going to walk or hike or maybe run. If the conditions would allow it for at least 10 minutes today, I was going to go out for 10 minutes and I did almost four and a half miles and was out there for like almost two hours. Had a great conversation. Just because I committed to 10 minutes. I know there will be days when I get out there and I'm like, Oh, I'm not feeling it because when we, especially when you're first getting back that momentum, isn't there, there's a lot of resistance to doing it. And I might quit after 10 minutes, but that's okay. Still a win 10 minutes is all it takes. I'm telling you here. Now I've told a bunch of my friends and I'm not going to let my excuses hold me back. So I'm going to move forward just like that. So my question to you today is okay. Where are you stuck in your business? Because if you're listening to this podcast, I'm guessing that there's somewhere that you're stuck. What can you commit to doing daily? That's small that you can keep doing and moving forward, that's going to start building momentum. Who can you tell publicly so that you are accountable to it? And then three. What are the limitations and things that you personally need to overcome so that you can keep moving forward in your business. Think about those and ask yourself, what does this make possible? How can I do it despite these obstacles and whatever else you need in order to move forward with this. You've got this, my friend, I know you can do this. I know I can do this. And I know we're going to be better people because of it, because I know once you get back into momentum and once you are doing things from a place of, energy and excitement and focus, you will grow so much faster than if you're just sporadic in what you're doing. And that's what I want for you. That's the difference between the bright entrepreneurs and the ones who just do not make it long-term. And I know that if you're listening to this, that you are a bright entrepreneur who can do this. all right. My friends just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in a Clarity Coaching Day? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: I have a confession to make back in September, I ran a 52 mile trail race, which is crazy. I know it's, it's like a double marathon in an entire day on super remote rugged trails. And I talked a lot about it back in October during my launch series, which was a five-part bonus series that I use basically to launch my bright future method workshop. but here's what I want to confess to you today. I have hardly run it all since my race. And I am super out of shape and I was feeling really, really awful about it. I was feeling like, man, I am never going to be able to get out on the trails again. And I know that sometimes we get that way in our business as well. We feel like we're just not making any progress that we are just stuck. We've lost our desire to do anything. And we're approaching that burnout point pretty dang quickly. So today I want to talk about how we can get unstuck and start making momentum in our business. So I didn't mean to get out of momentum with my training and take such a long break, but back in August at the very height of my training where I was literally running a half marathon one day and a full marathon. The next out on the trails to train for this insanely long 52 mile race. I tripped. I fell. I fell in the woods and the sad part is it wasn't even on a super technical part, but I clipped my toe on a root or a rock or something. And I felt now I didn't fall particularly hard, but my left knee hit a rock and it must have hit in such a way that. It heard it kind of bad. Now it didn't like injure it where I couldn't run on it. In fact, I didn't think anything had really happened, but as I continued finishing my run and I think I still had another, I don't know, six to 10 miles left after that point. So it was on a long run. It wasn't a short run. Um, I got back to my car and my knee was really starting to hurt and it was starting to flare up. And so I took kind of an easy week and I didn't do a lot on it. I gave it some time to heal and I knew it wasn't like a massive deep injury, but I also knew that it needed a little bit of rest. And so I gave it some rest. And the next weekend I went out and I had had my longest week, or it was like 18 and 32. I did my 18 miler and I did it really gently if that's possible. I know this is insane. Just bear with me and. When I did that, I'm like, okay, it's, it's a little sore, but it's not bad. And so the next day I went out to do my 32, which was my longest, just one. And I got a mile and a half in and I'm like, Nope, turning around, going back because it was already starting to hurt and starting to hurt. More than it had the day before. Like I could tell that if I continued running on it and did a full 32 miles, it was not going to be happy. And it might actually keep me from being able to do the full race, which was September 12th. I took three and a half weeks and I barely ran it all. I did a couple of very short runs, but I was really wanting my knee to heal so I could go out and do my 50 mile race. And I talked about tapering. And a past episode during that bonus series. So you may want to go listen to that because it was really interesting experience where my brain also felt like, Oh my gosh, I'm losing all of this running, you know, this athletic base that I've built up. And it just, it was really hard for me to step away and be wise and wait. But then I got to the day of the race and it was amazing. I, my knees didn't hurt hardly at all. At the beginning, it was a touch sore, but not bad. And I was able to run the entire thing. And the last section was actually really hard on both of my knees at that point, just because it's a lot of miles. And, um, I knew I wasn't injuring it. I knew it was just sore, but it was still hurting. And so anyways, I took quite a bit of time off after the race, because I really did not want to have long-term injuries in my knees. And I wanted to let them heal. I just run literally six, 700 miles over a summer, and I love being out in the woods, but I had some work stuff that had to happen. I was going to be launching. And so it was a pretty busy time. It was actually kind of nice to have a lot of my time back to work in my business instead of being out in the woods, even though I love the woods, I was training for a good 15 to 20 hours per week, which is a pretty insane commitment.   So I intentionally decided to take a few weeks off and see how my knee was doing well near the end of October, I started hiking and running on it again, and it was still a tiny bit sore, but it wasn't too bad. And so I was getting out there. I wasn't training long miles like I had been, but I kept finding excuses for staying in the weather was changing. It was icy. Now it was. Not fun. Um, there was a couple of weeks, like two separate weeks where the weather was gorgeous and I spent pretty much the entire week outside as much as I possibly could. And those were wonderful, but I still knew I had lost some of my base having not done a ton of running since the mid middle of August. And then hunting season hit and hunting season in Minnesota means I need to stay out of the woods. Because people are shooting guns and hunting season is very prevalent here because a lot of people actually rely on the meat that they get from deer to get through the year. And it helps their family in a massive way. So I have no problems with the deer hunting season itself, but you're not going to find me in the woods. With people hunting. I do not want the chance of a stray bullet hitting me, even if I'm in blaze orange, just because I want to go out and run. And many of the trails around here, I actually closed for a solid two weeks. So that came as well. And here I find myself this past week and it had been a couple of weeks, three weeks, almost, not quite since I had ran at all or hiked or anything. And I was just feeling so unmotivated And I know that I lost a ton of the athletic base that I had worked so hard to build, and I was really feeling discouraged and I knew that I just needed to get out there and start doing it again. And that it would come back eventually. But just the thought of going out one in the cold, because now it's full on winter here too on the ice, which is slippery, which means you can't really run it all and you have to be a lot more careful and it's just more miserable. And just three being out there knowing that my body couldn't do nearly as much as it could in this past summer, it was really just disheartening. Like it felt depressing. And I'm sure the fact that I haven't been exercising also made it feel worse because that really releases a lot of endorphins. And man, I come alive in the woods. I just forget. And part of me just wanted to hibernate. All winter long, eat all the delicious foods and just give up for a little bit, you know, like we all have those moments when we're just like, ah, screw it. Let's just eat all the things and sit around and whatever it is, right. We have our, we all have our things. And so here's what I did because I'm like, you know what? My ski season is coming. It's not here yet. I was hoping it would be here by now, but we don't have snow enough to ski, unfortunately. So until then I knew that if I just waited, I might just get super lazy and lackadaisical all winter long because maybe it's going to be a winter without a lot of snow. Maybe I won't be able to ski hardly at all. And I didn't want. To lose out, not just on the athletic base, but the energy that I get from exercise. I didn't want to lose out on the habit that I have when I exercise of just getting outside and more than anything, I didn't want to lose out on the stillness and that peace, joy, and love that comes from being in the woods and being quiet. I mean, I love to find places of solitude to just sit. And meditate or contemplate or whatever, or pray, whatever word you want to use. And just soak up the silence. There are so few places where you can get true silence and winter, especially as beautiful as for silence because the snow just dampens all the sound around you. And so I knew I needed to get it back out on the trails, and I knew that the first few times they're going to be. Pretty uncomfortable, but that it was worth it. And that if I wanted to get back up to where I was, or even part of the way back up, that I just needed to get out there. And I also knew that I probably hadn't lost as much as I thought it just feels that way, our brains just tell us these stupid things. And so. If you're in your business right now, and maybe you've just been exhausted, maybe getting kids figured out what their schooling options has been really frustrating and exhausting to you, or going back into lockdowns or the holidays. I mean, there's all sorts of stressors. All sorts of stressors around us that might be dragging you down that might be cutting into your energy level. That might make you feel kind of stuck. And maybe it's been harder than normal. Maybe the conditions haven't been, what you've needed them to be. Maybe you're having limitations placed on you because of COVID or whatever it is. This year has been especially difficult for many people, not everybody, but for a lot. And the ones who get through it are the ones who finally say, you know what, despite all of this stuff, I'm going to make a commitment to moving forward anyways. And that's what I did as well. I'm like, you know what? Yes. It's cold. Yes. It's IC. Yes. It's kind of miserable. And the sun rarely shines this time a year here. So it's going to feel really dark and dreary and yes, I've lost a lot of my base. And so it's going to be really a lot of extra work. And when you're hiking through snow, it's especially just all this stuff, right? Oh, this stuff, all the stuff. I had a hundred excuses. And what if my knee isn't good enough? Cause it's still feeling pain and whatever else. And I just said, Nope. I'm going to commit to going outside at least 10 minutes a day. And I'm going to say specifically outside at first I was thinking, Oh, I'll just do any exercise, but I know for me and my spirit, I need to go outside. I need to have that solitude, that quiet that I get from nature that I can't get anywhere else. And so. I did that. I decided, okay, I'm not going to commit to 10 mile runs. I'm just going to say 10 minutes now. I will absolutely stay out far longer than 10 minutes, but it's just committing to something tiny that starts me moving forward and gives me momentum that is going to help me get back into the pattern of getting up every single day. Doesn't matter if it's raining and it's disgusting or it's sleeting or whatever else. 10 minutes is all I have to put up with it. Right? And by the way, the rain can be really fun, right? If you embrace it and you come at it with an attitude of, Oh, this is different, what's lovely about this. And if you don't worry so much about getting dirty and you let yourself jump in the puddles and play and be a kid, it's actually one of my favorite things to do. It's very fun. So don't let the things that you're like, Oh, that sucks. Stop you from doing what you need to do. So the first thing I would say, if you're feeling stuck is one, make a commitment to doing one small thing. Every single day, that's going to start you moving again. And if you only do the 10 minutes or whatever it is, that's okay. That's okay. That is a win because you are taking action and getting back into momentum. Number two. Tell people about it. I don't know about you, but I am a woman of my word. And so if I tell somebody I'm going to do something, I do it. So I went to the people in my mastermind and I said, Hey friends. I need you to hold me accountable to getting outside at least 10 minutes per day, because I know that if I tell them I need to do it, then I'm going to do it. And I'm going to show up and say, okay, here's my pictures. I was out there, proved it today. And I know that it's going to help me continue building this habit of getting outside. That's going to help me reestablish this base that I've lost. That really is going to make my momentum grow because. This is the same in business, not just exercise. We will get far more from taking small, consistent action over time. Then we will, by doing one big, massive, crazy push and then crashing for a month or two and feeling burned out and then coming back and doing this crazy push where it all consumes everything we do. And maybe we get really great results from that, but it can really cause you to burn out fast when you do it that way. And if you can find a more sustainable habit, practice, whatever you want to call it, that you can do small amounts of every single day and move in the right direction. That's going to be far more valuable to you and sustainable to you than these massive pushes that then. Leave you burned out where you just want to abandon ship for a while because when you have momentum moving forward, just a little bit of an extra push every little day, or every Workday is going to be far more effective than, you know, think of pushing a rock. If you, once it's moving, it's easy to keep going, but if you let it stop, then you've got to put a lot of effort into getting it going again. So it's really important that we keep our momentum going. And even if it's just 10 minutes of something that you know is going to move your business forward every single day, put those 10 minutes into practice, there's probably something that if you did it every single day, you know that that's going to keep you moving forward and growing faster, maybe it's reaching out to somebody every single day and asking them personally, if they'd like to be a part of what you're offering, maybe it's reaching out to network with other people who have your same audience to see if you can be on their podcast, or if they want to connect or be a JV partner or whatever it is. I'm sure. Reaching out once a day to see if somebody wants to collaborate over a year is going to open up some incredible opportunities for you that you've never even dreamed of, or maybe it's doing Facebook lives or emails or blog posts or whatever it is. But if you take a moment right now and think about it, My guests, if you're truly a bright entrepreneur, is that, you know, that there's something you could be doing every single day that would move you forward. That really isn't a lot of time that you could commit to right now. And then you could find somebody to tell who can keep you accountable, which is the second part The third thing. Is to remember that there will always be something that could hold us back that we could use as an excuse. And when we do that, we're actually being a victim. We're actually playing that victim card and saying, Oh, these external things outside of my control are keeping me from doing it. Sure. I'm not going to be out in the woods during hunting season, but I absolutely could go to some of the parks around here that don't allow hunting and have done some sort of workout there or been out in nature there. I didn't, they're not my favorite. They require me to drive a little further, but I used it as an excuse to not get out and exercise because it wasn't as convenient. And there's always going to be things in our business that hold us back. Maybe our market has shifted after COVID or maybe you feel like everyone else is doing something a certain way. And so you can't do it differently or whatever it is, there are always going to be things that could keep you. From reaching your dreams and growing the business that you really want to have the difference between entrepreneurs who never really make it. And the bright entrepreneurs who create successful simple businesses that seem to grow on their own is that bright entrepreneurs know that they can get past everything instead of seeing something and saying, Oh, guess it's not going to work. And I throw in the towel, they're going to say, what does this make possible? And that's a question. I hear Stu McLaren asking all the time. I've definitely grabbed that from him. And I think he grabbed it from one of his mentors or business partners, but what does this make possible? Okay. So my photography business totally collapsed because of COVID. Well, what does this make possible? Well, what this made possible was me being able to shift into something that I've been wanting to do for three and a half years, but didn't have the space or capacity to start. I've been wanting to run masterminds for ages. They make me come alive. So maybe the obstacle that's in your way. Is really allowing you to do something else or make something else possible that you never would have dreamed of if that obstacle wasn't facing you or perhaps that obstacle isn't even real. It's just the limiting belief that you have to move past. Maybe you think nobody will pay for what you have to offer, but you haven't actually put yourself out there and ask them. And when you finally go out and ask them, you find, Oh, Fuck. There's all these people who actually want what I have and are thanking me for telling them about it. So sometimes the obstacles are just our own fears that we have to work through, but whatever it is facing, the things that are in front of you that have been keeping you stuck and refusing to be the victim. And instead saying, what does this make possible? What could I do to get around this? How can I make my dreams happen anyways, when you ask those questions and you really open yourself up to doing something in an alternative way or facing the fears that are holding you back, that's how you make progress and get unstuck for me. Yeah. There's all these things that could have held me back. Yes. Sometimes, you know, if my knee is truly injured, it was wise to take a little time off, but I didn't need to take this much time off and I could have absolutely been doing other workouts or I could have just went and sat in the woods without having to go very far in if I had really wanted to do that and not used my excuses to keep me out of momentum, frankly. So I have committed to 10 minutes a day of getting into the woods or at the very least exercising. But my ideal is to be outside at least 10 minutes a day, no matter what the weather is. So I am dreaming and hoping that we get dumped on that. We get a ton of snow soon, so I can actually be out skiing, which is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. It's so much fun, but until then, even if we don't have enough snow, which I could use as an excuse not to get outside. I'm going to go out and I'm going to walk or hike or maybe run. If the conditions would allow it for at least 10 minutes today, I was going to go out for 10 minutes and I did almost four and a half miles and was out there for like almost two hours. Had a great conversation. Just because I committed to 10 minutes. I know there will be days when I get out there and I'm like, Oh, I'm not feeling it because when we, especially when you're first getting back that momentum, isn't there, there's a lot of resistance to doing it. And I might quit after 10 minutes, but that's okay. Still a win 10 minutes is all it takes. I'm telling you here. Now I've told a bunch of my friends and I'm not going to let my excuses hold me back. So I'm going to move forward just like that. So my question to you today is okay. Where are you stuck in your business? Because if you're listening to this podcast, I'm guessing that there's somewhere that you're stuck. What can you commit to doing daily? That's small that you can keep doing and moving forward, that's going to start building momentum. Who can you tell publicly so that you are accountable to it? And then three. What are the limitations and things that you personally need to overcome so that you can keep moving forward in your business. Think about those and ask yourself, what does this make possible? How can I do it despite these obstacles and whatever else you need in order to move forward with this. You've got this, my friend, I know you can do this. I know I can do this. And I know we're going to be better people because of it, because I know once you get back into momentum and once you are doing things from a place of, energy and excitement and focus, you will grow so much faster than if you're just sporadic in what you're doing. And that's what I want for you. That's the difference between the bright entrepreneurs and the ones who just do not make it long-term. And I know that if you're listening to this, that you are a bright entrepreneur who can do this. all right. My friends just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in a Clarity Coaching Day or in joining the Brighter Together Mastermind? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email   Transcript: It can be incredibly frustrating when you know, you are doing all of the things that you're supposed to be doing, but it's still not getting you the results that you are waiting for. So what's going on? Why is this happening? Why aren't you getting the results as fast as you'd like? Well, we're going to talk about that in this episode. So we just celebrated Thanksgiving here in the United States. And my daughters were helping me make the meal because this year due to all the COVID restrictions, we just celebrated as a family and didn't invite anyone outside of our household, but there's still nine of us to feed. So it's a lot of work. And I remember dreaming of a day when I would have my oldest, daughter's able to help me cook and to do stuff in the kitchen and just celebrate holidays together with, so it was actually quite lovely. It was kind of the fulfillment of a personal little dream, but something happened with my second daughter. Her name is Britta and there was something that she did that just hit home really deep for me. And I wanted to share it with you today. So. Brita was tasked with the job of making whipped cream. Now, I don't know if you've ever made whipped cream before, but it is the easiest thing ever to make. If you have a mixing bowl with a whisk and it's very good, it's the best thing you're ever going to have. So if you haven't ever made whipped cream from scratch and you like with cream, all you have to do is go buy some heavy whipping cream. Grab some of your favorite sweetener. I like plain sugar. You could also use maple syrup, whatever it is you like to sweeten things and then use a little bit of vanilla. Now there's no like hard and fast recipe, but you put it all in the mixing bowl. And then you whisk it and you just have to let it run for as long as it takes for it to get stiff peaks. So what that means sounds super dirty, but it's not what that means is when you lift the whisk out of the cream, it'll be, it'll leave a little peak. Like you'll, you'll see where it came out. It'll kind of create like this little. Mountainous little thing. It won't just flatten out kind of like milk does. If you pull a whisk out of milk, it's just going to drip, but as it thickens, you'll get to that stiff peak. Now you have to be really careful and stop at that point because if you continue to whisk it beyond that, you're going to end up with a very sweet butter and it's going to start to separate. And so really that's the only thing you need to worry about is watching. The cream while you whisk it so that it doesn't over whisk now, depending on the speed of your mixer, this might only take a few minutes or it might take longer. And so it's not hard. You just have to pay attention. So my daughter, Brita put all the stuff in and I don't know how much sugar and vanilla to put in. I'm like just put it into taste, teaching her, you know, how to trust herself, which is a great lesson for all of us. And to go off what we think is best and, you know, dip your finger in and give it a little taste and see. So you can get a sense of what it's going to be like when it's done. So she put all this stuff in and she started whisking it and fuchsia standing there starting to get a little bit bored and she's like, it's not working. And I'm like, honey, you just put it in and turn it on. You got to give it some time. And so she stood there and she let it whisk and we were doing a double batch. And so our bowl was quite full. So we couldn't put it on very high at the time because it would have splashed out the bowl. We had to wait for it to thicken up before we could increase the speed of the whisk. So she's waiting and she's waiting and she's waiting and she's getting bored and she's like, mom, This is not working. Like, what am I doing wrong? Why isn't this working? And I said, don't stop. Just let it keep going. You're not doing anything wrong. You just have to keep the whisk moving. It will thicken up and it's time. So she did. So she waited and then all of a sudden she's like, mom, I think it worked now because we were doing it quite slow. I think it took us a good 10, 15 minutes, which is a little longer than normal, but because the whisk was going slower, it was going to take longer for it to bring air in to the cream and for it to do its magic. Now, I don't know exactly how it works. I just know that it does that as you whisk the air. Into the heavy whipping cream that eventually, if you do it long enough, it's going to turn into the most magical whipped cream you have ever eaten in your entire life. It's just lovely. I'm sure there's some beautiful science behind it. I don't know what it is. I'm sure a quick Google search will help you find it. But we got to that point and we turned it off. And then I explained how, if she hadn't turned it off, if she had walked away and just let it go forever, it was eventually going to separate and turn into butter and. We talked about how that's such a good lesson in life that sometimes we're actually doing all the right things and all we need to do to get what we're dreaming of. It's just keep doing them and be patient. And that is so stinking difficult. Right, because we think if we do all the right things, then magically, we're going to have the results that we want to have. But sometimes especially in our online businesses, and this is where I see people getting stuck in the messy middle all the time is that they're doing the right stuff. And they want to grow faster. So instead of just continuing to double down on the things that are working and keep it simple, they're like, Oh, well, I'm going to do this too. Maybe I need to do this. Maybe I'm going to do that. And they, they have this whole FOMO marketing thing, like this fear of missing out that if it's simple and it's easy, That they're not going to be able to grow fast enough and they're not going to have the results that they want. And so they've done all the things they're supposed to do. And so now they've got to do more, to get more money and to grow faster and get their audience bigger and whatever it is, they develop new products. They have more and more offers and more and more upsells, they do more and more marketing channels. And before you know it they're overwhelmed. They have lost focus on the things that really matter. And they either stagnate for a good period of time or burnout or start decreasing in income and revenue. I've seen this many a time or all have some mix of all of those things. So here's what I want you to take from this quick little example that came from Thanksgiving dinner. You might be doing all the things right. But you just haven't done it long enough. Some things take time before they really start to work. One of the things that I have learned that I know now as a bright entrepreneur, who's got almost 10 years of experience having done this online. Full-time what I have learned. It's that consistency and a regular frequency is one of the most powerful things we have for growth. And that small, consistent steps is far more powerful than going out and doing this new, big, massive launch or this new, big social media channel or whatever it is that when you can stay laser focused on what you know works when you've got messaging that attracts the right people, when you are. Really truly helping your people be transformed when they purchase your product or service or whatever your offer is. And when you know that you can sell, right, you can find your people, you can convert your people into your product and you can get them results. And if you know that that's working, then all you need to do to grow is continue to double down on that. You don't need to do a hundred million different things. In fact, that's going to draw your focus away from what you need to be focusing on. And so how do you know. If you actually are doing the things right, and you just need to wait or maybe your messaging is off, or maybe your conversions are off, or maybe you're not attracting the right people. That's a totally different problem. If you're not attracting the right people, you can do it all day long for years, you can grow a massive audience, but they're not going to buy your stuff. That's a different situation now, how do you know the difference? Well, one, you can look at your numbers. And I talked about that a few podcast episodes ago. So go back and listen to the episode on knowing what to focus Cassandra grow. But two. If you have people around you, whether it's a coach or other experienced entrepreneurs who have been there, who've done that. Who've grown successful businesses and who know you and your business, they can help be Amir for you to know if what you're doing is really right as you gain your experience. And as you've done it, like I have grown a seven figure business. I've been doing this full-time for almost 10 years. It'll be 10 years in March. And. I know what works and what doesn't. I know what's aligned with me and I can tell when it's just a matter of time, in fact, this whole mastermind thing that I'm doing. I feel so confident about that because of my prior experience. I know I have my messaging down. I know I have a funnel that converts. I know at this point, it's just a matter of showing up consistently finding more people, continuing to talk about the brighter together, mastermind to get people excited for it. So I know from my experience that that's going to work, I also know because people who are close to me who know my business really well, actually, people I'm in a mastermind with. Not that I was meaning to bring that in, but it's absolutely the case. These are the people who know me best the ones I've been masterminding with over the last three and a half years. And Stu McLaren's mastermind. They've told me, I see what you're doing. This is perfect for you. It's only a matter of time until your success is there. They know from their experience of building seven figure businesses that yes. This is right. This is simple. I'm known for masterminds, or I will become known for them the more I keep talking about them and that's going to help me move forward. And so I've got my self validation from my own personal experience, which if this is your first time building a business, you might not have that yet. And so I can understand why you might think you need to do all the other things. But if you are in a group of other experienced entrepreneurs who are like-minded, they have your values, they understand you and your business and your goals. They can be a mirror to reflect back. If this is actually a good idea, or if there's something you're missing that you can't see because you're too close to what's there. So at this point, if you've done all the things, you might not need more information, you might not need to do more new things. You might just need to double down and keep doing what you've been doing and have some patience. Keep reaching out, keep doing the stuff, just double down on the stuff that's working. Well, I can say this over and over and over again in a million different ways, but you need to know if that's the case or if it is a messaging issue or is it, if it is a conversion issue, so you can talk to people who know you and your business. Well, if you have a business coach, you can talk to them and get that validation that yes, you're doing all the right things. Just keep doing it, ask them for accountability and. It's that simple. I know. It's just like, what really is it really that simple? Yes. It can really be that simple when you know that your business is built with intention, with focus and has a very strategic plan for moving forward. You know, your messaging, you know, who you want to reach, you know how to get in front of them. You've got Supreme clarity about how to get them into your products and services and offers, whatever it is you're selling, you know how to convert them into your business. And then once they're there, you know how to transform their lives and give them the outcome that they are looking for, and then leverage them to help you get more. You're going to grow. You are going to grow. You are going to get so much momentum and you just have to keep showing up and keep doing what you're doing. Keep consistent and not give up. Because you're not having growth as fast as you were hoping, or because you think you need to be doing all these other things that you're gonna let yourself get distracted by a bajillion different new projects. If you're sitting here listening to this and you're like, man, I don't really know for sure. And I don't know anyone who can tell me if I'm on the right path or not. You have two options. Number one, I do have a couple of clarity coaching days left, where I would love to sit down with you. Look at your business and help you find the things that are really working and make sure that your strategy is both strategic and intentional to help make sure that you're attracting the right people, that you can convert them into customers. And that you're serving them really well. That's one of my gifts is helping you cut through the mess so that you can simplify down. Get Supreme clarity, and then just do the stuff you need to do to move forward. I have some of those. So if you're interested in that, you can go down to the show notes and reach out to me personally. And then number two, if you are interested in being a part of a larger group of entrepreneurs who can get to know you intimately, that you can mastermind with going forward, who can be mirrors for you so they can say, yes, this is right. Just keep doing this, or, huh. Maybe you need to look at your messaging or maybe this isn't resonating, or maybe you should try a funnel that's like this because it makes sense with X, Y, Z, right? When somebody knows your business, they can give you really clear and helpful feedback because it's specific to who you are and what your business is. And they can leverage the experience that they have gained through growing their own business. And help you with that because really, truly the difference between somebody who's successful and isn't is their experience level. They've got the experience, they know what works. They know what doesn't, they've had lots of failures too. And so they can use that to grow faster when they're starting over, which has definitely been the case for me in my own new business that I've started. So if you're interested in being a part of a mastermind, I do have mastermind groups available right now. They're on an invite only basis. They're not like open to the general public. So you'll have to reach out to me and talk to me about it, but there'll be no more than 12 people in a group so that you can really truly get to know the other entrepreneurs around you. Very intimately. if that sounds good to you and you want go ahead and reach out to me either for the coaching day or the masterminds, but more than anything, I just want to encourage you because. It's so easy to over-complicate things it's so easy to want to give up when things aren't working, the way that we want them to work, when really it's just. It's showing up. We just got to keep showing up. So if you're questioning this, uh, I would just take some time to go back and say, is this working, has this been working? Am I attracting the right people? And do I just need to keep doing this? Do I just need to be consistent? And most of us are creators. And so we get impatient and we want to do all the things and we get excited by the new shiny objects. And I get it. It's totally something that I do too. But sometimes in fact, the most successful entrepreneurs, I know the ones who grow like are certain to grow big are the ones who are the most consistent, they're the most patient. And they're the most focused. And that's what I want for you. It's the difference between a bright entrepreneur and somebody who's new. Who's just trying everything, just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what's going to stick and somebody who really truly knows what they're doing and can do it fast because they have a simple focus plan. That's intentional that they just show up for day in, day out. All right, my friend, I hope you found that helpful. You can reach out to me. If you have any interest in a coaching day or a mastermind, we'll have a little chat and figure that out. All the information is in the show notes, but just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in a Clarity Coaching Day or in joining the Brighter Together Mastermind? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email   Transcript: It can be incredibly frustrating when you know, you are doing all of the things that you're supposed to be doing, but it's still not getting you the results that you are waiting for. So what's going on? Why is this happening? Why aren't you getting the results as fast as you'd like? Well, we're going to talk about that in this episode. So we just celebrated Thanksgiving here in the United States. And my daughters were helping me make the meal because this year due to all the COVID restrictions, we just celebrated as a family and didn't invite anyone outside of our household, but there's still nine of us to feed. So it's a lot of work. And I remember dreaming of a day when I would have my oldest, daughter's able to help me cook and to do stuff in the kitchen and just celebrate holidays together with, so it was actually quite lovely. It was kind of the fulfillment of a personal little dream, but something happened with my second daughter. Her name is Britta and there was something that she did that just hit home really deep for me. And I wanted to share it with you today. So. Brita was tasked with the job of making whipped cream. Now, I don't know if you've ever made whipped cream before, but it is the easiest thing ever to make. If you have a mixing bowl with a whisk and it's very good, it's the best thing you're ever going to have. So if you haven't ever made whipped cream from scratch and you like with cream, all you have to do is go buy some heavy whipping cream. Grab some of your favorite sweetener. I like plain sugar. You could also use maple syrup, whatever it is you like to sweeten things and then use a little bit of vanilla. Now there's no like hard and fast recipe, but you put it all in the mixing bowl. And then you whisk it and you just have to let it run for as long as it takes for it to get stiff peaks. So what that means sounds super dirty, but it's not what that means is when you lift the whisk out of the cream, it'll be, it'll leave a little peak. Like you'll, you'll see where it came out. It'll kind of create like this little. Mountainous little thing. It won't just flatten out kind of like milk does. If you pull a whisk out of milk, it's just going to drip, but as it thickens, you'll get to that stiff peak. Now you have to be really careful and stop at that point because if you continue to whisk it beyond that, you're going to end up with a very sweet butter and it's going to start to separate. And so really that's the only thing you need to worry about is watching. The cream while you whisk it so that it doesn't over whisk now, depending on the speed of your mixer, this might only take a few minutes or it might take longer. And so it's not hard. You just have to pay attention. So my daughter, Brita put all the stuff in and I don't know how much sugar and vanilla to put in. I'm like just put it into taste, teaching her, you know, how to trust herself, which is a great lesson for all of us. And to go off what we think is best and, you know, dip your finger in and give it a little taste and see. So you can get a sense of what it's going to be like when it's done. So she put all this stuff in and she started whisking it and fuchsia standing there starting to get a little bit bored and she's like, it's not working. And I'm like, honey, you just put it in and turn it on. You got to give it some time. And so she stood there and she let it whisk and we were doing a double batch. And so our bowl was quite full. So we couldn't put it on very high at the time because it would have splashed out the bowl. We had to wait for it to thicken up before we could increase the speed of the whisk. So she's waiting and she's waiting and she's waiting and she's getting bored and she's like, mom, This is not working. Like, what am I doing wrong? Why isn't this working? And I said, don't stop. Just let it keep going. You're not doing anything wrong. You just have to keep the whisk moving. It will thicken up and it's time. So she did. So she waited and then all of a sudden she's like, mom, I think it worked now because we were doing it quite slow. I think it took us a good 10, 15 minutes, which is a little longer than normal, but because the whisk was going slower, it was going to take longer for it to bring air in to the cream and for it to do its magic. Now, I don't know exactly how it works. I just know that it does that as you whisk the air. Into the heavy whipping cream that eventually, if you do it long enough, it's going to turn into the most magical whipped cream you have ever eaten in your entire life. It's just lovely. I'm sure there's some beautiful science behind it. I don't know what it is. I'm sure a quick Google search will help you find it. But we got to that point and we turned it off. And then I explained how, if she hadn't turned it off, if she had walked away and just let it go forever, it was eventually going to separate and turn into butter and. We talked about how that's such a good lesson in life that sometimes we're actually doing all the right things and all we need to do to get what we're dreaming of. It's just keep doing them and be patient. And that is so stinking difficult. Right, because we think if we do all the right things, then magically, we're going to have the results that we want to have. But sometimes especially in our online businesses, and this is where I see people getting stuck in the messy middle all the time is that they're doing the right stuff. And they want to grow faster. So instead of just continuing to double down on the things that are working and keep it simple, they're like, Oh, well, I'm going to do this too. Maybe I need to do this. Maybe I'm going to do that. And they, they have this whole FOMO marketing thing, like this fear of missing out that if it's simple and it's easy, That they're not going to be able to grow fast enough and they're not going to have the results that they want. And so they've done all the things they're supposed to do. And so now they've got to do more, to get more money and to grow faster and get their audience bigger and whatever it is, they develop new products. They have more and more offers and more and more upsells, they do more and more marketing channels. And before you know it they're overwhelmed. They have lost focus on the things that really matter. And they either stagnate for a good period of time or burnout or start decreasing in income and revenue. I've seen this many a time or all have some mix of all of those things. So here's what I want you to take from this quick little example that came from Thanksgiving dinner. You might be doing all the things right. But you just haven't done it long enough. Some things take time before they really start to work. One of the things that I have learned that I know now as a bright entrepreneur, who's got almost 10 years of experience having done this online. Full-time what I have learned. It's that consistency and a regular frequency is one of the most powerful things we have for growth. And that small, consistent steps is far more powerful than going out and doing this new, big, massive launch or this new, big social media channel or whatever it is that when you can stay laser focused on what you know works when you've got messaging that attracts the right people, when you are. Really truly helping your people be transformed when they purchase your product or service or whatever your offer is. And when you know that you can sell, right, you can find your people, you can convert your people into your product and you can get them results. And if you know that that's working, then all you need to do to grow is continue to double down on that. You don't need to do a hundred million different things. In fact, that's going to draw your focus away from what you need to be focusing on. And so how do you know. If you actually are doing the things right, and you just need to wait or maybe your messaging is off, or maybe your conversions are off, or maybe you're not attracting the right people. That's a totally different problem. If you're not attracting the right people, you can do it all day long for years, you can grow a massive audience, but they're not going to buy your stuff. That's a different situation now, how do you know the difference? Well, one, you can look at your numbers. And I talked about that a few podcast episodes ago. So go back and listen to the episode on knowing what to focus Cassandra grow. But two. If you have people around you, whether it's a coach or other experienced entrepreneurs who have been there, who've done that. Who've grown successful businesses and who know you and your business, they can help be Amir for you to know if what you're doing is really right as you gain your experience. And as you've done it, like I have grown a seven figure business. I've been doing this full-time for almost 10 years. It'll be 10 years in March. And. I know what works and what doesn't. I know what's aligned with me and I can tell when it's just a matter of time, in fact, this whole mastermind thing that I'm doing. I feel so confident about that because of my prior experience. I know I have my messaging down. I know I have a funnel that converts. I know at this point, it's just a matter of showing up consistently finding more people, continuing to talk about the brighter together, mastermind to get people excited for it. So I know from my experience that that's going to work, I also know because people who are close to me who know my business really well, actually, people I'm in a mastermind with. Not that I was meaning to bring that in, but it's absolutely the case. These are the people who know me best the ones I've been masterminding with over the last three and a half years. And Stu McLaren's mastermind. They've told me, I see what you're doing. This is perfect for you. It's only a matter of time until your success is there. They know from their experience of building seven figure businesses that yes. This is right. This is simple. I'm known for masterminds, or I will become known for them the more I keep talking about them and that's going to help me move forward. And so I've got my self validation from my own personal experience, which if this is your first time building a business, you might not have that yet. And so I can understand why you might think you need to do all the other things. But if you are in a group of other experienced entrepreneurs who are like-minded, they have your values, they understand you and your business and your goals. They can be a mirror to reflect back. If this is actually a good idea, or if there's something you're missing that you can't see because you're too close to what's there. So at this point, if you've done all the things, you might not need more information, you might not need to do more new things. You might just need to double down and keep doing what you've been doing and have some patience. Keep reaching out, keep doing the stuff, just double down on the stuff that's working. Well, I can say this over and over and over again in a million different ways, but you need to know if that's the case or if it is a messaging issue or is it, if it is a conversion issue, so you can talk to people who know you and your business. Well, if you have a business coach, you can talk to them and get that validation that yes, you're doing all the right things. Just keep doing it, ask them for accountability and. It's that simple. I know. It's just like, what really is it really that simple? Yes. It can really be that simple when you know that your business is built with intention, with focus and has a very strategic plan for moving forward. You know, your messaging, you know, who you want to reach, you know how to get in front of them. You've got Supreme clarity about how to get them into your products and services and offers, whatever it is you're selling, you know how to convert them into your business. And then once they're there, you know how to transform their lives and give them the outcome that they are looking for, and then leverage them to help you get more. You're going to grow. You are going to grow. You are going to get so much momentum and you just have to keep showing up and keep doing what you're doing. Keep consistent and not give up. Because you're not having growth as fast as you were hoping, or because you think you need to be doing all these other things that you're gonna let yourself get distracted by a bajillion different new projects. If you're sitting here listening to this and you're like, man, I don't really know for sure. And I don't know anyone who can tell me if I'm on the right path or not. You have two options. Number one, I do have a couple of clarity coaching days left, where I would love to sit down with you. Look at your business and help you find the things that are really working and make sure that your strategy is both strategic and intentional to help make sure that you're attracting the right people, that you can convert them into customers. And that you're serving them really well. That's one of my gifts is helping you cut through the mess so that you can simplify down. Get Supreme clarity, and then just do the stuff you need to do to move forward. I have some of those. So if you're interested in that, you can go down to the show notes and reach out to me personally. And then number two, if you are interested in being a part of a larger group of entrepreneurs who can get to know you intimately, that you can mastermind with going forward, who can be mirrors for you so they can say, yes, this is right. Just keep doing this, or, huh. Maybe you need to look at your messaging or maybe this isn't resonating, or maybe you should try a funnel that's like this because it makes sense with X, Y, Z, right? When somebody knows your business, they can give you really clear and helpful feedback because it's specific to who you are and what your business is. And they can leverage the experience that they have gained through growing their own business. And help you with that because really, truly the difference between somebody who's successful and isn't is their experience level. They've got the experience, they know what works. They know what doesn't, they've had lots of failures too. And so they can use that to grow faster when they're starting over, which has definitely been the case for me in my own new business that I've started. So if you're interested in being a part of a mastermind, I do have mastermind groups available right now. They're on an invite only basis. They're not like open to the general public. So you'll have to reach out to me and talk to me about it, but there'll be no more than 12 people in a group so that you can really truly get to know the other entrepreneurs around you. Very intimately. if that sounds good to you and you want go ahead and reach out to me either for the coaching day or the masterminds, but more than anything, I just want to encourage you because. It's so easy to over-complicate things it's so easy to want to give up when things aren't working, the way that we want them to work, when really it's just. It's showing up. We just got to keep showing up. So if you're questioning this, uh, I would just take some time to go back and say, is this working, has this been working? Am I attracting the right people? And do I just need to keep doing this? Do I just need to be consistent? And most of us are creators. And so we get impatient and we want to do all the things and we get excited by the new shiny objects. And I get it. It's totally something that I do too. But sometimes in fact, the most successful entrepreneurs, I know the ones who grow like are certain to grow big are the ones who are the most consistent, they're the most patient. And they're the most focused. And that's what I want for you. It's the difference between a bright entrepreneur and somebody who's new. Who's just trying everything, just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what's going to stick and somebody who really truly knows what they're doing and can do it fast because they have a simple focus plan. That's intentional that they just show up for day in, day out. All right, my friend, I hope you found that helpful. You can reach out to me. If you have any interest in a coaching day or a mastermind, we'll have a little chat and figure that out. All the information is in the show notes, but just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Join the Waitlist for the Launch Your First Mastermind Workshop here >>> https://www.launchyourfirstmastermind.com Interested in the Brighter Together Mastermind? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: I've been thinking a lot about how my experience of growing a brand new business now is so different from almost 10 years ago when I was starting my very first online business. And it dawned on me just the other day that there is a subtle but powerful belief that I have now. That I didn't have 10 years ago that has made all the difference. And I'm going to share that belief with you today in this episode, So I want to go way back into time and share a story that I think really illustrates the belief that I want to share with you today. So we're going to go back to the 1940s and back then. People did not believe that it was humanly possible to run a mile in under four minutes. They got really close. In fact, I think somebody got to four minutes and one second for a mile, so really close to it. But for whatever reason, no one was able to get under that. And people. Would talk about how they did not believe that the human body was capable of running any faster than that. They thought we had reached our limit as humans, and that was all there is but in the early 1950s, there was a runner named Roger Bannister who made a goal of his own to run the first mile under four minutes. Now Roger's initial goal was not to run a sub four minute mile. I'm sure he would have been thrilled to do it, but originally he was an Olympic athlete. In fact, he competed in the 1952 Olympics and he was really disappointed with his results. He didn't place on the podium. I think he might've come close. I believe he took fourth in one of the races he ran, but he was really down about that. And he considered. Quitting running altogether as a competitive thing. But instead of quitting, Roger changed his focus. He stopped focusing on comparing himself to others and racing against others. And he decided instead to focus on bettering himself and trying to break the four-minute mile. So he enlisted the help of a few friends to run with him during his various attempts. He had two specific people who were very, very fast as well. And one of them would start the race with him and keep him at a sub four minute mile pace. And then the second one would run the last chunk of the race with him to pay some just for that very last chunk so that he had two fresh people who could run the pace that needed to be run to run under a four minute mile, but who didn't have to do the entire four laps around the track that you need to do to make it the full mile. Finally on May 6th of 1954, Roger was successful. He ran the first mile under four minutes ever with the help of his two friends. Doing exactly what I just explained. Now, the beautiful thing about this was he proved that yes, it was absolutely possible for the human body to do this. And do you know what happened? This was may of 1954 in June of 1954. That same year, just the next month. John Landry ran the second mile. That was less than four minutes. That was so quick for people to have attempted this for years and years and years and not believed it was possible. But as soon as one person, Roger Bannister proved that it was possible. Then other people started to do it as well. I truly believe. That all of these new people were able to run less than a four minute mile because now they knew it was possible before then they weren't sure if it was possible, they questioned if anybody on the earth could run a mile that quickly. But once one person showed that it was possible, then they knew that it was. And they were able to do it as well. And so here's what I want you to take from this today. the first thing, the most important thing is that you need to believe that growing a successful business. Is possible for you. This is the belief that is so different for me today than it was when I was first starting out. Now, when I was starting my business, about 10 years ago, I knew that some people were successfully making money online. And I knew that it was possible in general, but I didn't know if it was possible for me. I didn't know if I had what it took, but now this time as I've been starting a brand new business, I know for a fact that it's possible. I know that I can grow a seven figure business because I've done it before. I have the experience that has built the belief that it's possible. And if you want to grow a successful business, you also need to believe that it's possible. For you. And you can do that in a couple of different ways. So let's look at how Roger did this. So he changed his goal. I want you to note this, he changed his goal from focusing on beating other people and trying to, you know, compare his progress to their progress on the racetrack, to focusing on his own personal goal of hitting a certain. Number right. For him, it was a four minute mile or less, actually less than four. For you, instead of comparing yourself to what everybody else is doing, you need to focus on, uh, what success looks like for you. Change your focus from what everyone else is doing. Focus in on what you need to do to reach your very specific goal. So that's the first thing you want to do. And then second, and this is probably the most important part is that you need to surround yourself with others who can help you get there. Roger did not get there alone. Roger had two people pacing him who were literally running. Side-by-side with him during his attempts to help him get to where he wanted to go. They believed that it was possible and they were willing to help him do whatever it took to reach his goals and with everything that has happened this year now, more than ever, I believe that people need somebody to believe in them. Like those Pacers believed in Roger. People need someone to come around them and encourage them as they work towards their goals as they're training, as they're running and really stretching themselves that can remind them that they can do this, that all they need to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward to reach. Their goals. They need somebody who can say yes, it is possible. And you can do this. You can do this. And we're here to support you in any way we can. This is why masterminds are so incredibly powerful and. Honestly, I believe they are needed more than ever in today's online business space. And even in the online, offline business space, frankly, I believe people need that connection and they need that support more than they ever had in the past. Not only do people get to watch the other people in the mastermind as they are building their businesses and growing and showing that it's absolutely possible. To build a business, they actually get to watch the behind the scenes step-by-step process that they're taking to do it. And so if you're in a mastermind and you're seeing all these people around you doing stuff that, you know, you can do too, and now they're getting better results and they're growing you'll believe that it's possible for yourself as well. So being in a mastermind absolutely builds belief that it's possible and shows you basically how to do it. Watching other people it's like having your own running Pacers. They're showing you what you need to be doing to continue moving forward as well. They will help you hit your goals and support and encourage you as you move forward as well. Masterminds are just wonderful. Gosh, you guys know I'm passionate about these. I've talked about them a lot. But I want you to take another thing in mind is Roger didn't need more education. He didn't need more learning. He didn't need to train in a different way. He just needed to continue doing what it was that he was doing. And he needed the support of people around him to keep him on pace and on track, literally. This might be the same for some of the people in your audience. Some of your customers they've gone through your stuff. They know what they need to do, but now the only thing that's holding them back from hitting their goals and being successful is having people who can surround them and encourage them and support them as they move forward and do what they need to do to hit their goals. they need to watch other people like them moving forward and making it happen. They need to surround themselves with like-minded people with similar values who all want to support each other, take a moment right now and think about some of your best customers. You know, the ones, they're the ones who have the best success stories or they're the ones who've done, all the things and they're moving forward and they have massive momentum. They are moving in the right direction. And you know, you can see where they're going. You know, they're only going to continue to grow and you believe in them, you fully believe in them and you know that they are going to reach the goals that they are dreaming of. If this is you and you don't currently have a different way to support them, you may want to consider starting a mastermind. Now, starting a mastermind allows people to grow together. It basically is a place to take all the things they've learned and start implementing them. They can leverage each other's experience. You can support each other in it. And it's really truly a community of people who come together with a common goal that Bolieve, that it's possible and encourage each other and really seeking those dreams instead of competing against each other on the racetrack in the business world, they are banding together to pace each other. So that they can all reach the goals that they are seeking. If this is something that you're interested in, I'm actually putting together a mini workshop called launch your first mastermind. Now I'm not ready with this yet. It's not done. It's in progress. I'm working on it at the moment, but I do have a waitlist ready to go. If you are interested in signing up for it. And getting access to that when it's available. Now, this is not going to be a $2,000 course. This is going to be a much lower price point and anybody who's on the wait list will get the lowest price that I have ever going to sell it. So definitely jump on that now. If you aren't already, and you can get on the waitlist@launchyourfirstmastermind.com. Once it's launched that link will take you directly to the product. So you can definitely use that, even if you're listening to this in the future, long after I've recorded it. So that's number one. If you're interested in launching a mastermind to serve your people, definitely go sign up for that wait list. But number two, if you're listening to this and you're like, man, I don't have a group like that supporting me. I don't have people around me who have similar goals who can help me take what I've learned and put it into practice and who really truly believe in me. And I want that. I want that community. I want that support. I want to watch others going after the same dream as I am. Then I'd love to invite you to reach out to me, to talk about potentially joining the brighter together. Mastermind. I'll put my contact details down in the show notes. So you can just use those to reach out to me personally. And let's just have a little chat about it because here's what I know to be true as I've been restarting my business and I've been building from scratch, being in a mastermind myself. Has been one of the most valuable things that I could be in the support that I've received, saved the encouragement, the validation, just having people around me, cheering for me, especially in the lowest moments who can help take my hand and pull me out of it and remind me that I do have what it takes. I can do this. And I just need to go one more step further and keep moving forward and keep that momentum building has been invaluable to me. And that's what I want for you. I want you to have that support, but I also want you to be supporting your own people that way. If you feel like a mastermind would be a good fit, So, like I said, just go down into the show notes, reach out to me. I would love to have a chat to see if it's a good fit. And I'd love for you to get signed up for the waitlist for the launch, your first mastermind workshop, which will be coming out really soon. I'm super close to having it done. Also, if you do sign up for the wait list. And you have questions about if running a mastermind is really going to be something that works for you. I'd be happy to answer them. There there'll be an opportunity for you to send me a little note after you sign up or a video, which is much better in my book, because then I get to know you a little better and you can ask me any questions you have and if I think this is something that's going to work for you and your niche, so feel free to ask away there. All right. Would that my friends. Just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us now more than ever. So let's go out and make it

Join the Waitlist for the Launch Your First Mastermind Workshop here >>> https://www.launchyourfirstmastermind.com Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: A couple of days ago, I was talking with somebody who is growing her business and she's in the messy middle and has all sorts of stuff going on and lots of really good things happening in her business at the moment. And so we were talking about how do you know what you should be focused on in order to continue growing? And there's actually a very. Easy way that you can do this, that most people don't know when they're first starting out or they don't do it when they're first starting out. That makes your focus incredibly clear incredibly quickly. And that's what I'm going to share with you today.

VideoAsk Link (affiliate) + Get 10% off using coupon code KesFBt6L >>> https://typeform.grsm.io/videoask9903 Sign up for podcast email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: Recently, my friend assumed Stu McLaren reached out to me and asked if I'd be willing to contribute a very short little clip, explaining my best marketing tip for 2020 so that he could include it in his 200th episode of the marketing, your business podcast, which should be live right now. If you want to go check it out. But it got me thinking about how everything has changed and how I'm building my business differently this time than I did the first time and how it's so much easier in some ways to build a business today than it was 10 years ago, even though there's just so much more competition now than there's ever been before. But the beautiful thing is there's so many more softwares and marketing techniques and all of these things to make it easier than ever to reach the people you want to reach and connect with them. And my tip was all about how I've been using personalization and building relationships with my prospective clients to get more sales. And I thought I would do a podcast episode on that with you both because it is really powerful, but also because I want to go a lot deeper than I was able to in a little three minute clip. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. And I cannot wait to dive in

Interested in  Clarity Coaching? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: Over the last four months as I've been starting a brand new online business, working with entrepreneurs. The question that has been at the top of my mind is am I designing a business that fits the lifestyle that I really. Want to have, because I've been doing this about 10 years now, full time, and I've learned that there's a no magical point later on in your business where things suddenly get easier, where you suddenly have all of this extra time. Sure. Your income is going to continue to grow, but it's so easy for complexity to come in and droves, like as your income grows, your complexity grows. And you get stuck in this messy middle part. And so you have to be so intentional at every stage of your business, whether you're at the beginning in the middle or further along to make a simple business that fits your lifestyle and that doesn't consume everything you have. And so I want to talk today a little bit about my journey in that and what I'm doing to help keep things simple, sustainable. and how I'm building a business that is designed around the exact kind of life that I want to have, even from the very start

Get a bit of custom encouragement from Jamie here >>> http://bebrightandinspired.com Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: It's been a pretty emotionally draining week for me. And I know that I am not the only one out there who is dealing just with this sense of deep exhaustion between the elections and the stress of the holidays coming up and more and more areas going back into lockdown and just all of the things. It's a really exhausting time for so many people. So today I just want to do something a little different on the podcast. I want to share a little bit about how I'm dealing with it, but more than anything, I want to encourage you as we move forward through this time. And that's what I'm hoping this podcast will do for you a little bit today. Okay, confession today. I kind of skipped out on my afternoon. I had a meeting plan. It was one that I had set up, but I had been, I've been in like a day and a half of meetings and it was a really emotionally draining weekend and the sun is shining and it's warm here. Okay. It's warm in November in Northern Minnesota, like the last two weeks had been about 25 degrees. So below freezing, we had snow on the ground. And the last couple of days, it has been 50 to 60 degrees and sunny outside 50 to 60 degrees or sunny, like that's practically summer for me. I know it's not summer, but pretty dang close for me. And so this afternoon I had just gotten out of a few hours of a zoom meeting and I'm looking at the sun shining and I'm just like wiped out and I'm like, I just want to be outside. And I had another meeting coming up and I just couldn't do it. I could not do it. I knew that I was going to be pretty worthless in the meeting that I wasn't going to be able to be myself. And I just, I took a personal day, so I canceled my meeting. I just personally didn't have it in me to show up to this. And actually, I almost even forgot about this podcast episode. Oops, glad I didn't. But I made the decision to reschedule that meeting and then. Really go out and seek this stillness that I had been missing from sitting in front of a screen the last few days and just from kind of a crazy weekend. And so I grabbed a couple of journals, so I could do some working up there if I wanted to, or just whatever I kind of went without an agenda. And it's about a mile and a half to get up to the top of this cliff where I can sit in the last of the sunlight. And it was so lovely. It's a, it's a big uphill climb it's equivalent to about 75 flights of stairs. So it's no joke to get up there. It's a decent sized cliff and it's pretty remote. It's really, really lovely. I go up there relatively frequently so that I can just sit and find rest and find stillness. It's a beautiful place for me to get grounded with the earth. Cause it's really. I mean it's stone. It's like huge stone steps and, It's just amazing. It's just this deep place of stillness for me. And I love to sit there and the quiet, I love to listen to the wind. it's really a place for me to go and recharge. And so I went up there, I brought a blanket, I brought some decaf coffee, laid it out and just sat and soaked up. The son ended up having a lovely conversation with a friend and I just felt so much. Better, even within moments of getting up there where I could just breathe, I could just relax. I could lay my body out on this rock and just feel myself melt into the weight of this rock. And actually even this little chipmunk, I've never had this happen before. It was like, So curious about me and it was like a foot away from me. It kept coming up like really, really close to me, which is not typical here because it's a pretty wild place. I know sometimes in parks and things at might be a little bit more typical, but this was crazy. I've never had one get that close to me. And I didn't even have food that I was offering it. I don't know what was up, but it was just a lovely opportunity for me to really remember who I am. And what I'm doing. And, you know, I took some notes about the mastermind that I'm starting and I'm trying to get all of that put together this week. And I've got a big to-do list. Honestly, I didn't honestly have the time to be going up there and doing this, but I knew that if I didn't, I would be pretty worthless and I wouldn't get a whole lot done because I was just so wiped out. So there's two things I want to encourage you with today. Number one, if you are feeling emotionally exhausted or burned out or anxious or any of the things. Take a little bit of time away, even if it's just a few minutes to get outside and breathe, or maybe it's some time to soak in a bathtub or I don't know what it is that brings you stillness and it helps you find peace. But it's okay to step away for a little bit, even if you have to cancel some meetings and find your center to come back and find that piece, and I really call it stillness, you can call it prayer. You can call it whatever you need to contemplation forest bathing, whatever it is, find the thing that brings you peace and just really reminds you of who you are and let. Everything in you, that's just start up, get still. And then second reach out to the people who love you and know you and are there to encourage you. It has been a rough few days for me, actually. It's been more than a few days, but it's been rough for me lately. And there have been. Several dear friends of mine. Who've just been checking in on me. Who've been reaching out, who've been encouraging me and just really believing in me and in what I'm doing. And that means more than I can tell you. It's so wonderful to know that when I'm struggling or feeling down or even just I'm on the right path, but I'm exhausted. They're there to help. Bring me up, they're there to encourage me and they are there to believe in me. We all need somebody who believes in us. And I believe that we can help bring that gift back into the world, by believing in other people as well. It's part of why I love mastermind so much because a lot of the people who reached out to me this week have been people I've met in masterminds and I'm currently in masterminds with, and it has meant more to me than I can even describe. I've never felt so supported in my entire life, but if you don't have those people in your life right now, Here's what I would like to do for you, or even if you do, but you could use some encouragement right now. I've actually set up this cool little thing it's called a video ask. And basically I'd love to be able to encourage you. Personally now, all you need to do is go to be bright and inspired.com. And let me know, how are you doing? Where do you need encouragement in your life? Where are you feeling emotionally drained? Are you struggling in your business? Whatever it is, it'll allow you to leave a message for me, and I will respond to you personally. With a video so go to be bright and inspired.com and I'll drop the link into the show notes as well. Leave me a message, either a voice message or a video message, and don't worry. No one sees it, but me. So don't worry if your hair is all. Whatever, and you don't got makeup on. I don't care. It's totally cool. Um, just go there, leave me a message and I will send you back a video message with a little bit of encouragement and yeah, I just would love to give back in that way and be there for you because we all truly need someone to believe in us.   Because I know how helpful can be, to be reminded of who we are and that we are capable and that somebody out there cares. And even if I don't know you personally right now, I want you to know that I do care and I am so thankful you are listening and it's the least I can do to encourage you and help you move forward. So be bright and inspired.com. Go leave me a message. And if you're listening to this in the future, and my podcast is exploded and I'm getting like crazy, crazy amounts of this, I'm not going to guarantee that it'll still be working, but right now in November of 2020, I am responding to everyone. So go ahead, go leave a message. You can always try. I'm going to do my best. I love that service so much and I can't wait to get to know you a little bit better and to send some positivity and brightness your way. All right, my friend, if you haven't already done. So please subscribe to the podcast right now. And if you would like to get email reminders about the podcast, when they go live, you can sign up for that@brightentrepreneurpodcast.com slash email. That link is in the show notes as well, would love to have you as an email subscriber so that you never miss an episode. so with that, my friends, just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us, so let's go out and make it brighter.

Get a bit of custom encouragement from Jamie here >>> http://bebrightandinspired.com Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Transcript: It's been a pretty emotionally draining week for me. And I know that I am not the only one out there who is dealing just with this sense of deep exhaustion between the elections and the stress of the holidays coming up and more and more areas going back into lockdown and just all of the things. It's a really exhausting time for so many people. So today I just want to do something a little different on the podcast. I want to share a little bit about how I'm dealing with it, but more than anything, I want to encourage you as we move forward through this time. And that's what I'm hoping this podcast will do for you a little bit today. Okay, confession today. I kind of skipped out on my afternoon. I had a meeting plan. It was one that I had set up, but I had been, I've been in like a day and a half of meetings and it was a really emotionally draining weekend and the sun is shining and it's warm here. Okay. It's warm in November in Northern Minnesota, like the last two weeks had been about 25 degrees. So below freezing, we had snow on the ground. And the last couple of days, it has been 50 to 60 degrees and sunny outside 50 to 60 degrees or sunny, like that's practically summer for me. I know it's not summer, but pretty dang close for me. And so this afternoon I had just gotten out of a few hours of a zoom meeting and I'm looking at the sun shining and I'm just like wiped out and I'm like, I just want to be outside. And I had another meeting coming up and I just couldn't do it. I could not do it. I knew that I was going to be pretty worthless in the meeting that I wasn't going to be able to be myself. And I just, I took a personal day, so I canceled my meeting. I just personally didn't have it in me to show up to this. And actually, I almost even forgot about this podcast episode. Oops, glad I didn't. But I made the decision to reschedule that meeting and then. Really go out and seek this stillness that I had been missing from sitting in front of a screen the last few days and just from kind of a crazy weekend. And so I grabbed a couple of journals, so I could do some working up there if I wanted to, or just whatever I kind of went without an agenda. And it's about a mile and a half to get up to the top of this cliff where I can sit in the last of the sunlight. And it was so lovely. It's a, it's a big uphill climb it's equivalent to about 75 flights of stairs. So it's no joke to get up there. It's a decent sized cliff and it's pretty remote. It's really, really lovely. I go up there relatively frequently so that I can just sit and find rest and find stillness. It's a beautiful place for me to get grounded with the earth. Cause it's really. I mean it's stone. It's like huge stone steps and, It's just amazing. It's just this deep place of stillness for me. And I love to sit there and the quiet, I love to listen to the wind. it's really a place for me to go and recharge. And so I went up there, I brought a blanket, I brought some decaf coffee, laid it out and just sat and soaked up. The son ended up having a lovely conversation with a friend and I just felt so much. Better, even within moments of getting up there where I could just breathe, I could just relax. I could lay my body out on this rock and just feel myself melt into the weight of this rock. And actually even this little chipmunk, I've never had this happen before. It was like, So curious about me and it was like a foot away from me. It kept coming up like really, really close to me, which is not typical here because it's a pretty wild place. I know sometimes in parks and things at might be a little bit more typical, but this was crazy. I've never had one get that close to me. And I didn't even have food that I was offering it. I don't know what was up, but it was just a lovely opportunity for me to really remember who I am. And what I'm doing. And, you know, I took some notes about the mastermind that I'm starting and I'm trying to get all of that put together this week. And I've got a big to-do list. Honestly, I didn't honestly have the time to be going up there and doing this, but I knew that if I didn't, I would be pretty worthless and I wouldn't get a whole lot done because I was just so wiped out. So there's two things I want to encourage you with today. Number one, if you are feeling emotionally exhausted or burned out or anxious or any of the things. Take a little bit of time away, even if it's just a few minutes to get outside and breathe, or maybe it's some time to soak in a bathtub or I don't know what it is that brings you stillness and it helps you find peace. But it's okay to step away for a little bit, even if you have to cancel some meetings and find your center to come back and find that piece, and I really call it stillness, you can call it prayer. You can call it whatever you need to contemplation forest bathing, whatever it is, find the thing that brings you peace and just really reminds you of who you are and let. Everything in you, that's just start up, get still. And then second reach out to the people who love you and know you and are there to encourage you. It has been a rough few days for me, actually. It's been more than a few days, but it's been rough for me lately. And there have been. Several dear friends of mine. Who've just been checking in on me. Who've been reaching out, who've been encouraging me and just really believing in me and in what I'm doing. And that means more than I can tell you. It's so wonderful to know that when I'm struggling or feeling down or even just I'm on the right path, but I'm exhausted. They're there to help. Bring me up, they're there to encourage me and they are there to believe in me. We all need somebody who believes in us. And I believe that we can help bring that gift back into the world, by believing in other people as well. It's part of why I love mastermind so much because a lot of the people who reached out to me this week have been people I've met in masterminds and I'm currently in masterminds with, and it has meant more to me than I can even describe. I've never felt so supported in my entire life, but if you don't have those people in your life right now, Here's what I would like to do for you, or even if you do, but you could use some encouragement right now. I've actually set up this cool little thing it's called a video ask. And basically I'd love to be able to encourage you. Personally now, all you need to do is go to be bright and inspired.com. And let me know, how are you doing? Where do you need encouragement in your life? Where are you feeling emotionally drained? Are you struggling in your business? Whatever it is, it'll allow you to leave a message for me, and I will respond to you personally. With a video so go to be bright and inspired.com and I'll drop the link into the show notes as well. Leave me a message, either a voice message or a video message, and don't worry. No one sees it, but me. So don't worry if your hair is all. Whatever, and you don't got makeup on. I don't care. It's totally cool. Um, just go there, leave me a message and I will send you back a video message with a little bit of encouragement and yeah, I just would love to give back in that way and be there for you because we all truly need someone to believe in us.   Because I know how helpful can be, to be reminded of who we are and that we are capable and that somebody out there cares. And even if I don't know you personally right now, I want you to know that I do care and I am so thankful you are listening and it's the least I can do to encourage you and help you move forward. So be bright and inspired.com. Go leave me a message. And if you're listening to this in the future, and my podcast is exploded and I'm getting like crazy, crazy amounts of this, I'm not going to guarantee that it'll still be working, but right now in November of 2020, I am responding to everyone. So go ahead, go leave a message. You can always try. I'm going to do my best. I love that service so much and I can't wait to get to know you a little bit better and to send some positivity and brightness your way. All right, my friend, if you haven't already done. So please subscribe to the podcast right now. And if you would like to get email reminders about the podcast, when they go live, you can sign up for that@brightentrepreneurpodcast.com slash email. That link is in the show notes as well, would love to have you as an email subscriber so that you never miss an episode. so with that, my friends, just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us, so let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in a Clarity Coaching Day? Send Jamie a DM on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: All right, my friend, how are you doing the fact that you decided to listen to this specific episode tells me that maybe right now you are feeling just a little bit or maybe a lot of overwhelm. In your life and you are hoping that you can find some relief and let go of some of the heavy burden that you are carrying. And that's what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about a few things that I do to help overcome the overwhelm and move forward with clarity, focus, and energy.  it's that time of year when it's really easy to feel incredibly overwhelmed. And this year is especially stressful. Not only is there a global pandemic, just as a reminder as if you could have forgotten, but we've got the elections coming up just around the corner and the holidays come soon after that. And so she feels like everybody and their sister are launching something right now, or really trying to, do what they can to prepare for the holidays. And in some places it's been especially rough because a lockdown has been starting again. In fact, I just talked to somebody tonight who is struggling because they are now in lockdown in their area and they can no longer. Do their brick and mortar store. And so their income has fallen away and that's coming in this fourth quarter when income is usually really high, especially for retail stores. So I want to talk about this because it's really easy when we feel overwhelmed to just want to burn it all down, to go back to working for somebody else to give up and to just throw in the towel or worse yet to just. get burned out and not do what you know you need to do. And self-sabotage really indirectly, but very noticeably. And I want to help you avoid the self-sabotage. I want to help you avoid wanting to burn down your business. And I want to share the one thing that has been helping me in a huge way. As I have been restarting my own business and dealing with the overwhelm as well, because it's definitely been a difficult year for me. So the biggest thing that I have been focusing on that's been helping is when I am working in my business, I'm really paying a lot of attention to the activities and the things that I'm doing that really light me up in a big way and give me energy versus the things that really drain my energy. And I talked about this a little while back, but you know, there's something I want you to remember is that, you know, it is never too late for you to make a plot twist. And the story of your business, you can pivot at any time. Now I know in my old business, it didn't even cross my mind to consider doing things differently. I had a course, I had a membership. I had a challenge that helped me get people enrolled in the course, and it was all working really well. And it never really dawned on me to think, huh, is there something else that I could be doing that was more aligned with my zone of genius? That brought me energy instead of sucking the life out of me that last year, before COVID hit. I spent several months really transitioning away from a launch model and into an evergreen model in part, because launching is risky and I had a. Well, I mean, it was still a good launch, but it was a bad launch compared to what it should have been and ended up being about 30% of what we normally got because Facebook had made a little bit of a change and it threw my whole challenge out of whack. And, basically, without going into all of the details, we spent a ton of money on ads and I'm talking like $45,000. And we knew we could do that pretty comfortably because we had done several launches in the past and knew that if we had a certain number of people signed up, we were likely to make a certain amount of income. Well, because of this Facebook change, which basically made our challenge not work as well. w barely worked at all was super disappointing because Facebook wasn't showing stuff to people in the same way that it had been. We only ended up getting a third of the results that we were expecting to get. Now, thankfully, we still made far more than the 45,000 we spent on ads. But it was really a big pillow and it showed me how much risk is in a launch model. Even when you have things, prepared, even when you've done it several times over, there's always things that can shift. And we hadn't launched four or five months prior because we were only launching a couple of times a year. And so there's just so much risk that you put when. You make the majority of your money in a launch. Honestly, I really love the excitement and the connection that happens when you launch. And I love running challenges because I get to work with so many people. I get to see so many people getting results and it just feels really, really good when you can make a massive impact on your industry and see literally. Thousands of people getting results. It's amazing. And then to have them turn around and buy your product afterwards is just cool. You get to make an impact and you get to make an income. And it's just a beautiful thing. However, I just didn't want to deal with that risk anymore, because that was really a significant blow. Like, well, he lost multiple six figures of income because of that one little change that happened in Facebook. So we decided to move to an evergreen model and my team, and I spent several months switching everything over and changing things up. And honestly, it was really a struggle for me because. There's something about having stress, which sounds terrible. And I really hate that this is how I am, but there's something about having a healthy amount of stuff where you're on a deadline. You've got to get things done, yeah. Act into a corner and you've just got to make magic happen. I, I do my best work. Under those settings as much as I don't love that fact. for example, right now, as I'm building a new business and money is incredibly tight, I'm finding that my best work is coming out because I'm, I've got to do it. Like I have to make this work and I need to make it work fast. Or we need to make some massive life changes   right. Despite the fact that I really love launching, and I love the energy and I do some of my most creative and best work with it. We decided to make the switch to evergreen and it wasn't quite the same energy because number one, when you go evergreen, you're not interacting with people one on one in the same way. And I didn't have 5,000 people doing a challenge in my free group all within the same week. And it really. Was a huge drain to my energy. Now I don't regret it. And I actually believe that having a steady stream of income in your business, especially if it's a recurring stream of income is incredibly valuable to help offset those launch, you know, the launch variability and to really bring in a bunch of consistency and remove the anxiety from your business. However, I found that setting up an evergreen funnel and doing all of the assets for it. It did not light me up. It did not excite me in any way. I didn't realize this at the time, but the main reason that it drained me so much was not because of the technology or any of that. It was because my zone of genius is in connecting with people and inspiring them and really. Working with them on a one-on-one basis or a very close, intimate way. I love to connect with my people in real time. I don't want to automate my connection. And so all of those months, when I was working on my evergreen funnel, I was working outside of my zone of genius because I was stuck in the details. I was stuck in the asset creation. I was suck setting up the technology and the funnels and converting everything over from a launch model into an evergreen model. And I was changing up my conversion mechanism at the same time, because what we had done before wasn't working in the same way because of that lovely Facebook change. And so it was just really draining for me. It was incredibly draining for me. I wasn't sure exactly why I didn't love creating the evergreen funnel until this fall, when I've started paying a lot closer attention to the things in my business that light me up and. I really spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what exactly is my zone of genius. What are those things that I do because they bring me energy and that I just do so naturally that I don't even realize I'm doing them. And how can I do more of that in my business and avoid doing the stuff that really is far outside my zone of genius and really brings me. It just drains me. It just takes all of my energy away. And so that I didn't realize that that was why creating this evergreen funnel was so exhausting for me until this fall. So my commitment right now is I am rebuilding this business. has been to be very, very honest with how I'm feeling about what I'm doing. I've tried to be very aware and very curious about what lights me up. What am I really enjoying doing? What leaves me feeling energized and alive. And for me, I almost always feel my best. After I've been directly working with people in small groups. And when I've been working with people one on one, that's why I enjoy doing the clarity coaching days so much. That's why I love doing masterminds. And I am so excited about getting the brighter together, mastermind up and running, which should be happening super soon. And I am so. Like, I'm just so excited about how I'm doing things. And honestly, it's only been what, three and a half months at this point, and I've already kind of done a little bit of a plot twist. Like I haven't given up on the bright future method workshop in any way, shape or form completely, but I don't think that's going to be my main focus. I believe that the masterminds that I am creating and I'm starting with one, but I eventually want to have multiple groups. I believe that this mastermind that I am creating. Is going to be nothing but light and easy for me to run. I know that after every single meeting we have, I am going to be filled with energy and literally energized. I'm not going to be exhausted. I'm not going to dread showing up. And because this is so deeply part of my zone of genius, I know that serving my people and. Really helping them get the growth that they want to have in their business. And being able to work with a small group of people for the next 12 months, at least twice a month is really exciting to me. I know it's going to just bring me so much joy and that when we're working out of our zone of genius, we're going to help other people get their best results as well. So as you are looking at your business and you're looking at all of the things. And, you know, sometimes there are seasons when you're just getting you're done and you know, you just need to get through it. Like, I'll be honest. It is really exhausting to always be worried about cashflow and how can I keep bringing it in more? And how can I bring it in more and say, Oh, do I want to do this? Do I not want to do this? All the questions are exhausting. All of the emotions. Oh my goodness. The emotions that you have when you're starting over or. At any point, really? They never go away, but they seem especially acute when you're starting over ban, they are exhausting. But I want you to know that it's never too late for a pivot. It's never too late for a plot twist in the story of your business. And when you find those things in your business that just light you up. Do more of them. And when you find those things that you feel like you just have to do, cause you just have to do it when you're working out of that sense of obligation and should ask yourself, is there another way. Could I accomplish the exact same things in a different way. So as you're going into the next few months, when overwhelm is very likely to be high, and there's going to be a ton of obligations on your plate, both personal with the holidays. And business with the end of year stuff and just all of the things, Be really mindful as you, you go through it of the things that you're just dreading and of the things that you just love doing. And if you're at the point in your business, this where you don't love doing any of it, because you are just burned out and exhausted. The best thing you can do is to take a few days and step away. If you can take an entire week, that would be even better, but at a minimum four days, step away from your business. Don't worry about it. Don't think about it. Do what you need to do, you know, if you have lessons to teach or something, accord them in advance, but take a few days and step away from your business and just make space and just let your brain. Rest. I mean, literally don't sit and try and figure things out. Don't think, think, think, think, think, go play, do the stuff you love, spend time with your family, whatever it is. And I just did this, this weekend in a mini form. I took two days completely away from my business, which is hard to do when you're starting over and everything is crazy busy. Right. And I mean, completely away, there was no checking email. There was no responding to messages. It was like, Off grid only, not really off grid. I was off the business stuff and just totally, being present and taking time to rest and do the things that I love that really fill me. And it was the best thing I could've done. I came back so energized and I came back so focused and you might need more than a few days, but just know that, you know, you're probably burned out if you don't enjoy everything. And if you really. Go on rest and you make the space and you come back and you still don't love anything. Then it's probably time to ask yourself, what are the kinds of things you might love? What other things could you be doing if you weren't doing this? And don't be afraid to create a business that is perfectly aligned with who you are and what your goals are in life. Because when you do that, It becomes so much easier when your business is created to be perfectly suited to who you are and what your strengths are. It doesn't drain your energy. It's not a burden. It is a. Joy. It gives you energy and you get excited to show up and do the work. And that's what I want for you now, you know, there's always going to be some tasks that you don't love doing, but that's where you start to outsource. That's where you build your team. That's where you hire other people who are lit up by doing that thing to come in and work beside you. I know how hard it is to get out of that messy middle. And I know how hard it is to make space and really breathe. But if you continue to operate out of a sense of obligation and you live in that place of overwhelm for too long, Eventually it is going to catch up to you. It's going to cause massive problems for you, either in your business or your personal life or your health, whatever it is, but that's not why you started your business. You did not start your business because you wanted to live in a constant state of overwhelm. You started a business because you wanted to make an impact. You wanted to do something that you love. You wanted to design a life. That's incredible. So, if you're looking at your business and your life right now, and it's not what you thought it would be, and you're just feeling defeated and overwhelmed, know that it can get better. Use the process that I outlined in this podcast episode, to help you start finding hints as to what it is that might let you up, how you might want to change. And then when you find those things that bring you energy double down on them. And ask yourself, how can I bring more of this into what I'm already doing? So for the bright future method workshop that I've been teaching, I've found, I don't love teaching lessons. I mean, I love helping people get results. And so that's part of it, but I love. The Q and a side of it. I love when we get together on zoom and we do these coaching calls and we walk through the material together and make sure everybody's understanding it and applying it to their businesses. And I love seeing the aha moments that happened from that. And I played some for you here on the podcast, just a couple of episodes ago. And so what I've been asking myself, Is how can I do more of that in the business? And so that's why I'm launching the masterminds and that's why that's going to be more of the focus. And I've even been thinking, huh? Maybe instead of teaching the course, maybe that's just included in the mastermind. I don't know. I don't know. I haven't decided those things yet, but I'm asking myself the questions and I'm asking myself, how can I bring in more of my zone of genius into my business? Because then I know it's easy. It's the most important question you can ask yourself to truly create a business that you love and that gives you the lifestyle you want, and that helps you make your greatest impact in the world. Because when we're working from our greatest strengths, we're going to have our greatest impact so my friend, if you are struggling to find clarity or maybe you've discovered, gosh, I love these things, but I don't know how to bring more of that into my business. Or maybe you just have so much stuff going on that you can't even take the time to sit and figure out. What you really should be focused on, or you just get so overwhelmed when you're trying to figure all out. If you'd like some help, And would love to do a clarity coaching day with me. You can reach out to me using the contact information. That's right here in the show notes. And what we'll do first is we will do a 30 minute clarity consultation. That's totally free just to hear kind of what's going on and make sure that I'm going to be able to help you get clarity and move forward. And then if we both feel like it's a good fit, we will schedule a day to really sit down and go through whatever it is that you are working on and really help you get clarity and try and figure out how you can take your zone of genius. And go deeper with that in your business. And if you need to make some sort of business pivot, if you are ready for a plot twist, I'm happy to help you figure out the strategy that can take you from where you are now and gently redirect your energy so that you can create a business. That's. Truly aligned with who you are, that's light, that's easy and that's simple for you to run so that you can scale it in a big way. So just reach out to me, use the contact information in the show notes, and we can talk about moving forward. Would that my friend, I want you to remember that we are brighter together and that the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in a Clarity Coaching Day? Send Jamie a DM on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: All right, my friend, how are you doing the fact that you decided to listen to this specific episode tells me that maybe right now you are feeling just a little bit or maybe a lot of overwhelm. In your life and you are hoping that you can find some relief and let go of some of the heavy burden that you are carrying. And that's what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about a few things that I do to help overcome the overwhelm and move forward with clarity, focus, and energy.  it's that time of year when it's really easy to feel incredibly overwhelmed. And this year is especially stressful. Not only is there a global pandemic, just as a reminder as if you could have forgotten, but we've got the elections coming up just around the corner and the holidays come soon after that. And so she feels like everybody and their sister are launching something right now, or really trying to, do what they can to prepare for the holidays. And in some places it's been especially rough because a lockdown has been starting again. In fact, I just talked to somebody tonight who is struggling because they are now in lockdown in their area and they can no longer. Do their brick and mortar store. And so their income has fallen away and that's coming in this fourth quarter when income is usually really high, especially for retail stores. So I want to talk about this because it's really easy when we feel overwhelmed to just want to burn it all down, to go back to working for somebody else to give up and to just throw in the towel or worse yet to just. get burned out and not do what you know you need to do. And self-sabotage really indirectly, but very noticeably. And I want to help you avoid the self-sabotage. I want to help you avoid wanting to burn down your business. And I want to share the one thing that has been helping me in a huge way. As I have been restarting my own business and dealing with the overwhelm as well, because it's definitely been a difficult year for me. So the biggest thing that I have been focusing on that's been helping is when I am working in my business, I'm really paying a lot of attention to the activities and the things that I'm doing that really light me up in a big way and give me energy versus the things that really drain my energy. And I talked about this a little while back, but you know, there's something I want you to remember is that, you know, it is never too late for you to make a plot twist. And the story of your business, you can pivot at any time. Now I know in my old business, it didn't even cross my mind to consider doing things differently. I had a course, I had a membership. I had a challenge that helped me get people enrolled in the course, and it was all working really well. And it never really dawned on me to think, huh, is there something else that I could be doing that was more aligned with my zone of genius? That brought me energy instead of sucking the life out of me that last year, before COVID hit. I spent several months really transitioning away from a launch model and into an evergreen model in part, because launching is risky and I had a. Well, I mean, it was still a good launch, but it was a bad launch compared to what it should have been and ended up being about 30% of what we normally got because Facebook had made a little bit of a change and it threw my whole challenge out of whack. And, basically, without going into all of the details, we spent a ton of money on ads and I'm talking like $45,000. And we knew we could do that pretty comfortably because we had done several launches in the past and knew that if we had a certain number of people signed up, we were likely to make a certain amount of income. Well, because of this Facebook change, which basically made our challenge not work as well. w barely worked at all was super disappointing because Facebook wasn't showing stuff to people in the same way that it had been. We only ended up getting a third of the results that we were expecting to get. Now, thankfully, we still made far more than the 45,000 we spent on ads. But it was really a big pillow and it showed me how much risk is in a launch model. Even when you have things, prepared, even when you've done it several times over, there's always things that can shift. And we hadn't launched four or five months prior because we were only launching a couple of times a year. And so there's just so much risk that you put when. You make the majority of your money in a launch. Honestly, I really love the excitement and the connection that happens when you launch. And I love running challenges because I get to work with so many people. I get to see so many people getting results and it just feels really, really good when you can make a massive impact on your industry and see literally. Thousands of people getting results. It's amazing. And then to have them turn around and buy your product afterwards is just cool. You get to make an impact and you get to make an income. And it's just a beautiful thing. However, I just didn't want to deal with that risk anymore, because that was really a significant blow. Like, well, he lost multiple six figures of income because of that one little change that happened in Facebook. So we decided to move to an evergreen model and my team, and I spent several months switching everything over and changing things up. And honestly, it was really a struggle for me because. There's something about having stress, which sounds terrible. And I really hate that this is how I am, but there's something about having a healthy amount of stuff where you're on a deadline. You've got to get things done, yeah. Act into a corner and you've just got to make magic happen. I, I do my best work. Under those settings as much as I don't love that fact. for example, right now, as I'm building a new business and money is incredibly tight, I'm finding that my best work is coming out because I'm, I've got to do it. Like I have to make this work and I need to make it work fast. Or we need to make some massive life changes   right. Despite the fact that I really love launching, and I love the energy and I do some of my most creative and best work with it. We decided to make the switch to evergreen and it wasn't quite the same energy because number one, when you go evergreen, you're not interacting with people one on one in the same way. And I didn't have 5,000 people doing a challenge in my free group all within the same week. And it really. Was a huge drain to my energy. Now I don't regret it. And I actually believe that having a steady stream of income in your business, especially if it's a recurring stream of income is incredibly valuable to help offset those launch, you know, the launch variability and to really bring in a bunch of consistency and remove the anxiety from your business. However, I found that setting up an evergreen funnel and doing all of the assets for it. It did not light me up. It did not excite me in any way. I didn't realize this at the time, but the main reason that it drained me so much was not because of the technology or any of that. It was because my zone of genius is in connecting with people and inspiring them and really. Working with them on a one-on-one basis or a very close, intimate way. I love to connect with my people in real time. I don't want to automate my connection. And so all of those months, when I was working on my evergreen funnel, I was working outside of my zone of genius because I was stuck in the details. I was stuck in the asset creation. I was suck setting up the technology and the funnels and converting everything over from a launch model into an evergreen model. And I was changing up my conversion mechanism at the same time, because what we had done before wasn't working in the same way because of that lovely Facebook change. And so it was just really draining for me. It was incredibly draining for me. I wasn't sure exactly why I didn't love creating the evergreen funnel until this fall, when I've started paying a lot closer attention to the things in my business that light me up and. I really spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what exactly is my zone of genius. What are those things that I do because they bring me energy and that I just do so naturally that I don't even realize I'm doing them. And how can I do more of that in my business and avoid doing the stuff that really is far outside my zone of genius and really brings me. It just drains me. It just takes all of my energy away. And so that I didn't realize that that was why creating this evergreen funnel was so exhausting for me until this fall. So my commitment right now is I am rebuilding this business. has been to be very, very honest with how I'm feeling about what I'm doing. I've tried to be very aware and very curious about what lights me up. What am I really enjoying doing? What leaves me feeling energized and alive. And for me, I almost always feel my best. After I've been directly working with people in small groups. And when I've been working with people one on one, that's why I enjoy doing the clarity coaching days so much. That's why I love doing masterminds. And I am so excited about getting the brighter together, mastermind up and running, which should be happening super soon. And I am so. Like, I'm just so excited about how I'm doing things. And honestly, it's only been what, three and a half months at this point, and I've already kind of done a little bit of a plot twist. Like I haven't given up on the bright future method workshop in any way, shape or form completely, but I don't think that's going to be my main focus. I believe that the masterminds that I am creating and I'm starting with one, but I eventually want to have multiple groups. I believe that this mastermind that I am creating. Is going to be nothing but light and easy for me to run. I know that after every single meeting we have, I am going to be filled with energy and literally energized. I'm not going to be exhausted. I'm not going to dread showing up. And because this is so deeply part of my zone of genius, I know that serving my people and. Really helping them get the growth that they want to have in their business. And being able to work with a small group of people for the next 12 months, at least twice a month is really exciting to me. I know it's going to just bring me so much joy and that when we're working out of our zone of genius, we're going to help other people get their best results as well. So as you are looking at your business and you're looking at all of the things. And, you know, sometimes there are seasons when you're just getting you're done and you know, you just need to get through it. Like, I'll be honest. It is really exhausting to always be worried about cashflow and how can I keep bringing it in more? And how can I bring it in more and say, Oh, do I want to do this? Do I not want to do this? All the questions are exhausting. All of the emotions. Oh my goodness. The emotions that you have when you're starting over or. At any point, really? They never go away, but they seem especially acute when you're starting over ban, they are exhausting. But I want you to know that it's never too late for a pivot. It's never too late for a plot twist in the story of your business. And when you find those things in your business that just light you up. Do more of them. And when you find those things that you feel like you just have to do, cause you just have to do it when you're working out of that sense of obligation and should ask yourself, is there another way. Could I accomplish the exact same things in a different way. So as you're going into the next few months, when overwhelm is very likely to be high, and there's going to be a ton of obligations on your plate, both personal with the holidays. And business with the end of year stuff and just all of the things, Be really mindful as you, you go through it of the things that you're just dreading and of the things that you just love doing. And if you're at the point in your business, this where you don't love doing any of it, because you are just burned out and exhausted. The best thing you can do is to take a few days and step away. If you can take an entire week, that would be even better, but at a minimum four days, step away from your business. Don't worry about it. Don't think about it. Do what you need to do, you know, if you have lessons to teach or something, accord them in advance, but take a few days and step away from your business and just make space and just let your brain. Rest. I mean, literally don't sit and try and figure things out. Don't think, think, think, think, think, go play, do the stuff you love, spend time with your family, whatever it is. And I just did this, this weekend in a mini form. I took two days completely away from my business, which is hard to do when you're starting over and everything is crazy busy. Right. And I mean, completely away, there was no checking email. There was no responding to messages. It was like, Off grid only, not really off grid. I was off the business stuff and just totally, being present and taking time to rest and do the things that I love that really fill me. And it was the best thing I could've done. I came back so energized and I came back so focused and you might need more than a few days, but just know that, you know, you're probably burned out if you don't enjoy everything. And if you really. Go on rest and you make the space and you come back and you still don't love anything. Then it's probably time to ask yourself, what are the kinds of things you might love? What other things could you be doing if you weren't doing this? And don't be afraid to create a business that is perfectly aligned with who you are and what your goals are in life. Because when you do that, It becomes so much easier when your business is created to be perfectly suited to who you are and what your strengths are. It doesn't drain your energy. It's not a burden. It is a. Joy. It gives you energy and you get excited to show up and do the work. And that's what I want for you now, you know, there's always going to be some tasks that you don't love doing, but that's where you start to outsource. That's where you build your team. That's where you hire other people who are lit up by doing that thing to come in and work beside you. I know how hard it is to get out of that messy middle. And I know how hard it is to make space and really breathe. But if you continue to operate out of a sense of obligation and you live in that place of overwhelm for too long, Eventually it is going to catch up to you. It's going to cause massive problems for you, either in your business or your personal life or your health, whatever it is, but that's not why you started your business. You did not start your business because you wanted to live in a constant state of overwhelm. You started a business because you wanted to make an impact. You wanted to do something that you love. You wanted to design a life. That's incredible. So, if you're looking at your business and your life right now, and it's not what you thought it would be, and you're just feeling defeated and overwhelmed, know that it can get better. Use the process that I outlined in this podcast episode, to help you start finding hints as to what it is that might let you up, how you might want to change. And then when you find those things that bring you energy double down on them. And ask yourself, how can I bring more of this into what I'm already doing? So for the bright future method workshop that I've been teaching, I've found, I don't love teaching lessons. I mean, I love helping people get results. And so that's part of it, but I love. The Q and a side of it. I love when we get together on zoom and we do these coaching calls and we walk through the material together and make sure everybody's understanding it and applying it to their businesses. And I love seeing the aha moments that happened from that. And I played some for you here on the podcast, just a couple of episodes ago. And so what I've been asking myself, Is how can I do more of that in the business? And so that's why I'm launching the masterminds and that's why that's going to be more of the focus. And I've even been thinking, huh? Maybe instead of teaching the course, maybe that's just included in the mastermind. I don't know. I don't know. I haven't decided those things yet, but I'm asking myself the questions and I'm asking myself, how can I bring in more of my zone of genius into my business? Because then I know it's easy. It's the most important question you can ask yourself to truly create a business that you love and that gives you the lifestyle you want, and that helps you make your greatest impact in the world. Because when we're working from our greatest strengths, we're going to have our greatest impact so my friend, if you are struggling to find clarity or maybe you've discovered, gosh, I love these things, but I don't know how to bring more of that into my business. Or maybe you just have so much stuff going on that you can't even take the time to sit and figure out. What you really should be focused on, or you just get so overwhelmed when you're trying to figure all out. If you'd like some help, And would love to do a clarity coaching day with me. You can reach out to me using the contact information. That's right here in the show notes. And what we'll do first is we will do a 30 minute clarity consultation. That's totally free just to hear kind of what's going on and make sure that I'm going to be able to help you get clarity and move forward. And then if we both feel like it's a good fit, we will schedule a day to really sit down and go through whatever it is that you are working on and really help you get clarity and try and figure out how you can take your zone of genius. And go deeper with that in your business. And if you need to make some sort of business pivot, if you are ready for a plot twist, I'm happy to help you figure out the strategy that can take you from where you are now and gently redirect your energy so that you can create a business. That's. Truly aligned with who you are, that's light, that's easy and that's simple for you to run so that you can scale it in a big way. So just reach out to me, use the contact information in the show notes, and we can talk about moving forward. Would that my friend, I want you to remember that we are brighter together and that the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: I'm three and a half months into starting my brand new business and pivoting after COVID made my old business a COVID casualty. And I took some time to really sit down and document what I have learned. In the first 90 days of starting over. And it's not exactly what I thought I would learn. Now, this is kind of a follow up because the very first episode in season three is all about my goal for making a 30 K and 90 days. And so I'm happy to, I've made $31,386 in the first night, 90 days. And it's still continuing to grow, which is. Super exciting, but I want to tell you what I have learned because even more important than the money that has started coming in from starting from scratch, starting at the beginning. Um, yeah. Is the things that I have learned have been so incredibly valid you bowl, so if you find yourself starting over, because you've had to make a big pivot, or if you work with entrepreneurs who are just starting out, I think you're going to find this incredibly valuable so that you can serve them better going forward. I think the biggest surprise to me was how much the emotional journey really affected everything I have done since starting over, when I'm having an anxious day, it is really hard to make good decisions and to do what I know I need to do, because at this point in my business, I've been running an online business for almost 10 years full time. and I know what to expect. I know what to do, but when you're starting from scratch, it's so much more intense, especially if you've gone through something really difficult, like COVID taking out your business like I did, or whatever else it is. It's just incredibly emotional. And I was surprised at how much that affected my ability to do what I needed to do to come and sell from a confident place or whatever it was when I was feeling good and feeling supported, man, I could courage it, but those days when I was really questioning myself and I'm just going through the normal, emotional roller coaster, like when you launch. You know, that first day is really exciting, but then after you put yourself out, there you go through that. vulnerability hangover on day two because you put yourself out there and now you need to see if it's going to work. And it, even though I know that happens and I've known that for years, It felt far more acute this time going through it than it did before. Because number one, things were not proven. Yeah. Like I was trying to prove a con. And so there was a lot more uncertainty as to whether or not people would buy what I had to sell. And it felt a lot more like a Rite of passage. I had to be really careful not to internalize the results. As meaning something about myself. Like I, my brain wanted to say, Oh, this means that you're worth it. This means that you can do it, or you can't do it, or you're going to be a failure. You know, all those stupid things that our brains try and tell us. I had to continually remind myself that whatever the outcome was. It didn't mean anything about who I am a failed launch. They weren't failed. But if, even if I had a failed launch, it didn't mean that I was a failure person or whatever else. And my brain kept trying to give me these messages. And thankfully I'm aware of it. Yeah. But for somebody who's newer. If you're working with new entrepreneurs who are starting something from scratch, be aware of that and really speak to it to that because I could very easily see where somebody could get pulled off and away and give up or never actually launch or sell their thing because they be so afraid of what it might mean about who they are. So definitely you want to normalize the emotional experience that's going on at the beginning. You know, the other thing is that when you're launching something brand new, there's just so much less validation. I launched my course to basically 52 people on an email list. And so 52 people is not a lot of people. So even though my conversion rate, it was very high for a product that was 1299 when I sold it. I sold over 15% of the people who are on my email list into the course, which is a huge percentage. It's still felt very, very low because there just were so many fewer people. I mean, it's launching to 52 people feel so much quieter than launching to 5,200 people. Right. Cause you know, if I had the same conversion rate, I'd have had 100 times more sales than I I had, if it would all hold. And I would have been hearing ping, ping, ping, you know, so many more times than would just 52 people. So even though the conversion percentages look good, you just don't feel it in the same way. And it's not that much more work to launch too 5,200 people as it is to launch to 52 people. So it can be really crushing if you. Don't have the right mindset and don't have people around you to step up and support you through that transition. So that's the first big takeaway is that, um, you really have to pay attention to the emotional experience, have your support in place. And if you are teaching. Beginning entrepreneurs, especially, but really, I think this is always the case, but especially beginner entrepreneurs, you've got to normalize the emotional experience so they know what to expect and they know what's normal because of course it's going to feel. Difficult because they're stretching outside their comfort zones. They're doing something they haven't done before and people need somebody to believe in them. I needed my friends in the mastermind that I'm in to believe in me and remind me of who I was. Um, for those of you who are listening, who are those friends of mine? Thank you. Because it meant more than you can know. Okay. And I knew what I was getting into, so I can only imagine how hard that is for somebody who is brand new. All right. The second big takeaway that I got in the first 90 days was that you absolutely have half to nail the offer and your messaging. Beyond anything else. This is absolutely the most important thing ever. You need to have something that people want and you gotta be able to tell them what it is and why it's important to them so that they will buy. If you've got your messaging nailed, you can fly. I really believe that most people are stuck. Not because they don't have something of value to sell, but because they just don't know how to. Message it, they don't know how to explain to other people what that value is in a way that makes them say, Oh my gosh, I need this. I want this right now and I'm going to go buy it. So you've got to focus in on your messaging and your offer, which leads to me to take away number three, which is sell. Sell, sell your stuff as much as possible. Now, the reason I say that is because your message, the gene becomes more and more clear. The more you actually sell your products, because you're going to hear more of the objections. You're going to hear more, both hesitations. You're going to have conversations with your people that help you see. Oh, you know, this makes sense. Like, I didn't even think of that. So for me, one of the big hesitations, that should be obvious to me. Like I know this, but it just didn't strike me as something that was, that was that important right away was that people are like, well, I've taken all the, are there things, how is it different? And how much time is this going to take? Because I am so swamped in the messy middle that. I don't have a lot of time to put towards this. I'm already doing 20 different things. And so those two things alone, like, of course I know that, but having heard that over and over from people, as I was telling them about my work shop made me say, okay, I definitely need to add this to my messaging because when I overcame those objections, then people are like, Oh yes, I absolutely want to be a part of this. And I did not get that clarity until I was actively selling my workshop. So the more you can sell the clearer, your messaging is going to be the faster you're going to gain momentum and get success. So sell, sell, sell, sell, sell as much as you possibly can. Now. Along those lines, kind of a second bullet point about this is ideally you want to be selling one to one early on. Now. I know you can't scale that. I know that you can't do that forever. However, If you are not having one-to-one conversations and you can, can't sell your stuff to a single person, there is no way you are going to be able to sell it to the masses. You've got to be able to speak to a single person. If I put you in front of your ideal client and you can't get them to buy and they can't see the value in what you're doing, your messaging is way off and. You're not going to suddenly start getting sales. If I magically put you in front of that was end of your ideal people. You've gotta be able to sell to one person before you can sell to the masses. So do that as much as you possibly can. at the very beginning, which leads to my fourth takeaway from the first 90 days of starting a new business, is that relationships and trust is the most important thing. However, when you are building a new audience, you need to get personal. You need to be very. On the front lines, you need to be reaching out to your people, talking with them, finding out what their real struggles are. Like. We can think we know something, but when we talk to them and then we hear the exact language that they are using to explain it, it's going to strengthen our messaging. It's going to help us understand them better. So build those relations, build that trust, get personal. I sent. Gosh, dozens and dozens and dozens of personalized video, voice messages, all the things, and actually reached out personally and had conversations with every single person on my email list and with everybody who I could, that would connect with me via Instagram, via Facebook. I spoke one on one with as many people as possible, not just to sell to them like that. Wasn't like my primary goal, but to get to know them, to really understand them. And then when I was selling and I felt like it was a good fit for them, I absolutely reached out on a personal level and invited them to join me. Wasn't pushy, wasn't manipulative. It was just a gentle invitation with an explanation as to why I thought this thing I was selling was perfect for them. So you absolutely need to get personal. Um, and the other cool thing is when you have that relationship and that respect and trust, you really don't need a sales page. You don't need a fancy webinar with all sorts of psychology in it to convert people. If you have that trust. I ask people coming into my workshop, why they decided to join. And I do this, they have to answer it when they join the Facebook group. And I do this because what it does is it shows me what part of my sales message really resonated with them. So that if my cart is still open, I can actually go and get real time feedback and say, Oh, this person joined because of this. I better talk about it more. And for the first time ever in a launch, because I got so personal with my people, almost every single new person said they joined because of me because of the relationship that they built with me, because they trust me. They believe that I can help them get the results they want. And that was what they said, help them come over, you know, make that decision to come over and actually put money down and by enjoying what I'm doing. And so. I mean, I didn't even have a sales page on the first day and it didn't matter because it was all about the relationship. It was all about the trust that I had built. And so when you are growing a new business and trying to get to know a new audience, you know, at the beginning you can be very personal. No, but as you begin to scale, you need to always keep in mind that you're growing a relationship and building that trust and that those things, Trump. All the tactics that you could ever do it's better than fancy sales copy. It's better than all these psychology tactics for sales and stuff. Yes. Those help. Yes. Those absolutely can work. But when you have a relationship and trust that beats everything that beats everything. I know you've probably heard it a hundred times, but people buy from those, they know. They like, and they trust. And I saw that in a big way in these first 90 days. And as I move forward with building my list, I'm going to be focusing on that and a huge way, as much as I possibly can. I'm going to stay as personal as I can for as long as I can. Until I get my messaging, nailed my offer nailed, and I'm ready to start scaling that connection in a big way. And I think if you look back at season one, I talk a lot about connection. I've been thinking about how to scale connection and trying things for years. So I'm really excited to get all this stuff in line so that I can get to that point. But that's probably another three months down the line in my book, I guess. We'll see. But for now I know that I'm getting really personal on a small scale. Because when you have the right people in your audience, you can make a lot of money without having a massive list, because it is all based on the relationship, having the right offer and having the right people there for it. They really want what you have to offer. All right. The fifth thing, the fifth final takeaway that I'm going to share with you today is that the more aligned you are and you create your business to be with your zone of genius, the easier. Everything becomes. And the beauty of starting over is that I can do it however I want to do it. And when I do it in a way that is aligned with who I am, it just becomes easy. Now I want to be honest. I found myself doing something, namely selling a workshop and teaching a course. and I've always done that. And so that was kind of my default method of making money is to sell a course. So I started selling this course, the bright future method workshop, and it's awesome. And I, I love what it teaches people. I love how it is, is changing the lives of the students who are inside of it. Like literally changing their lives. If you go back to, the last episode right before this one, you can hear about Brian and some of the insights that he had, and yeah. I mean, it's just so beautiful to see how the, his life is changing. His business is changing because of what he's learning. It's super rewarding. But what I realized is that I don't love teaching courses. I'm really tired of teaching, but here I am teaching a course, but what I love, what I love and come alive doing is actually. The coaching calls and the live Q and A's and working with people directly within the workshop itself. When we get on zoom together and we talk about what they're doing and how they're applying it to their business and help them really see how to create a business that's aligned for them. When I'm having that, small group interaction and we're really making super big progress. That's when I light up. And so this has been a beautiful mirror for me because it showed me that going forward, I'm not going to not teach a course. Like I've got this beautiful course. It's all going to be recorded. I'm going to have all the information. It's not that I'm not going to teach it, but I really want my focus to be more. On growing the mastermind groups that I'm putting together, these brighter together mastermind groups, because I realized that the most helpful thing for me personally, has been the people in my mastermind who could believe in me, who could support me, me as I walked through this crazy emotional journey of restarting after having my business completely destroyed, who were really there for me. This whole time and could share their experience. I was just too close to see stuff that was amazing. I just love connecting with people and helping them grow their business. Like, I've love that one on one connection. I know most people, I feel like most people I know who. Are running a business. They're really afraid to have a community because they're afraid of it sucking up all of their time in life. And they really want to be more hands off. And I'm like, man, that's what gives me life. Like I would sit in my communities, working with people, um, specifically connecting with them over video or over telegram or. Yeah, more real, genuine interaction with people that lights me up. And I know that that's rare, but I am like a people person to the deepest level of my core. That is part of my gift. That is part of my zone of genius. I know people, I know how to empower people and I love helping people very directly. And so even though I have this, of course, and I'm going to continue teaching it and I really do love how it's empowering my people. I'm most excited about the mastermind groups that I am launching. And so I launched that on the back end. That was right after the 90 days, right. At the very end. And so those are still actually open through tomorrow if you want to apply to be a part of the first round of mastermind groups and. My vision is to have a smaller group of no more than 12 people, probably six to 12 people per group that can really go deep with each other, but also, um, I get to go deep with them. I'm really excited to facilitate these groups. And so I know that that will be like the fastest way for people to grow their business because they'll get to share their experience. Like our experience is the most valuable thing we have and. For me to be able to share my experience with other people in the group, for them to bring their own personal experience and share it. You get to leverage that collective experience. And that's incredibly valuable. That's why I've been able to make more money in the first 90 days. Then I made in like the first year and a half combined when I was starting out at the beginning. Right. And so, or whatever the number is, I didn't look up the exact number, but it was a long time. I only made, I made just shy of $10,000 the very first year. That I started my business now. I was really happy with that at the time, but now it's like, man, I can do so much more of that so much faster because of my experience. So creating a space where people can connect together, support each other, share their experience with each other and really grow their business fast. Just, Oh, I'm sorry. Excited. I'm so excited. These are like my baby. And so this, you know, kind of a side note to this whole idea of creating a business, that's really aligned with who you are, is that when you're starting over and actually really any time, you don't have to be starting over to do this, but it was a good reminder that. I can give my business a plot twist anytime I want. So by taking action and running a course and doing these things, but being really aware of how I was feeling inside as I went through all of these things. I was able to see, Oh, I've always loved running again. Of course not because of the teaching side, even though I am a really good teacher, but because I love working with the people directly, I love it. Yeah. Answering their questions. I love doing coaching. I love the connection. I love people. I love to love people. I love to be in the trenches with them and it just was a little mirror to me. It showed me, Oh, this is the part I should double down on. This actually makes me feel a lot better about taking a course and putting it on evergreen. That's more self study. Because then I can separate out the part that's the high touch, the part that is that high level of interaction. And I can spend my focus there, but still be able to reach more people who, you know, may still want to be working on their own with it or whatever. And they can take and run with that. That's not set up yet. That's a big possibility down the road, but I get to dream. I get to set this up, however I want to do it. And that's just ridiculously exciting and it's been really fun for me. And so, you know, that's that final takeaway is that everything is so much lighter, easier, and so much more fun. When it's aligned with your zone of genius, it gives me energy when I'm doing the things with people. When I'm working within my zone of genius, instead of sucking away the energy and making me hesitant to want to do this. So it's been really, really. Fun these first 90 days, it has been terrifying. It has been anxiety ridden. It has been, it's been a emotional roller coaster. There have definitely been down days, but man, it has been so amazing. And even though this year has been so incredibly hard, I am so. Thankful for this new business that I've been creating. I'm so thankful for the new people that I'm working with. They're my people, like, I just love hanging out with them. I naturally want to go above and beyond with them because they're my people. I just love geeking out. Like I haven't been passionate about photography for a few years. I found that I was more passionate about the business side. And while I love photography, it was definitely a zone of excellence for me. Being in the zone of genius and being around other people who love similar things, it's just exciting. I want you to get out of a business that feels heavy, that stuck in that messy middle, doing all of these things that you don't necessarily want to be doing and find the parts of your business that really light you up that give you energy and learn to double down on that. Learn to say no to the other stuff so that you can say yes to the stuff that really just. Makes you come alive and where you can have your greatest impact, which is part of what I love to help people figure out and find. So a great way to do that is to be part of our mastermind groups. I've talked about those for the last few episodes. If you have any interest in being a part of them and you want to be a part from the very beginning and you want to be surrounded by. Like-minded business owners who can help you get to that next level and scale, and really be a mirror for you. you get to watch all these other people build their businesses as well. Well, you get to see under the hood of multiple people's businesses, including my own. And it's just, it's just awesome. So if you want to be part of that first group, Applications are due tomorrow, which is October 22nd. And, we'll be starting at the beginning of November. So definitely go do that. Now, if you've been thinking about it I'd love to consider you for it. I definitely want action takers. I want people with a high level of integrity. I want people who are generous and not afraid to share with other people because obviously a big part of this is sharing our experience so we can all grow our businesses faster. And I just really want people in there who are committed to building a business around who they are. And. Aren't afraid to do something that might look a little out of the box. you can go to, we are brighter together.com to apply. I will put that link in the show notes. There'll also be a link in the show notes. If you have any questions about it, you can reach out to me personally. Remember again, I said I'm doing a lot of stuff personally right now, so I would love to have an actual conversation with you directly. About whether or not you feel this would be a good fit for you. And I will tell you if it's not, I am not here to waste your money or your time. I really only want people in this group that I know will find this to be a no brainer when, and that we'll want to continue you year after year after year. I have longterm visions for this becoming the best online community for entrepreneurs, truly a bright entrepreneur movement. And it's just going to be awesome. So, all right, my friend, I hope you found these takeaways helpful. I would love to hear your own business takeaways. , things that you have learned if you pivoted and started over or what's working for you today. So if you would like to share that with me and possibly have your feedback featured here on the podcast, what I would love for you to do is join my insider telegram group. There's a link in the show notes here. Telegram is an app similar to messenger. But it's not on the Facebook platform, which I really love. And that group is where I give a little bit more behind the scenes. I remind you about new podcast episodes coming out, and you can send me comments back on there. So I'm going to be putting a post on telegram, which should be live when this podcast is live. Asking you about your biggest takeaways from the last 90 days, whether you're restarting your business or you're just continuing to grow what you've been doing, or you're stuck in the messy middle and trying to get out of it. I'm going to ask you to share there. And if I get some good ones, maybe I'll mention your name here on the podcast and share your tip with people. So, all right, so you go there, check out the show notes so that you can sign up for telegram. just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go and make it  brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: I'm three and a half months into starting my brand new business and pivoting after COVID made my old business a COVID casualty. And I took some time to really sit down and document what I have learned. In the first 90 days of starting over. And it's not exactly what I thought I would learn. Now, this is kind of a follow up because the very first episode in season three is all about my goal for making a 30 K and 90 days. And so I'm happy to, I've made $31,386 in the first night, 90 days. And it's still continuing to grow, which is. Super exciting, but I want to tell you what I have learned because even more important than the money that has started coming in from starting from scratch, starting at the beginning. Um, yeah. Is the things that I have learned have been so incredibly valid you bowl, so if you find yourself starting over, because you've had to make a big pivot, or if you work with entrepreneurs who are just starting out, I think you're going to find this incredibly valuable so that you can serve them better going forward. I think the biggest surprise to me was how much the emotional journey really affected everything I have done since starting over, when I'm having an anxious day, it is really hard to make good decisions and to do what I know I need to do, because at this point in my business, I've been running an online business for almost 10 years full time. and I know what to expect. I know what to do, but when you're starting from scratch, it's so much more intense, especially if you've gone through something really difficult, like COVID taking out your business like I did, or whatever else it is. It's just incredibly emotional. And I was surprised at how much that affected my ability to do what I needed to do to come and sell from a confident place or whatever it was when I was feeling good and feeling supported, man, I could courage it, but those days when I was really questioning myself and I'm just going through the normal, emotional roller coaster, like when you launch. You know, that first day is really exciting, but then after you put yourself out, there you go through that. vulnerability hangover on day two because you put yourself out there and now you need to see if it's going to work. And it, even though I know that happens and I've known that for years, It felt far more acute this time going through it than it did before. Because number one, things were not proven. Yeah. Like I was trying to prove a con. And so there was a lot more uncertainty as to whether or not people would buy what I had to sell. And it felt a lot more like a Rite of passage. I had to be really careful not to internalize the results. As meaning something about myself. Like I, my brain wanted to say, Oh, this means that you're worth it. This means that you can do it, or you can't do it, or you're going to be a failure. You know, all those stupid things that our brains try and tell us. I had to continually remind myself that whatever the outcome was. It didn't mean anything about who I am a failed launch. They weren't failed. But if, even if I had a failed launch, it didn't mean that I was a failure person or whatever else. And my brain kept trying to give me these messages. And thankfully I'm aware of it. Yeah. But for somebody who's newer. If you're working with new entrepreneurs who are starting something from scratch, be aware of that and really speak to it to that because I could very easily see where somebody could get pulled off and away and give up or never actually launch or sell their thing because they be so afraid of what it might mean about who they are. So definitely you want to normalize the emotional experience that's going on at the beginning. You know, the other thing is that when you're launching something brand new, there's just so much less validation. I launched my course to basically 52 people on an email list. And so 52 people is not a lot of people. So even though my conversion rate, it was very high for a product that was 1299 when I sold it. I sold over 15% of the people who are on my email list into the course, which is a huge percentage. It's still felt very, very low because there just were so many fewer people. I mean, it's launching to 52 people feel so much quieter than launching to 5,200 people. Right. Cause you know, if I had the same conversion rate, I'd have had 100 times more sales than I I had, if it would all hold. And I would have been hearing ping, ping, ping, you know, so many more times than would just 52 people. So even though the conversion percentages look good, you just don't feel it in the same way. And it's not that much more work to launch too 5,200 people as it is to launch to 52 people. So it can be really crushing if you. Don't have the right mindset and don't have people around you to step up and support you through that transition. So that's the first big takeaway is that, um, you really have to pay attention to the emotional experience, have your support in place. And if you are teaching. Beginning entrepreneurs, especially, but really, I think this is always the case, but especially beginner entrepreneurs, you've got to normalize the emotional experience so they know what to expect and they know what's normal because of course it's going to feel. Difficult because they're stretching outside their comfort zones. They're doing something they haven't done before and people need somebody to believe in them. I needed my friends in the mastermind that I'm in to believe in me and remind me of who I was. Um, for those of you who are listening, who are those friends of mine? Thank you. Because it meant more than you can know. Okay. And I knew what I was getting into, so I can only imagine how hard that is for somebody who is brand new. All right. The second big takeaway that I got in the first 90 days was that you absolutely have half to nail the offer and your messaging. Beyond anything else. This is absolutely the most important thing ever. You need to have something that people want and you gotta be able to tell them what it is and why it's important to them so that they will buy. If you've got your messaging nailed, you can fly. I really believe that most people are stuck. Not because they don't have something of value to sell, but because they just don't know how to. Message it, they don't know how to explain to other people what that value is in a way that makes them say, Oh my gosh, I need this. I want this right now and I'm going to go buy it. So you've got to focus in on your messaging and your offer, which leads to me to take away number three, which is sell. Sell, sell your stuff as much as possible. Now, the reason I say that is because your message, the gene becomes more and more clear. The more you actually sell your products, because you're going to hear more of the objections. You're going to hear more, both hesitations. You're going to have conversations with your people that help you see. Oh, you know, this makes sense. Like, I didn't even think of that. So for me, one of the big hesitations, that should be obvious to me. Like I know this, but it just didn't strike me as something that was, that was that important right away was that people are like, well, I've taken all the, are there things, how is it different? And how much time is this going to take? Because I am so swamped in the messy middle that. I don't have a lot of time to put towards this. I'm already doing 20 different things. And so those two things alone, like, of course I know that, but having heard that over and over from people, as I was telling them about my work shop made me say, okay, I definitely need to add this to my messaging because when I overcame those objections, then people are like, Oh yes, I absolutely want to be a part of this. And I did not get that clarity until I was actively selling my workshop. So the more you can sell the clearer, your messaging is going to be the faster you're going to gain momentum and get success. So sell, sell, sell, sell, sell as much as you possibly can. Now. Along those lines, kind of a second bullet point about this is ideally you want to be selling one to one early on. Now. I know you can't scale that. I know that you can't do that forever. However, If you are not having one-to-one conversations and you can, can't sell your stuff to a single person, there is no way you are going to be able to sell it to the masses. You've got to be able to speak to a single person. If I put you in front of your ideal client and you can't get them to buy and they can't see the value in what you're doing, your messaging is way off and. You're not going to suddenly start getting sales. If I magically put you in front of that was end of your ideal people. You've gotta be able to sell to one person before you can sell to the masses. So do that as much as you possibly can. at the very beginning, which leads to my fourth takeaway from the first 90 days of starting a new business, is that relationships and trust is the most important thing. However, when you are building a new audience, you need to get personal. You need to be very. On the front lines, you need to be reaching out to your people, talking with them, finding out what their real struggles are. Like. We can think we know something, but when we talk to them and then we hear the exact language that they are using to explain it, it's going to strengthen our messaging. It's going to help us understand them better. So build those relations, build that trust, get personal. I sent. Gosh, dozens and dozens and dozens of personalized video, voice messages, all the things, and actually reached out personally and had conversations with every single person on my email list and with everybody who I could, that would connect with me via Instagram, via Facebook. I spoke one on one with as many people as possible, not just to sell to them like that. Wasn't like my primary goal, but to get to know them, to really understand them. And then when I was selling and I felt like it was a good fit for them, I absolutely reached out on a personal level and invited them to join me. Wasn't pushy, wasn't manipulative. It was just a gentle invitation with an explanation as to why I thought this thing I was selling was perfect for them. So you absolutely need to get personal. Um, and the other cool thing is when you have that relationship and that respect and trust, you really don't need a sales page. You don't need a fancy webinar with all sorts of psychology in it to convert people. If you have that trust. I ask people coming into my workshop, why they decided to join. And I do this, they have to answer it when they join the Facebook group. And I do this because what it does is it shows me what part of my sales message really resonated with them. So that if my cart is still open, I can actually go and get real time feedback and say, Oh, this person joined because of this. I better talk about it more. And for the first time ever in a launch, because I got so personal with my people, almost every single new person said they joined because of me because of the relationship that they built with me, because they trust me. They believe that I can help them get the results they want. And that was what they said, help them come over, you know, make that decision to come over and actually put money down and by enjoying what I'm doing. And so. I mean, I didn't even have a sales page on the first day and it didn't matter because it was all about the relationship. It was all about the trust that I had built. And so when you are growing a new business and trying to get to know a new audience, you know, at the beginning you can be very personal. No, but as you begin to scale, you need to always keep in mind that you're growing a relationship and building that trust and that those things, Trump. All the tactics that you could ever do it's better than fancy sales copy. It's better than all these psychology tactics for sales and stuff. Yes. Those help. Yes. Those absolutely can work. But when you have a relationship and trust that beats everything that beats everything. I know you've probably heard it a hundred times, but people buy from those, they know. They like, and they trust. And I saw that in a big way in these first 90 days. And as I move forward with building my list, I'm going to be focusing on that and a huge way, as much as I possibly can. I'm going to stay as personal as I can for as long as I can. Until I get my messaging, nailed my offer nailed, and I'm ready to start scaling that connection in a big way. And I think if you look back at season one, I talk a lot about connection. I've been thinking about how to scale connection and trying things for years. So I'm really excited to get all this stuff in line so that I can get to that point. But that's probably another three months down the line in my book, I guess. We'll see. But for now I know that I'm getting really personal on a small scale. Because when you have the right people in your audience, you can make a lot of money without having a massive list, because it is all based on the relationship, having the right offer and having the right people there for it. They really want what you have to offer. All right. The fifth thing, the fifth final takeaway that I'm going to share with you today is that the more aligned you are and you create your business to be with your zone of genius, the easier. Everything becomes. And the beauty of starting over is that I can do it however I want to do it. And when I do it in a way that is aligned with who I am, it just becomes easy. Now I want to be honest. I found myself doing something, namely selling a workshop and teaching a course. and I've always done that. And so that was kind of my default method of making money is to sell a course. So I started selling this course, the bright future method workshop, and it's awesome. And I, I love what it teaches people. I love how it is, is changing the lives of the students who are inside of it. Like literally changing their lives. If you go back to, the last episode right before this one, you can hear about Brian and some of the insights that he had, and yeah. I mean, it's just so beautiful to see how the, his life is changing. His business is changing because of what he's learning. It's super rewarding. But what I realized is that I don't love teaching courses. I'm really tired of teaching, but here I am teaching a course, but what I love, what I love and come alive doing is actually. The coaching calls and the live Q and A's and working with people directly within the workshop itself. When we get on zoom together and we talk about what they're doing and how they're applying it to their business and help them really see how to create a business that's aligned for them. When I'm having that, small group interaction and we're really making super big progress. That's when I light up. And so this has been a beautiful mirror for me because it showed me that going forward, I'm not going to not teach a course. Like I've got this beautiful course. It's all going to be recorded. I'm going to have all the information. It's not that I'm not going to teach it, but I really want my focus to be more. On growing the mastermind groups that I'm putting together, these brighter together mastermind groups, because I realized that the most helpful thing for me personally, has been the people in my mastermind who could believe in me, who could support me, me as I walked through this crazy emotional journey of restarting after having my business completely destroyed, who were really there for me. This whole time and could share their experience. I was just too close to see stuff that was amazing. I just love connecting with people and helping them grow their business. Like, I've love that one on one connection. I know most people, I feel like most people I know who. Are running a business. They're really afraid to have a community because they're afraid of it sucking up all of their time in life. And they really want to be more hands off. And I'm like, man, that's what gives me life. Like I would sit in my communities, working with people, um, specifically connecting with them over video or over telegram or. Yeah, more real, genuine interaction with people that lights me up. And I know that that's rare, but I am like a people person to the deepest level of my core. That is part of my gift. That is part of my zone of genius. I know people, I know how to empower people and I love helping people very directly. And so even though I have this, of course, and I'm going to continue teaching it and I really do love how it's empowering my people. I'm most excited about the mastermind groups that I am launching. And so I launched that on the back end. That was right after the 90 days, right. At the very end. And so those are still actually open through tomorrow if you want to apply to be a part of the first round of mastermind groups and. My vision is to have a smaller group of no more than 12 people, probably six to 12 people per group that can really go deep with each other, but also, um, I get to go deep with them. I'm really excited to facilitate these groups. And so I know that that will be like the fastest way for people to grow their business because they'll get to share their experience. Like our experience is the most valuable thing we have and. For me to be able to share my experience with other people in the group, for them to bring their own personal experience and share it. You get to leverage that collective experience. And that's incredibly valuable. That's why I've been able to make more money in the first 90 days. Then I made in like the first year and a half combined when I was starting out at the beginning. Right. And so, or whatever the number is, I didn't look up the exact number, but it was a long time. I only made, I made just shy of $10,000 the very first year. That I started my business now. I was really happy with that at the time, but now it's like, man, I can do so much more of that so much faster because of my experience. So creating a space where people can connect together, support each other, share their experience with each other and really grow their business fast. Just, Oh, I'm sorry. Excited. I'm so excited. These are like my baby. And so this, you know, kind of a side note to this whole idea of creating a business, that's really aligned with who you are, is that when you're starting over and actually really any time, you don't have to be starting over to do this, but it was a good reminder that. I can give my business a plot twist anytime I want. So by taking action and running a course and doing these things, but being really aware of how I was feeling inside as I went through all of these things. I was able to see, Oh, I've always loved running again. Of course not because of the teaching side, even though I am a really good teacher, but because I love working with the people directly, I love it. Yeah. Answering their questions. I love doing coaching. I love the connection. I love people. I love to love people. I love to be in the trenches with them and it just was a little mirror to me. It showed me, Oh, this is the part I should double down on. This actually makes me feel a lot better about taking a course and putting it on evergreen. That's more self study. Because then I can separate out the part that's the high touch, the part that is that high level of interaction. And I can spend my focus there, but still be able to reach more people who, you know, may still want to be working on their own with it or whatever. And they can take and run with that. That's not set up yet. That's a big possibility down the road, but I get to dream. I get to set this up, however I want to do it. And that's just ridiculously exciting and it's been really fun for me. And so, you know, that's that final takeaway is that everything is so much lighter, easier, and so much more fun. When it's aligned with your zone of genius, it gives me energy when I'm doing the things with people. When I'm working within my zone of genius, instead of sucking away the energy and making me hesitant to want to do this. So it's been really, really. Fun these first 90 days, it has been terrifying. It has been anxiety ridden. It has been, it's been a emotional roller coaster. There have definitely been down days, but man, it has been so amazing. And even though this year has been so incredibly hard, I am so. Thankful for this new business that I've been creating. I'm so thankful for the new people that I'm working with. They're my people, like, I just love hanging out with them. I naturally want to go above and beyond with them because they're my people. I just love geeking out. Like I haven't been passionate about photography for a few years. I found that I was more passionate about the business side. And while I love photography, it was definitely a zone of excellence for me. Being in the zone of genius and being around other people who love similar things, it's just exciting. I want you to get out of a business that feels heavy, that stuck in that messy middle, doing all of these things that you don't necessarily want to be doing and find the parts of your business that really light you up that give you energy and learn to double down on that. Learn to say no to the other stuff so that you can say yes to the stuff that really just. Makes you come alive and where you can have your greatest impact, which is part of what I love to help people figure out and find. So a great way to do that is to be part of our mastermind groups. I've talked about those for the last few episodes. If you have any interest in being a part of them and you want to be a part from the very beginning and you want to be surrounded by. Like-minded business owners who can help you get to that next level and scale, and really be a mirror for you. you get to watch all these other people build their businesses as well. Well, you get to see under the hood of multiple people's businesses, including my own. And it's just, it's just awesome. So if you want to be part of that first group, Applications are due tomorrow, which is October 22nd. And, we'll be starting at the beginning of November. So definitely go do that. Now, if you've been thinking about it I'd love to consider you for it. I definitely want action takers. I want people with a high level of integrity. I want people who are generous and not afraid to share with other people because obviously a big part of this is sharing our experience so we can all grow our businesses faster. And I just really want people in there who are committed to building a business around who they are. And. Aren't afraid to do something that might look a little out of the box. you can go to, we are brighter together.com to apply. I will put that link in the show notes. There'll also be a link in the show notes. If you have any questions about it, you can reach out to me personally. Remember again, I said I'm doing a lot of stuff personally right now, so I would love to have an actual conversation with you directly. About whether or not you feel this would be a good fit for you. And I will tell you if it's not, I am not here to waste your money or your time. I really only want people in this group that I know will find this to be a no brainer when, and that we'll want to continue you year after year after year. I have longterm visions for this becoming the best online community for entrepreneurs, truly a bright entrepreneur movement. And it's just going to be awesome. So, all right, my friend, I hope you found these takeaways helpful. I would love to hear your own business takeaways. , things that you have learned if you pivoted and started over or what's working for you today. So if you would like to share that with me and possibly have your feedback featured here on the podcast, what I would love for you to do is join my insider telegram group. There's a link in the show notes here. Telegram is an app similar to messenger. But it's not on the Facebook platform, which I really love. And that group is where I give a little bit more behind the scenes. I remind you about new podcast episodes coming out, and you can send me comments back on there. So I'm going to be putting a post on telegram, which should be live when this podcast is live. Asking you about your biggest takeaways from the last 90 days, whether you're restarting your business or you're just continuing to grow what you've been doing, or you're stuck in the messy middle and trying to get out of it. I'm going to ask you to share there. And if I get some good ones, maybe I'll mention your name here on the podcast and share your tip with people. So, all right, so you go there, check out the show notes so that you can sign up for telegram. just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go and make it  brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: Do you ever wonder if something is missing that you're just not seeing something that needs to fall into place for everything to move forward, the way you want it to, or that there's some hole somewhere and you're not sure where it is or what it is. And you know that once. Everything just comes together. [00:00:18] It's all gonna fall into place and things are going to fly forward. Well, I had two of these experiences this week and I wanted to share them with you because in those moments where you suddenly realize something that you didn't even see, and it's just like, Oh, of course. And the unseen becomes obvious. [00:00:44] It can change. Everything. And that's what I'm going to share with you today. this week has been a little bit of an emotional week for me. If I can be completely vulnerable and honest with you, which I always am. But, with launching the masterminds, I never realized how much those meant to me, because it is so, so deeply aligned with who I am. And I feel so incredibly passionate about them because I know what a huge difference being in a mastermind has made to me personally. [00:01:47] I know I never want to be in business without being in a mastermind again, because I have these experiences where I don't know what I don't know or. Somebody sees an obvious opportunity or pitfall that I didn't even notice that changes everything for me. When I see it. And so I wanted to share a little bit about this week for me one, because I know that when you're doing something new and I know there's a lot of you who have pivoted recently because of all this covert stuff. [00:02:22] And there are others of you who maybe didn't pivot, but are still growing and stuck in that messy middle. And you can get really, really hard. To push past the resistance. It can be really hard to get beyond the anxieties and you just, all the normal stuff that comes from growing a business and stepping outside our comfort zones. [00:02:43] But especially as we go closer and closer to the things that are really truly aligned with who we are, it can be especially hard. And I know for me this week I had. an encounter personally, where I reached out to a friend who is very dear to me and we were discussing kind of what I could do with my photography business that I've stepped away from because it's, beautiful asset it's there. [00:03:10]it, I don't want to just see it disappear and go to waste, but I also feel very, very called to step into this. So we were talking about, you know, some different options I could do with that. And just a number of other things and catching up and talking business. And. He said something to me that totally just blew my mind a little bit. [00:03:33] And it was such a beautiful and helpful comment and it kind of seems so obvious looking back on it. But in the moment it was really, it was really insightful to me. Cause I was talking about how I just am not fully aligned with the photography business stuff anymore. [00:03:50] Like my passion is in helping other entrepreneurs who are building online businesses and I love photographers. It's not that I don't love the people. It's just, I haven't been passionate about photography in longer than I'd like to admit. And I've wanted to do a mastermind for over three years. And I'm so excited about that. [00:04:08] I know that's going to really use my gifts in the best possible way. But I was saying that, didn't want to. Do something with that. Now that would end up being a distraction from the thing that I really deeply feel called to focus on, because one of the biggest things you need to do in order to be successful is focus, focus, and not keep trying all sorts of different things. [00:04:28] You should not be throwing spaghetti against the wall. And hoping something sticks. You should have a clear, focused, intentional plan for success. That's how you grow fast. And I know what that is, and I've got that plan, but I was also stressing a little bit because cashflow is tight right now. Like I have this beautiful mastermind idea and I know it's going to take off, but I was just, I'm just sitting here saying, well, what if this isn't enough? And what if he can't get us through, the next couple of months or whatever it is. [00:04:54] And just honestly, I was just having a little anxious freak out and it's. Not something I needed to be freaking out about, but I was, and I mean, it's a legitimate anxiety would starting over. [00:05:07] It's just, it's been stressful. COVID eight through our savings. And so, you know, I don't have that cushion that I had last year at this time to fall back on and it's causes a lot of anxiety and he said something. So why I used to me his name's Nate. , he's amazing. Yeah. He goes, you know, it sounds like right now, lack of cashflow coming in is actually a bigger distraction. [00:05:30] Then anything else would be, and that may be the best thing you can do for getting your new business off the ground faster and making decisions from a really healthy place. Instead of asking your city stress place is just to figure out how to make some fast cash coming in, whether that's what the photography thing or, you know, whatever else. [00:05:50] And it just seems so obvious after he said it. I'm just like, Oh right. Gosh, that makes sense because it would reduce stress. Although if I'm completely honest, I think the anxiety is less about money and more about the fact that I'm launching something that really is close to who I am and the money just amplifies the stress and the anxiety and whatever else. [00:06:12] But it was such an enlightening and helpful comment to have. And I didn't even see it, it was like, Oh, of course, like that's the distraction. That's what I'm missing. And to have him there to be able to point it out. So clearly to me was super invaluable because then it's like, okay, well, if that's the distraction, what can I do to overcome it? [00:06:36] Like what has brought me money over the last three months? How can I do more of that while growing my audience? I mean, I'm going to be honest, I haven't done any email list, building things at all. I have maybe 76 people, I think yesterday when I looked on my email list and my stats are amazing. A third of the people on my email list are buyers. That's amazing. Now I just need more of them. Like, it's very clear that I just need my numbers to go up and I know that I'm attracting the right people and that, they want what I have to offer. [00:07:10] They're getting real transformation. They're already spreading the word about it, but I know what I need to do. I need to grow my audience and I need to make money. So it's pretty clear path moving forward. I know what I need to do to do that, but it just didn't Dawn on me that, Oh, maybe I should take this training that I created. [00:07:28] And get it out in front of more people and start asking them to opt in to get that. And then following up afterwards with it to make some money and do some more sales. Cause I just need more eyeballs. I just need to get in front of more of the right people because I know that what I have works and converts. [00:07:46] And so now it seems really obvious to me and I wish I would have seen it sooner because. It just gave me a lot of clarity on what my next steps need to be just immediately in terms of list building growth and how that'll tie into my income growth as well. But then, Oh my gosh. On Thursday, Thursday, I was doing a Q and a session with my bright future methods students. [00:08:10] And this is part of why I want to do masterminds because I love working with people more one-on-one and we do them via zoom. So it's almost more like a coaching thing than it is just like a Facebook live Q and a. And I want to play this moment for you because this was a moment where. I was talking with one of my students. [00:08:31] His name is Brian. And, it was just this beautiful moment where he had laid out his framework for helping teach volleyball coaches. And it was a great framework with all of these processes and like all of these really valuable things that. [00:08:47] Are basically how he coaches it's his unique method for running his volleyball teams. He's a college volleyball coach and it was awesome, but I noticed something very good, obvious that was missing. And I want to play this little clip for you. It's of that moment, because I think. [00:09:06] You and others like you, who are listening to this podcast, there may be things that you don't even realize you're good at that you don't even see are opportunities in your business that you're missing. And once you see them, Everything starts to fall into place. And this is something that is absolutely central to Brian success. [00:09:31] And I know that as he leans into it, it's only going to make him more and more successful. And I know he's going to get better and better results for his coaches. And so before I say too much, let me play this clip for you. And you can listen to the conversation on your own. So here it is. Can I, can I also, if there's something else out there, Brian, I don't know if I, if this was in your, you coach B framework. I, I missed it. Yeah. Who are naturally really positive. Really? You've got a wonderful, and I told you that the first time I heard your voice. Yeah. Like it was voice Instagram. I'm like you have a great energy. [00:10:14] You are a people person. And I get the sense that who you are as an empower of other people. And that is part of why you lead so well. And you do have these processes and you have all these things to streamline it. But I think, you're and I could be totally wrong. So just like disregard if it's off, you'll know inside, but my guess is that you are doing something because it's who you are that you might not be teaching. [00:10:44] Because you don't even realize the power of it because it's, you're not doing it. You're being it. You are encouraging your people. You are empowering your people. It's not just the systems. It's how you are giving the feedback. It's how you're validated. And I don't know if that's in your methodology or not. [00:11:03] Well, it's, it's what you're describing is true. Like, I think that that's how I am with my players, coaches, et cetera. So I, so the question is, do you address that in your framework? How do you address who I am in my framework? No, no, no, no, no. The, the empowering part, the part, the things you say, the way you encourage the way you Oh, okay. [00:11:26] I see what you're saying. So basically the way that I teach, the way that I coach. Yeah. Like how, Oh yeah, I haven't talked about that, but that's a great point. So that's a great point. I think your secret sauce is not all of these beautiful processes. They're gorgeous. I think the reason you're amazing is because of who you are and you don't even see yet because it's just you being that. [00:11:55] And so here's, here's, here's how you find that. It start to get really intentional about thinking about how do you interact with your players. And we're good. I'm an empower. You're an empower I can tell. And so you'll see some of that later in the course, because you're going to be like, Oh yeah, of course, of course, Maddie is another one. [00:12:13] She's already doing this and empowering our people, but you are a natural leader and you're helping them become lean. Cause you can take a jackass coach and they can take your process and go through it. And they're not going to have a winning team because they don't know how to lead. It's, you know, it's funny, you said that not to toot my own horn, but my, one of my fingers, one of my players asked me the other day was like, can you give us another motivational speak? [00:12:34] It really helped me. It really made me feel good about myself going forward. And I'm like, Oh yeah, sure. I do that. Like, that's I that's what I do. I start every practice with, like I say something I, I inspire, I do what you say. Like I'm really passionate when I, with anything I do. I'm really passionate. And I think that my, my, my players love that. [00:12:48] And my, and coaches that I work with. Love that too, but I, I don't, I never really. Considered like an added as a factor. That's just what I do. So yeah, in your methodology, is it? No, but it should be, it should be exactly what you're teaching. Like this stuff is great and they need this stuff to be effective, but this is not your secret sauce. [00:13:06] Your secret sauce is knowing how to empower people. And of course you don't see it because it's just what you do because that's who you are. So how can you help people become that if they don't naturally have that in them? Wow. That's really good. Okay. So where do I put that? Like, that place is everything. [00:13:27] If you think about it, like that's well, that's my secret sauce. Yeah. Not that's my zone of genius as you call it like that, that's pretty sick. Okay. So I got it. Where it, where does that go? Like, that's good for that. That would be my unique methodology right there. They're like, that's it. No one can touch that except me, I guess. [00:13:44] Right. [00:13:45] part of why I wanted to share this with you. And the story about my own obvious thing that I was missing is that sometimes we are so close. To our business. We are so far on this, that, and the other thing that we miss, the obvious opportunities and the obvious pitfalls. That may be clear to somebody else who has that experience. [00:14:15] I can see from the outside and say, Oh my gosh, this is obvious. I know you, I know your business. this is what you need to be considering, or this is the distraction, or this is your gift. This is where you need to lean. Yeah. And getting those moments of insight. Are some of the most valuable moments of insight you can get, because sometimes those are the pieces you need to get you unstuck and moving forward and really getting the success that you've been dreaming of. [00:14:47] This is part of why being in a mastermind is so, so incredibly valuable. This is part of what I want to bring to you as a bright entrepreneur, who is probably doing really well on your own. And I know most entrepreneurs are super independent and I know we think we can do it all ourselves, but you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know how to get to where you want to go, or you would be there right now. [00:15:16] And what I have found is that it is more valuable for my business alone. Like literally I can point back to all the different places where I have made my money back time and time again, year after year, I've invested, this is my fourth year in stews mastermind. And every single year I can point to at least one common. [00:15:38] And if not multiples that have made me more than the very expensive. Fee that I pay to be in this mastermind to the point where that is my most important investment in my business year round, I will cut everything else out to stay in this. Now that might seem weird because yes, it's friendships. Yes. [00:15:58] It's conversations. No, it's not necessarily specific content, but the conversations that happen there. The ability to get to know other people and watch them grow in their businesses over years and really get to see under the hood of all of these other people, also growing businesses to see what works, what doesn't to grab the best parts and incorporate them into your business to avoid the pitfalls that they run into and really to leverage the collective experience that. [00:16:33] Is so valuable for growing fast. It's priceless. It's genuinely priceless. And up until now, there haven't been a lot of masterminds that were less than $25,000 a year, or that were open to people who were making less than half a million or a million dollars per year. And so that's a gap that I really wanted to fill now. [00:16:57] I am starting these up. I'm hoping to do them starting the week, the first week of November. And I'm only taking applications for this first round through October 22nd, so that I can curate them and make sure to get back to people and have them ready to go for that first week in November. And I hate for you to miss out and not even know what you're missing out on. [00:17:19] I know that 2020 has been one heck of a hard year, and I know that we y'all want 20, 21 to be, amazing. And I truly believe with all of my heart that joining a mastermind is that right? Best way that you can ensure that you are going to be as prepared as possible and ready to rock 2021. So I'd love to invite you to apply, to be a part of the mastermind. Now I'm not going to take everybody because I really want to make sure that people can contribute. But the main things that I'm looking for are integrity. I'm looking for action takers. [00:18:01] I'm looking for people who are already selling something and know who they want to sell to. And I'm looking for people who are generous and not afraid to share what they know with others who are going to be honest with themselves and honest with the other people in the mastermind. We're going to meet twice a month for two hours each meeting and it's going to be so incredible. I'm so excited. I am so excited for what I know is in your future as you join this mastermind, because there may be things like I talked about in this podcast that you don't even realize that you don't know that could change. Everything for you, or maybe there's something that's very obvious to me or one of the other people in the mastermind that you're doing that is absolutely holding you back from the success that you're after. [00:18:51] And as soon as you realize it and step away from that, things could take off. You just don't know what you don't know because you have limited experience. So when you can surround yourself by other like-minded business owners who can help you get to the next level and scale your business, because you can tap into their experience as well, and you can watch what they are doing in their business. [00:19:18] It's priceless. It's priceless. And I would really hate for you to miss out on this and experience massive FOMO and keep struggling and stay stuck, where you are. And I know that there's a lot of people out there and maybe you're one of them who would love to be a part of this, but know that like money is super tight. [00:19:41] Like I know I am in that boat and I know what a sacrifice this is to be in it. In fact, I have somebody who's like, maybe I can sell my long arm quilting machine because I really want to be in this. And I know that it's expensive, but I know that would pay off. she's trying to say, how, how can I do this? [00:20:02] Because she sees the value. And she knows how much that could help her in her business to have that community, to have that insight with her for the next 12 months. And that's what I want for you. I know that it's hard. I absolutely do. I have a payment plan to help those of you who are pivoting to make it more easy to pair. [00:20:27] But I want you to know that this is a literally the best investment you can make in yourself and your business. And I know personally from experience, I know it's terrifying. I almost puked when, when I got the news that, I was, accepted into Stew's impact mastermind because it was so much money and we were not making a lot of money. We needed every penny and, it was terrifying. It was literally terrifying. And I remember feeling so much fear but. we tripled our business in literally 18 months, and I know without a shadow of a doubt, it's because of the advice and the support that I got in that mastermind. [00:21:05] And that's what I want for you. So my friend, if you would like to consider being in the mastermind, I would love to have you, you apply simply go to, we are brighter together.com and you can get all the details there and apply. Please do so by October 22nd, I'm going to be curating the applications after that. [00:21:26] And if you do apply after that time, I can't guarantee you will be able to get in. For the first round when we are starting that first week of November, I don't have the exact date. if you have questions because I know that this is a big investment and it might not be clear to you, I would love to chat with you about it. [00:21:45] I'd actually really love to have a conversation, not just a quick little message. I do have a link in the show notes that you can use to send me a little message via video. we can set up a time to meet or chat back and forth that way, or you can reach out to on Instagram. My link to that is also in the show notes and we can, I can either talk back and forth there, or we can set up a time to jump on zoom and see if it's a good fit for you, because I definitely want it to be a good fit for you. [00:22:11] I don't want you to regret making this decision, but at the same time, I don't want you to regret not doing it. Because you were afraid or because you didn't think you could afford it. When I know that man, this has changed my life and my business in ways I can't even explain. And I know that that can be the same for you. [00:22:31] In fact, if you want to hear more stories about how valuable a mastermind is in the last episode, I actually had people from the mastermind that I'm in now. Not one that I lead, but one that I pay to be in with Stu McLaren, I asked some of the other people who are in the mastermind to share why they continually invest in a mastermind and what value that brings yes to them. [00:22:51] Especially as a really successful entrepreneur, who knows what they're doing. Of course they know the strategy. Why would they invest in a group like this? If they didn't also see the value. All right. My friend, we are brighter together.com. That's the link to the application would love to consider you for the mastermind. [00:23:09] Do not hesitate in any way to reach out to me personally, I would be happy to have a discussion with you to see if this is something that you should be a part of. And with that, I just want to remind you that we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: Do you ever wonder if something is missing that you're just not seeing something that needs to fall into place for everything to move forward, the way you want it to, or that there's some hole somewhere and you're not sure where it is or what it is. And you know that once. Everything just comes together. [00:00:18] It's all gonna fall into place and things are going to fly forward. Well, I had two of these experiences this week and I wanted to share them with you because in those moments where you suddenly realize something that you didn't even see, and it's just like, Oh, of course. And the unseen becomes obvious. [00:00:44] It can change. Everything. And that's what I'm going to share with you today. this week has been a little bit of an emotional week for me. If I can be completely vulnerable and honest with you, which I always am. But, with launching the masterminds, I never realized how much those meant to me, because it is so, so deeply aligned with who I am. And I feel so incredibly passionate about them because I know what a huge difference being in a mastermind has made to me personally. [00:01:47] I know I never want to be in business without being in a mastermind again, because I have these experiences where I don't know what I don't know or. Somebody sees an obvious opportunity or pitfall that I didn't even notice that changes everything for me. When I see it. And so I wanted to share a little bit about this week for me one, because I know that when you're doing something new and I know there's a lot of you who have pivoted recently because of all this covert stuff. [00:02:22] And there are others of you who maybe didn't pivot, but are still growing and stuck in that messy middle. And you can get really, really hard. To push past the resistance. It can be really hard to get beyond the anxieties and you just, all the normal stuff that comes from growing a business and stepping outside our comfort zones. [00:02:43] But especially as we go closer and closer to the things that are really truly aligned with who we are, it can be especially hard. And I know for me this week I had. an encounter personally, where I reached out to a friend who is very dear to me and we were discussing kind of what I could do with my photography business that I've stepped away from because it's, beautiful asset it's there. [00:03:10]it, I don't want to just see it disappear and go to waste, but I also feel very, very called to step into this. So we were talking about, you know, some different options I could do with that. And just a number of other things and catching up and talking business. And. He said something to me that totally just blew my mind a little bit. [00:03:33] And it was such a beautiful and helpful comment and it kind of seems so obvious looking back on it. But in the moment it was really, it was really insightful to me. Cause I was talking about how I just am not fully aligned with the photography business stuff anymore. [00:03:50] Like my passion is in helping other entrepreneurs who are building online businesses and I love photographers. It's not that I don't love the people. It's just, I haven't been passionate about photography in longer than I'd like to admit. And I've wanted to do a mastermind for over three years. And I'm so excited about that. [00:04:08] I know that's going to really use my gifts in the best possible way. But I was saying that, didn't want to. Do something with that. Now that would end up being a distraction from the thing that I really deeply feel called to focus on, because one of the biggest things you need to do in order to be successful is focus, focus, and not keep trying all sorts of different things. [00:04:28] You should not be throwing spaghetti against the wall. And hoping something sticks. You should have a clear, focused, intentional plan for success. That's how you grow fast. And I know what that is, and I've got that plan, but I was also stressing a little bit because cashflow is tight right now. Like I have this beautiful mastermind idea and I know it's going to take off, but I was just, I'm just sitting here saying, well, what if this isn't enough? And what if he can't get us through, the next couple of months or whatever it is. [00:04:54] And just honestly, I was just having a little anxious freak out and it's. Not something I needed to be freaking out about, but I was, and I mean, it's a legitimate anxiety would starting over. [00:05:07] It's just, it's been stressful. COVID eight through our savings. And so, you know, I don't have that cushion that I had last year at this time to fall back on and it's causes a lot of anxiety and he said something. So why I used to me his name's Nate. , he's amazing. Yeah. He goes, you know, it sounds like right now, lack of cashflow coming in is actually a bigger distraction. [00:05:30] Then anything else would be, and that may be the best thing you can do for getting your new business off the ground faster and making decisions from a really healthy place. Instead of asking your city stress place is just to figure out how to make some fast cash coming in, whether that's what the photography thing or, you know, whatever else. [00:05:50] And it just seems so obvious after he said it. I'm just like, Oh right. Gosh, that makes sense because it would reduce stress. Although if I'm completely honest, I think the anxiety is less about money and more about the fact that I'm launching something that really is close to who I am and the money just amplifies the stress and the anxiety and whatever else. [00:06:12] But it was such an enlightening and helpful comment to have. And I didn't even see it, it was like, Oh, of course, like that's the distraction. That's what I'm missing. And to have him there to be able to point it out. So clearly to me was super invaluable because then it's like, okay, well, if that's the distraction, what can I do to overcome it? [00:06:36] Like what has brought me money over the last three months? How can I do more of that while growing my audience? I mean, I'm going to be honest, I haven't done any email list, building things at all. I have maybe 76 people, I think yesterday when I looked on my email list and my stats are amazing. A third of the people on my email list are buyers. That's amazing. Now I just need more of them. Like, it's very clear that I just need my numbers to go up and I know that I'm attracting the right people and that, they want what I have to offer. [00:07:10] They're getting real transformation. They're already spreading the word about it, but I know what I need to do. I need to grow my audience and I need to make money. So it's pretty clear path moving forward. I know what I need to do to do that, but it just didn't Dawn on me that, Oh, maybe I should take this training that I created. [00:07:28] And get it out in front of more people and start asking them to opt in to get that. And then following up afterwards with it to make some money and do some more sales. Cause I just need more eyeballs. I just need to get in front of more of the right people because I know that what I have works and converts. [00:07:46] And so now it seems really obvious to me and I wish I would have seen it sooner because. It just gave me a lot of clarity on what my next steps need to be just immediately in terms of list building growth and how that'll tie into my income growth as well. But then, Oh my gosh. On Thursday, Thursday, I was doing a Q and a session with my bright future methods students. [00:08:10] And this is part of why I want to do masterminds because I love working with people more one-on-one and we do them via zoom. So it's almost more like a coaching thing than it is just like a Facebook live Q and a. And I want to play this moment for you because this was a moment where. I was talking with one of my students. [00:08:31] His name is Brian. And, it was just this beautiful moment where he had laid out his framework for helping teach volleyball coaches. And it was a great framework with all of these processes and like all of these really valuable things that. [00:08:47] Are basically how he coaches it's his unique method for running his volleyball teams. He's a college volleyball coach and it was awesome, but I noticed something very good, obvious that was missing. And I want to play this little clip for you. It's of that moment, because I think. [00:09:06] You and others like you, who are listening to this podcast, there may be things that you don't even realize you're good at that you don't even see are opportunities in your business that you're missing. And once you see them, Everything starts to fall into place. And this is something that is absolutely central to Brian success. [00:09:31] And I know that as he leans into it, it's only going to make him more and more successful. And I know he's going to get better and better results for his coaches. And so before I say too much, let me play this clip for you. And you can listen to the conversation on your own. So here it is. Can I, can I also, if there's something else out there, Brian, I don't know if I, if this was in your, you coach B framework. I, I missed it. Yeah. Who are naturally really positive. Really? You've got a wonderful, and I told you that the first time I heard your voice. Yeah. Like it was voice Instagram. I'm like you have a great energy. [00:10:14] You are a people person. And I get the sense that who you are as an empower of other people. And that is part of why you lead so well. And you do have these processes and you have all these things to streamline it. But I think, you're and I could be totally wrong. So just like disregard if it's off, you'll know inside, but my guess is that you are doing something because it's who you are that you might not be teaching. [00:10:44] Because you don't even realize the power of it because it's, you're not doing it. You're being it. You are encouraging your people. You are empowering your people. It's not just the systems. It's how you are giving the feedback. It's how you're validated. And I don't know if that's in your methodology or not. [00:11:03] Well, it's, it's what you're describing is true. Like, I think that that's how I am with my players, coaches, et cetera. So I, so the question is, do you address that in your framework? How do you address who I am in my framework? No, no, no, no, no. The, the empowering part, the part, the things you say, the way you encourage the way you Oh, okay. [00:11:26] I see what you're saying. So basically the way that I teach, the way that I coach. Yeah. Like how, Oh yeah, I haven't talked about that, but that's a great point. So that's a great point. I think your secret sauce is not all of these beautiful processes. They're gorgeous. I think the reason you're amazing is because of who you are and you don't even see yet because it's just you being that. [00:11:55] And so here's, here's, here's how you find that. It start to get really intentional about thinking about how do you interact with your players. And we're good. I'm an empower. You're an empower I can tell. And so you'll see some of that later in the course, because you're going to be like, Oh yeah, of course, of course, Maddie is another one. [00:12:13] She's already doing this and empowering our people, but you are a natural leader and you're helping them become lean. Cause you can take a jackass coach and they can take your process and go through it. And they're not going to have a winning team because they don't know how to lead. It's, you know, it's funny, you said that not to toot my own horn, but my, one of my fingers, one of my players asked me the other day was like, can you give us another motivational speak? [00:12:34] It really helped me. It really made me feel good about myself going forward. And I'm like, Oh yeah, sure. I do that. Like, that's I that's what I do. I start every practice with, like I say something I, I inspire, I do what you say. Like I'm really passionate when I, with anything I do. I'm really passionate. And I think that my, my, my players love that. [00:12:48] And my, and coaches that I work with. Love that too, but I, I don't, I never really. Considered like an added as a factor. That's just what I do. So yeah, in your methodology, is it? No, but it should be, it should be exactly what you're teaching. Like this stuff is great and they need this stuff to be effective, but this is not your secret sauce. [00:13:06] Your secret sauce is knowing how to empower people. And of course you don't see it because it's just what you do because that's who you are. So how can you help people become that if they don't naturally have that in them? Wow. That's really good. Okay. So where do I put that? Like, that place is everything. [00:13:27] If you think about it, like that's well, that's my secret sauce. Yeah. Not that's my zone of genius as you call it like that, that's pretty sick. Okay. So I got it. Where it, where does that go? Like, that's good for that. That would be my unique methodology right there. They're like, that's it. No one can touch that except me, I guess. [00:13:44] Right. [00:13:45] part of why I wanted to share this with you. And the story about my own obvious thing that I was missing is that sometimes we are so close. To our business. We are so far on this, that, and the other thing that we miss, the obvious opportunities and the obvious pitfalls. That may be clear to somebody else who has that experience. [00:14:15] I can see from the outside and say, Oh my gosh, this is obvious. I know you, I know your business. this is what you need to be considering, or this is the distraction, or this is your gift. This is where you need to lean. Yeah. And getting those moments of insight. Are some of the most valuable moments of insight you can get, because sometimes those are the pieces you need to get you unstuck and moving forward and really getting the success that you've been dreaming of. [00:14:47] This is part of why being in a mastermind is so, so incredibly valuable. This is part of what I want to bring to you as a bright entrepreneur, who is probably doing really well on your own. And I know most entrepreneurs are super independent and I know we think we can do it all ourselves, but you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know how to get to where you want to go, or you would be there right now. [00:15:16] And what I have found is that it is more valuable for my business alone. Like literally I can point back to all the different places where I have made my money back time and time again, year after year, I've invested, this is my fourth year in stews mastermind. And every single year I can point to at least one common. [00:15:38] And if not multiples that have made me more than the very expensive. Fee that I pay to be in this mastermind to the point where that is my most important investment in my business year round, I will cut everything else out to stay in this. Now that might seem weird because yes, it's friendships. Yes. [00:15:58] It's conversations. No, it's not necessarily specific content, but the conversations that happen there. The ability to get to know other people and watch them grow in their businesses over years and really get to see under the hood of all of these other people, also growing businesses to see what works, what doesn't to grab the best parts and incorporate them into your business to avoid the pitfalls that they run into and really to leverage the collective experience that. [00:16:33] Is so valuable for growing fast. It's priceless. It's genuinely priceless. And up until now, there haven't been a lot of masterminds that were less than $25,000 a year, or that were open to people who were making less than half a million or a million dollars per year. And so that's a gap that I really wanted to fill now. [00:16:57] I am starting these up. I'm hoping to do them starting the week, the first week of November. And I'm only taking applications for this first round through October 22nd, so that I can curate them and make sure to get back to people and have them ready to go for that first week in November. And I hate for you to miss out and not even know what you're missing out on. [00:17:19] I know that 2020 has been one heck of a hard year, and I know that we y'all want 20, 21 to be, amazing. And I truly believe with all of my heart that joining a mastermind is that right? Best way that you can ensure that you are going to be as prepared as possible and ready to rock 2021. So I'd love to invite you to apply, to be a part of the mastermind. Now I'm not going to take everybody because I really want to make sure that people can contribute. But the main things that I'm looking for are integrity. I'm looking for action takers. [00:18:01] I'm looking for people who are already selling something and know who they want to sell to. And I'm looking for people who are generous and not afraid to share what they know with others who are going to be honest with themselves and honest with the other people in the mastermind. We're going to meet twice a month for two hours each meeting and it's going to be so incredible. I'm so excited. I am so excited for what I know is in your future as you join this mastermind, because there may be things like I talked about in this podcast that you don't even realize that you don't know that could change. Everything for you, or maybe there's something that's very obvious to me or one of the other people in the mastermind that you're doing that is absolutely holding you back from the success that you're after. [00:18:51] And as soon as you realize it and step away from that, things could take off. You just don't know what you don't know because you have limited experience. So when you can surround yourself by other like-minded business owners who can help you get to the next level and scale your business, because you can tap into their experience as well, and you can watch what they are doing in their business. [00:19:18] It's priceless. It's priceless. And I would really hate for you to miss out on this and experience massive FOMO and keep struggling and stay stuck, where you are. And I know that there's a lot of people out there and maybe you're one of them who would love to be a part of this, but know that like money is super tight. [00:19:41] Like I know I am in that boat and I know what a sacrifice this is to be in it. In fact, I have somebody who's like, maybe I can sell my long arm quilting machine because I really want to be in this. And I know that it's expensive, but I know that would pay off. she's trying to say, how, how can I do this? [00:20:02] Because she sees the value. And she knows how much that could help her in her business to have that community, to have that insight with her for the next 12 months. And that's what I want for you. I know that it's hard. I absolutely do. I have a payment plan to help those of you who are pivoting to make it more easy to pair. [00:20:27] But I want you to know that this is a literally the best investment you can make in yourself and your business. And I know personally from experience, I know it's terrifying. I almost puked when, when I got the news that, I was, accepted into Stew's impact mastermind because it was so much money and we were not making a lot of money. We needed every penny and, it was terrifying. It was literally terrifying. And I remember feeling so much fear but. we tripled our business in literally 18 months, and I know without a shadow of a doubt, it's because of the advice and the support that I got in that mastermind. [00:21:05] And that's what I want for you. So my friend, if you would like to consider being in the mastermind, I would love to have you, you apply simply go to, we are brighter together.com and you can get all the details there and apply. Please do so by October 22nd, I'm going to be curating the applications after that. [00:21:26] And if you do apply after that time, I can't guarantee you will be able to get in. For the first round when we are starting that first week of November, I don't have the exact date. if you have questions because I know that this is a big investment and it might not be clear to you, I would love to chat with you about it. [00:21:45] I'd actually really love to have a conversation, not just a quick little message. I do have a link in the show notes that you can use to send me a little message via video. we can set up a time to meet or chat back and forth that way, or you can reach out to on Instagram. My link to that is also in the show notes and we can, I can either talk back and forth there, or we can set up a time to jump on zoom and see if it's a good fit for you, because I definitely want it to be a good fit for you. [00:22:11] I don't want you to regret making this decision, but at the same time, I don't want you to regret not doing it. Because you were afraid or because you didn't think you could afford it. When I know that man, this has changed my life and my business in ways I can't even explain. And I know that that can be the same for you. [00:22:31] In fact, if you want to hear more stories about how valuable a mastermind is in the last episode, I actually had people from the mastermind that I'm in now. Not one that I lead, but one that I pay to be in with Stu McLaren, I asked some of the other people who are in the mastermind to share why they continually invest in a mastermind and what value that brings yes to them. [00:22:51] Especially as a really successful entrepreneur, who knows what they're doing. Of course they know the strategy. Why would they invest in a group like this? If they didn't also see the value. All right. My friend, we are brighter together.com. That's the link to the application would love to consider you for the mastermind. [00:23:09] Do not hesitate in any way to reach out to me personally, I would be happy to have a discussion with you to see if this is something that you should be a part of. And with that, I just want to remind you that we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here. >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: Back when I was first starting my business, I heard over and over and over again that I needed to be part of a mastermind and that it was one of the most valuable things I could do if I wanted to grow my business. But at the time I didn't even really know what a mastermind was. And I certainly did not understand why they were so valuable. [00:00:22] Or why they were so expensive, frankly, it was really hard to see the cost of a mastermind, which most of the ones I was looking at were around 25 to $30,000 and really try and justify spending that much money on my business to join this group of people in a mastermind. [00:00:41]So today I'm doing this something a little bit different. I actually went to several of my friends in an impact mastermind, which is the mastermind that I'm a part of that's run by Stu McLaren and ask them why they find being in a mastermind to be so valuable and what they really get out of it. So you're going to hear. [00:01:02] From their own words, what they find valuable about this. Plus after the introduction music, I have got three really fun things that I want to share with you that I'm celebrating today. So let's dive in So this is a really fun episode because this is episode number 100 of the right entrepreneur podcast. It is so exciting to me to be able to bring in a bunch of my friends and closest colleagues and have them share in this hundredth episode, this is a huge milestone for me But also we just crossed the six, 2000 download Mark, which is really exciting for me as well. So I want to just say thank you first and foremost, for subscribing to the podcast for listening to it and for telling your friends about it. It really means a lot. And the final thing that I'm celebrating today is it's my birthday. [00:02:27] I'm 39 years old today. I am so thrilled to be sharing this with you here on the podcast. But let me get to the fun stuff. [00:02:37]I've been dreaming of running a high end mastermind for years, and I've planned on doing that. But coven makes travel a lot harder since so many things are restricted right now, but it finally dawned on me the other day that I could start. Online virtual masterminds right now for a fraction of the cost of what I would normally charge for our high end mastermind, because it's so accessible online. [00:03:04] So I will tell you more about that in the end. I just wanted to mention it now, in case you were interested in joining one, but in the meantime, I have eight minutes, my friends here that are going to share with you exactly why they find a mastermind so valuable the eight people that you hear from today are all part of Stu McLaren's impact mastermind with me, which is a mastermind that I pay to be a part of. So they're kind of my personal peer group. They're close friends. They have helped shape my business and they are some of my greatest encouragers and supporters. [00:03:39] And I am so thankful that they took a few minutes out of their day to share it with you today. [00:03:43] so with that, I'm going to hand over the show to my friends [00:03:47] Scott Paley: Hi, I'm Scott Paley from abstract edge. I'm also the co founder of the nonprofit leadership lab and I'm in a mastermind group, right with Jamie. she in fact is the one who convinced me to join the mastermind group originally. And I've got to say when she first suggested it, I was a little bit skeptical. [00:04:06] I knew that I would benefit from the strategies and the tactics that I would learn from other really smart people in the group. But. It was hard to justify the cost because it was certainly not inexpensive. That said what surprised me now, having been in the mastermind group with Jamie for about three years, is that the biggest benefit that I get from it is as an entrepreneur, there are just so many times where you start feeling overwhelmed, imposter syndrome is, is kicking in full force and you just really need. People who get you, who peak, who understand you, who have context and know the background of your story in a pretty deep way. And when you have those people in your life who can support you through the tough moments, it makes such a big difference, not just emotionally, but from a business perspective, it helps you get through those really challenging times that can kill a business. [00:05:10] And by getting through those, we've had, I had so much success over the last three years, with our membership sites that I definitely. Definitely can look at the mastermind group, and know that that played a huge role in the success that we've had highly recommend being part of a mastermind in one capacity or another. [00:05:32] It makes a huge difference as an entrepreneur. I could not recommend it more highly. [00:05:36]Next you're going to hear from my friend, Rachel Miller, who runs Moolah marketing and teaches people how to grow massive audiences. She's the most brilliant Facebook marketer I have ever met. and fun side note. [00:05:50] She also has six kids like me, so I adore her dearly. Here's Rachel. [00:05:55] Rachel Miller: I love masterminds guys. So often we're so close to our businesses that we don't see. What's literally right in front of us. And I've loved being in a mastermind with Jamie Swanson because she can cut through the bull crap. Seriously, the girl has a gift of seeing clear, helping us see clarity in our own businesses, almost like inspiring or opening up the blinders. [00:06:21] So we can see that the path to what's next, being in a mastermind mind means that you have someone there that you can call when you need help, that you have a friend that's that that's your, your, your sidekick in business and in life. And that you have those tips, that the clarity, the blinder moments that make all of the difference for your business. [00:06:43] If you're interested in a mastermind, I hear Jamie's got one come in and I know it. Yeah. I know. I have blessed been blessed by being in a mastermind with her, and I'm sure you will be as well.. [00:06:55] [00:06:55]Susan Bradley: Hey gang. I'm Susan Bradley. I'm the founder of the social sales girls, where we teach eCommerce store owners, how to get more traffic, grow their sales, and really grow the business that pays them well. And the one that they've been dreaming about, and Jamie asked me to share with you why I think a mastermind is a great place to be when you're growing your business. [00:07:18] And I've actually been a member of a mastermind for. Three years now. So I think that that in itself proves that it's a really valid place to grow your business. You know, over the course of those three years, my business has basically exploded. And I know I can't put my finger on one thing that made that happen. [00:07:39] When I look at the massive change I've made in my business, it's a lot of it is due to being in a room with people who are working on similar goals. They have similar experiences they share openly. And I have learned so much from that. You know, one of the best parts of a mastermind for me is people sharing their ideas. [00:08:01] I get to watch as they implement. And they share their results. And so it really helps me shape the way I grow my business based on what other people have had good luck with. So I really feel that that's a huge part of it. The other thing I love is that I feel like it is a very safe place to get great feedback. [00:08:22] And so rather than going out into the business community as a whole and looking for feedback, I would always go to my mastermind first and ask for feedback on things like sales pages or strategies, or if I have an employee problem. That's where I go first, because I knew that these people are experienced Many of them have had these issues before, and I know that they have my best interest in heart at heart, and they will give me great feedback. So it's a safe place for that. Now the last thing is the relationships that you will develop. Not everybody in the mastermind will be your best friend, but if you give it your all, you will find that you will develop some really good longterm, strong relationships with other people that you trust. [00:09:07] And those relationships may actually even benefit your business down the road. It might be opportunities to partner up. With people who you have that established relationship with. So really if you're considering it, I would completely encourage you to give it a try. I think if you really work at it and you make it a priority, you'll find that it will help your business grow in amazing ways. [00:09:31]Emily Jeffords: Hey there, I'm Emily Jeffords. I'm an artist and I have the honor of teaching and mentoring other artists and running profitable and sustainable creative businesses. And I have enjoyed being in a mastermind more than I ever thought was possible. Cool. I think it is a very safe, special thing to be in a room with the smartest and wisest and clearest people. [00:09:56] But I know people that normalize success, people that support you in your weaknesses and people that can come alongside with all of our unique gifts and talents and all of our unique strengths and really fill in each other's gaps. If I have a question about something abstract or outside of my wheelhouse, someone in the mastermind knows the answer and that's. [00:10:18] One of the most special things. The normalizing success part though, I think is the most precious part about being in a mastermind for me, because when you're with a group of people that, that says it's okay to reach for more and it's okay to strive for excellence and it's okay to reach these levels of success that maybe aren't normal. [00:10:40] That's a beautiful thing, just to have that permission to rise and to reach and to make as big of an impact as you possibly can. That is. So amazing. And Jamie's been a huge part of that. We've had some conversations, just the two of us that have really brought me so much clarity and so much focus. And she has a way of perceiving people so intimately and helping you where you need help in the kindness. [00:11:06] Yeah. Clearest of all ways. I'm so thankful for that. So if you're considering a mastermind. I highly suggest it. I think it's one of the most profitable investments you can make in your business, but more importantly in yourself. [00:11:21] Candace Dagnolo: My name's Candace, Don Yolo, and I'm the CEO and founder of pet boss nation. And I've been in the pet industry since 2006 and I've had a lot of ups and downs and I tried to go it alone in my business for the first five years. And that's when I discovered my first mastermind. See, I've been in a mastermind for over a decade. [00:11:44]I've been in for this one that I'm in with Jamie now is my fourth mastermind. I've been in the very first one. It was amazing because it was. With a group of people who were in the same type of business as mine. And I got to learn so much, so much about business and retail that I didn't know before. And I loved those moments and being that group led me to the next group where I got to see what a bigger opportunity was out there for me and different industries and how I could apply different thoughts. [00:12:16] To my existing business. And through those two masterminds, I was able to sell one of my businesses because of all the things I learned. Then I joined another one, which was amazing. It was a really, really big group, but they put us into small little pods. And I loved that because I got that one on one deep connection, but it was led and facilitated by somebody who, kept us all focused. [00:12:41] And also called us out on our BS, which was awesome because who does that? Often? We're the bosses are of our business and very few people ever call us on our BS. And so that's what a good mastermind leader will do for you too. And then now in impact, I am just loving being with people who are so successful that I just really get to see what's possible. [00:13:04] But also the vulnerability that's there and the connection and friendships and the giving of the community members in the mastermind. You just don't experience anything like that. Really anywhere else in life because our families don't get our businesses. Usually our friends don't get the business and we kind of feel like we're on an Island and we have questions, but we don't feel confident and comfortable sometimes to go into these Facebook groups and ask. [00:13:36] That or we really need advice from the people who've been there before us to give us the right path. So I always invest in masterminds. I have for the last 10 years, it's constantly worth it. I always see the rewards and I encourage you to join a mastermind as soon as possible to get there faster and to stop going it alone. [00:14:00] [00:14:00]Tracy Harris: Hi there. My name is Tracy Harris and I am the car at mums with hustle and I help moms leverage the power of Instagram so that they can make more revenue in their business and ultimately build their dream life for them and their families, whatever that means for them. So being a digital Sayer. [00:14:25] Canberra pretty darn hard. There were lots of highs. There were lots of lows. There are a lot of learning curves. And so for me, investing in a mastermind is just a no brainer. I have, come to realize how important it is to really, because on my circle of influence that, being the people that I choose to surround myself with, I always always make sure that I am learning. [00:14:55] From a mentor, someone that shares the same values as what I have in their life and also in their business and someone that can definitely help light the way for the path that I'm embarking on for myself in terms of, the facilitator, their job, other than being a great mentor to you is also to bring a like minded circle of influence to you within the mastermind group. [00:15:25] And that has been one of the greatest surprises. To me, of being in a mastermind that is, I'm not only learning from the mental themselves, but I am learning from the high quality people that the mentor brings together. People like Jamie, for instance, super powers, 100% lie in the area of encouraging and uplifting others, but also helping us to simplify. [00:15:54]Exactly what we've got going on in our businesses, simplifying offers, simplifying messages, helping to bring about clarity and simple, well buying within the business self. So being able to tap into people like Jamie and into so many of the other peers that I've had the blessing and privilege of getting to know, and also learn from in these masterminds. [00:16:19] Right. It's just absolutely priceless. I have been in a mastermind for about three years now, and I would not change that. it's definitely something that I plan to continue investing in because when I invest in myself, I'm then able to pass that on and just be better in my business. And that helps more people as well. [00:16:44] So yeah, I, 100% recommend being in a mastermind. It's a no brainer. [00:16:50] [00:16:50]Nicholas Wilton: Hi, my name is Nicholas Wilton and I'm the founder of art to life. We help artists, discover and ignite their art and using a new approach to creativity in life. I've been in a mastermind the whole time. I finally learn it. It took a long time, but you can't get to where you're going by yourself. [00:17:09] I used to do everything by myself and being in a mastermind has reinforced and taught me over and over and over how it is just, it's just not possible. And it's. Way less fun to try and do everything by yourself. So the main thing that I think that masterminds give you his objectivity, just like making art. [00:17:34] One of the challenges artists have when they're making their art is they get so involved in it. They're staring at the thing. They're trying to figure it out. It's really, really difficult because it's just you in the room and that is the nature of art making. And so getting feedback and seeing the responses from once the work is done is always very illuminating. [00:17:56] That's the tricky part of making art, but building a business, building something that is involves other people, you don't have to do it all by yourself. So in my mastermind, for an example, the one that I'm in with Jamie, I've shared things with Jamie and she's pointed things out to me that I would never have thought were of value to other people. [00:18:19] One of the examples that happened recently was I told a story in our mastermind and. And, and it was just a story, but it was really fun. People thought it was really funny and I didn't really see it that way. And people said again and again, and Jamie was like, this is so hilarious. You need to share this more. [00:18:37] And you're actually pretty funny. You should be more funny in your, in your teaching. It adds a lot to it. This is something I would never even have thought about. So that's just a small example that, that happened between Jamie and I, where it was this really amazing exchange. And it just got me thinking everyone has a different way of showing up at a different gifts they can share. [00:19:01] And we're not always the best people to know. And that's what makes a mastermind, so great. [00:19:07] Jennifer Allwood: . Well, Hey guys, Jennifer, all wood here. I teach women how to use social media to build their business in the online space. And I have been in a mastermind with Jamie for three years now. and prior to being in this mastermind, I was in a different mastermind for two years. So when I really started to build my business, in the online space, it was about six years ago. [00:19:28] I had no, no intention of spending the type of money that is included in a mastermind, but somehow five years ago just got roped into, Oh man, let me see what happens to this mastermind. And it's a lot of money. but I'm hopeful that it can kind of take my business to the next level. And what happened is I. [00:19:47] I got into a room with people that weren't even in my same industry, people that I didn't know. You'll have to excuse the construction noises upstairs. We're on a remodel. I ended up making my best business buddies and figuring out that first year at a mastermind that there's no way I can do my business and continue to grow it without being in a mastermind at this point. [00:20:07] See, some of you might be listening to this and you've never been in a mastermind. So you just don't, you don't kinda, it's like kind of like, you don't know what you're missing. Right. You just don't know what you don't know. But what I know to be true is that at every level of business, a mastermind is so valuable. [00:20:20] It's valuable whenever you're just starting so that you can get, try to get where you're going much quicker. and so I want you to think of that money then as like I'm an acceleration. Policy of sorts. It's going to get you to where you're going quick. and then I know that when you get to your business to a certain level, and you're really wanting to learn well up at, you know, that fee that you're paying that investment is what's going to being in that group. [00:20:46] It will help you get to the next level. There's a lot of people that are pivoting in business right now, they're having to try different things or having to do things differently than they used to. And the investment of a mastermind is just unmatched because you get. So many different minds in a room, even on a zoom together and, and can add kid figure out things and get ideas and get invitations that you never could otherwise. [00:21:10] And so if you've been struggling at all with your business or felt really alone in business, like you don't need to, Jamie's going to be providing a really awesome space. I literally got to kind of mastermind almost with her. even though we're in a mastermind together, she just was such a blessing to my business this fall, when we went to Boulder and we went out hiking and she has the ability to kind of look at a business from a bird's eye view and really help you figure out some strategy and some positioning that are gonna make you incredibly successful. [00:21:36] Well, so, so should you join a mastermind? Absolutely. is the money worth it? 120%? Are you going to get anything out of it? Oh my gosh. Yes. Will you ever want to leave a mastermind? Nope. You really well. So I hope that you will, really consider, joining what Jamie's doing. she has an art for helping people level up. [00:21:57] So that's your friend. [00:21:58]So if this all sounds absolutely amazing to you, and you would like to surround yourself with likeminded business owners so that you can get to the next level and scale your business. I would love to invite you to be part of my brighter together mastermind groups. these are going to be carefully curated groups of no more than 12 people, because I really want you to have a group that you can get to know incredibly well. I have a full process and I'm not going to take everyone. the way that I'm curating. [00:22:34] This is. To look at who's really taking action, who is somebody who's a go getter, who isn't afraid to step outside their comfort zones in order to grow themselves and their business and who might be stuck in the messy middle, and just not sure how move forward, but genuinely knows that they need people in their lives to be a mirror so that they can see. [00:23:00] What they don't see or see the obvious Trinity that's sitting in front of them. And this year, frankly, has been so hard on so many people. And I really want to have an intimate place for you to come and get both the business, but also the emotional support that it comes from having a close knit community that you can trust, where you can be vulnerable. [00:23:26] And you can be honest about what you're going through and how you're growing. So, if you would like to be a part of this, you can apply at, we are brighter together com that link will be in the show notes. And I'm asking, can you do apply by October 21st? But if you are a fast action taker, which by the way are my favorite people, I will be giving a one hour clarity call for free to anybody who applies by the 18th. [00:23:54]This will give me a time curate the groups before we start the first week of November. And this is exactly what you need to set yourself up to start 20, 21 strong, no matter what the year brings for us. [00:24:10]you can get all the details and apply at. We are brighter together.com [00:24:15]and please apply by October 21st. If you have any questions about it whatsoever ever, you can contact me directly on Instagram at Jamie M Swanson. Just send me a DM there. I would love to help you see if this is really going to be a good fit for you or not. And it's been a while since I mentioned this, but I want you to know that I also have a telegram channel for those of you who are listening, who really love what, and want to hear a little bit more from me behind the scenes and connect with me. [00:24:46] So if you are interested in joining that [00:24:48] check the show notes, and it'll tell you exactly how to join. okay. My friends, I am so excited about this and I just cannot tell you how transformational it has been for me to be part of a mastermind this last three and a half years. It's been especially important this past year as I've had to make massive pivots and start over in my business because of COVID frankly, I don't know if I would have had what it took without my friends there to support me through this because I didn't need more content. [00:25:23] I needed support. I needed people who could rally around me and really remind me of that, who I was, what I'm capable of and encourage me when things get hard, it has helped me get through this year with optimism, despite all the setbacks, despite all the disappointments, despite all the really hard stuff that's happened. [00:25:46] And I am so incredibly grateful for each of the people who are here on the podcast with me today, as well as all the other people in the mastermind who have stepped up and supported me, you know, who you are. And I can't tell you how thankful I am, and this is the kind of support and encouragement that I want for you. [00:26:05] I would love to get to know you and your business. And I really genuinely hope that I will see you inside the brighter together. Masterminds would that my friend just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here. >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: Back when I was first starting my business, I heard over and over and over again that I needed to be part of a mastermind and that it was one of the most valuable things I could do if I wanted to grow my business. But at the time I didn't even really know what a mastermind was. And I certainly did not understand why they were so valuable. [00:00:22] Or why they were so expensive, frankly, it was really hard to see the cost of a mastermind, which most of the ones I was looking at were around 25 to $30,000 and really try and justify spending that much money on my business to join this group of people in a mastermind. [00:00:41]So today I'm doing this something a little bit different. I actually went to several of my friends in an impact mastermind, which is the mastermind that I'm a part of that's run by Stu McLaren and ask them why they find being in a mastermind to be so valuable and what they really get out of it. So you're going to hear. [00:01:02] From their own words, what they find valuable about this. Plus after the introduction music, I have got three really fun things that I want to share with you that I'm celebrating today. So let's dive in So this is a really fun episode because this is episode number 100 of the right entrepreneur podcast. It is so exciting to me to be able to bring in a bunch of my friends and closest colleagues and have them share in this hundredth episode, this is a huge milestone for me But also we just crossed the six, 2000 download Mark, which is really exciting for me as well. So I want to just say thank you first and foremost, for subscribing to the podcast for listening to it and for telling your friends about it. It really means a lot. And the final thing that I'm celebrating today is it's my birthday. [00:02:27] I'm 39 years old today. I am so thrilled to be sharing this with you here on the podcast. But let me get to the fun stuff. [00:02:37]I've been dreaming of running a high end mastermind for years, and I've planned on doing that. But coven makes travel a lot harder since so many things are restricted right now, but it finally dawned on me the other day that I could start. Online virtual masterminds right now for a fraction of the cost of what I would normally charge for our high end mastermind, because it's so accessible online. [00:03:04] So I will tell you more about that in the end. I just wanted to mention it now, in case you were interested in joining one, but in the meantime, I have eight minutes, my friends here that are going to share with you exactly why they find a mastermind so valuable the eight people that you hear from today are all part of Stu McLaren's impact mastermind with me, which is a mastermind that I pay to be a part of. So they're kind of my personal peer group. They're close friends. They have helped shape my business and they are some of my greatest encouragers and supporters. [00:03:39] And I am so thankful that they took a few minutes out of their day to share it with you today. [00:03:43] so with that, I'm going to hand over the show to my friends [00:03:47] Scott Paley: Hi, I'm Scott Paley from abstract edge. I'm also the co founder of the nonprofit leadership lab and I'm in a mastermind group, right with Jamie. she in fact is the one who convinced me to join the mastermind group originally. And I've got to say when she first suggested it, I was a little bit skeptical. [00:04:06] I knew that I would benefit from the strategies and the tactics that I would learn from other really smart people in the group. But. It was hard to justify the cost because it was certainly not inexpensive. That said what surprised me now, having been in the mastermind group with Jamie for about three years, is that the biggest benefit that I get from it is as an entrepreneur, there are just so many times where you start feeling overwhelmed, imposter syndrome is, is kicking in full force and you just really need. People who get you, who peak, who understand you, who have context and know the background of your story in a pretty deep way. And when you have those people in your life who can support you through the tough moments, it makes such a big difference, not just emotionally, but from a business perspective, it helps you get through those really challenging times that can kill a business. [00:05:10] And by getting through those, we've had, I had so much success over the last three years, with our membership sites that I definitely. Definitely can look at the mastermind group, and know that that played a huge role in the success that we've had highly recommend being part of a mastermind in one capacity or another. [00:05:32] It makes a huge difference as an entrepreneur. I could not recommend it more highly. [00:05:36]Next you're going to hear from my friend, Rachel Miller, who runs Moolah marketing and teaches people how to grow massive audiences. She's the most brilliant Facebook marketer I have ever met. and fun side note. [00:05:50] She also has six kids like me, so I adore her dearly. Here's Rachel. [00:05:55] Rachel Miller: I love masterminds guys. So often we're so close to our businesses that we don't see. What's literally right in front of us. And I've loved being in a mastermind with Jamie Swanson because she can cut through the bull crap. Seriously, the girl has a gift of seeing clear, helping us see clarity in our own businesses, almost like inspiring or opening up the blinders. [00:06:21] So we can see that the path to what's next, being in a mastermind mind means that you have someone there that you can call when you need help, that you have a friend that's that that's your, your, your sidekick in business and in life. And that you have those tips, that the clarity, the blinder moments that make all of the difference for your business. [00:06:43] If you're interested in a mastermind, I hear Jamie's got one come in and I know it. Yeah. I know. I have blessed been blessed by being in a mastermind with her, and I'm sure you will be as well.. [00:06:55] [00:06:55]Susan Bradley: Hey gang. I'm Susan Bradley. I'm the founder of the social sales girls, where we teach eCommerce store owners, how to get more traffic, grow their sales, and really grow the business that pays them well. And the one that they've been dreaming about, and Jamie asked me to share with you why I think a mastermind is a great place to be when you're growing your business. [00:07:18] And I've actually been a member of a mastermind for. Three years now. So I think that that in itself proves that it's a really valid place to grow your business. You know, over the course of those three years, my business has basically exploded. And I know I can't put my finger on one thing that made that happen. [00:07:39] When I look at the massive change I've made in my business, it's a lot of it is due to being in a room with people who are working on similar goals. They have similar experiences they share openly. And I have learned so much from that. You know, one of the best parts of a mastermind for me is people sharing their ideas. [00:08:01] I get to watch as they implement. And they share their results. And so it really helps me shape the way I grow my business based on what other people have had good luck with. So I really feel that that's a huge part of it. The other thing I love is that I feel like it is a very safe place to get great feedback. [00:08:22] And so rather than going out into the business community as a whole and looking for feedback, I would always go to my mastermind first and ask for feedback on things like sales pages or strategies, or if I have an employee problem. That's where I go first, because I knew that these people are experienced Many of them have had these issues before, and I know that they have my best interest in heart at heart, and they will give me great feedback. So it's a safe place for that. Now the last thing is the relationships that you will develop. Not everybody in the mastermind will be your best friend, but if you give it your all, you will find that you will develop some really good longterm, strong relationships with other people that you trust. [00:09:07] And those relationships may actually even benefit your business down the road. It might be opportunities to partner up. With people who you have that established relationship with. So really if you're considering it, I would completely encourage you to give it a try. I think if you really work at it and you make it a priority, you'll find that it will help your business grow in amazing ways. [00:09:31]Emily Jeffords: Hey there, I'm Emily Jeffords. I'm an artist and I have the honor of teaching and mentoring other artists and running profitable and sustainable creative businesses. And I have enjoyed being in a mastermind more than I ever thought was possible. Cool. I think it is a very safe, special thing to be in a room with the smartest and wisest and clearest people. [00:09:56] But I know people that normalize success, people that support you in your weaknesses and people that can come alongside with all of our unique gifts and talents and all of our unique strengths and really fill in each other's gaps. If I have a question about something abstract or outside of my wheelhouse, someone in the mastermind knows the answer and that's. [00:10:18] One of the most special things. The normalizing success part though, I think is the most precious part about being in a mastermind for me, because when you're with a group of people that, that says it's okay to reach for more and it's okay to strive for excellence and it's okay to reach these levels of success that maybe aren't normal. [00:10:40] That's a beautiful thing, just to have that permission to rise and to reach and to make as big of an impact as you possibly can. That is. So amazing. And Jamie's been a huge part of that. We've had some conversations, just the two of us that have really brought me so much clarity and so much focus. And she has a way of perceiving people so intimately and helping you where you need help in the kindness. [00:11:06] Yeah. Clearest of all ways. I'm so thankful for that. So if you're considering a mastermind. I highly suggest it. I think it's one of the most profitable investments you can make in your business, but more importantly in yourself. [00:11:21] Candace Dagnolo: My name's Candace, Don Yolo, and I'm the CEO and founder of pet boss nation. And I've been in the pet industry since 2006 and I've had a lot of ups and downs and I tried to go it alone in my business for the first five years. And that's when I discovered my first mastermind. See, I've been in a mastermind for over a decade. [00:11:44]I've been in for this one that I'm in with Jamie now is my fourth mastermind. I've been in the very first one. It was amazing because it was. With a group of people who were in the same type of business as mine. And I got to learn so much, so much about business and retail that I didn't know before. And I loved those moments and being that group led me to the next group where I got to see what a bigger opportunity was out there for me and different industries and how I could apply different thoughts. [00:12:16] To my existing business. And through those two masterminds, I was able to sell one of my businesses because of all the things I learned. Then I joined another one, which was amazing. It was a really, really big group, but they put us into small little pods. And I loved that because I got that one on one deep connection, but it was led and facilitated by somebody who, kept us all focused. [00:12:41] And also called us out on our BS, which was awesome because who does that? Often? We're the bosses are of our business and very few people ever call us on our BS. And so that's what a good mastermind leader will do for you too. And then now in impact, I am just loving being with people who are so successful that I just really get to see what's possible. [00:13:04] But also the vulnerability that's there and the connection and friendships and the giving of the community members in the mastermind. You just don't experience anything like that. Really anywhere else in life because our families don't get our businesses. Usually our friends don't get the business and we kind of feel like we're on an Island and we have questions, but we don't feel confident and comfortable sometimes to go into these Facebook groups and ask. [00:13:36] That or we really need advice from the people who've been there before us to give us the right path. So I always invest in masterminds. I have for the last 10 years, it's constantly worth it. I always see the rewards and I encourage you to join a mastermind as soon as possible to get there faster and to stop going it alone. [00:14:00] [00:14:00]Tracy Harris: Hi there. My name is Tracy Harris and I am the car at mums with hustle and I help moms leverage the power of Instagram so that they can make more revenue in their business and ultimately build their dream life for them and their families, whatever that means for them. So being a digital Sayer. [00:14:25] Canberra pretty darn hard. There were lots of highs. There were lots of lows. There are a lot of learning curves. And so for me, investing in a mastermind is just a no brainer. I have, come to realize how important it is to really, because on my circle of influence that, being the people that I choose to surround myself with, I always always make sure that I am learning. [00:14:55] From a mentor, someone that shares the same values as what I have in their life and also in their business and someone that can definitely help light the way for the path that I'm embarking on for myself in terms of, the facilitator, their job, other than being a great mentor to you is also to bring a like minded circle of influence to you within the mastermind group. [00:15:25] And that has been one of the greatest surprises. To me, of being in a mastermind that is, I'm not only learning from the mental themselves, but I am learning from the high quality people that the mentor brings together. People like Jamie, for instance, super powers, 100% lie in the area of encouraging and uplifting others, but also helping us to simplify. [00:15:54]Exactly what we've got going on in our businesses, simplifying offers, simplifying messages, helping to bring about clarity and simple, well buying within the business self. So being able to tap into people like Jamie and into so many of the other peers that I've had the blessing and privilege of getting to know, and also learn from in these masterminds. [00:16:19] Right. It's just absolutely priceless. I have been in a mastermind for about three years now, and I would not change that. it's definitely something that I plan to continue investing in because when I invest in myself, I'm then able to pass that on and just be better in my business. And that helps more people as well. [00:16:44] So yeah, I, 100% recommend being in a mastermind. It's a no brainer. [00:16:50] [00:16:50]Nicholas Wilton: Hi, my name is Nicholas Wilton and I'm the founder of art to life. We help artists, discover and ignite their art and using a new approach to creativity in life. I've been in a mastermind the whole time. I finally learn it. It took a long time, but you can't get to where you're going by yourself. [00:17:09] I used to do everything by myself and being in a mastermind has reinforced and taught me over and over and over how it is just, it's just not possible. And it's. Way less fun to try and do everything by yourself. So the main thing that I think that masterminds give you his objectivity, just like making art. [00:17:34] One of the challenges artists have when they're making their art is they get so involved in it. They're staring at the thing. They're trying to figure it out. It's really, really difficult because it's just you in the room and that is the nature of art making. And so getting feedback and seeing the responses from once the work is done is always very illuminating. [00:17:56] That's the tricky part of making art, but building a business, building something that is involves other people, you don't have to do it all by yourself. So in my mastermind, for an example, the one that I'm in with Jamie, I've shared things with Jamie and she's pointed things out to me that I would never have thought were of value to other people. [00:18:19] One of the examples that happened recently was I told a story in our mastermind and. And, and it was just a story, but it was really fun. People thought it was really funny and I didn't really see it that way. And people said again and again, and Jamie was like, this is so hilarious. You need to share this more. [00:18:37] And you're actually pretty funny. You should be more funny in your, in your teaching. It adds a lot to it. This is something I would never even have thought about. So that's just a small example that, that happened between Jamie and I, where it was this really amazing exchange. And it just got me thinking everyone has a different way of showing up at a different gifts they can share. [00:19:01] And we're not always the best people to know. And that's what makes a mastermind, so great. [00:19:07] Jennifer Allwood: . Well, Hey guys, Jennifer, all wood here. I teach women how to use social media to build their business in the online space. And I have been in a mastermind with Jamie for three years now. and prior to being in this mastermind, I was in a different mastermind for two years. So when I really started to build my business, in the online space, it was about six years ago. [00:19:28] I had no, no intention of spending the type of money that is included in a mastermind, but somehow five years ago just got roped into, Oh man, let me see what happens to this mastermind. And it's a lot of money. but I'm hopeful that it can kind of take my business to the next level. And what happened is I. [00:19:47] I got into a room with people that weren't even in my same industry, people that I didn't know. You'll have to excuse the construction noises upstairs. We're on a remodel. I ended up making my best business buddies and figuring out that first year at a mastermind that there's no way I can do my business and continue to grow it without being in a mastermind at this point. [00:20:07] See, some of you might be listening to this and you've never been in a mastermind. So you just don't, you don't kinda, it's like kind of like, you don't know what you're missing. Right. You just don't know what you don't know. But what I know to be true is that at every level of business, a mastermind is so valuable. [00:20:20] It's valuable whenever you're just starting so that you can get, try to get where you're going much quicker. and so I want you to think of that money then as like I'm an acceleration. Policy of sorts. It's going to get you to where you're going quick. and then I know that when you get to your business to a certain level, and you're really wanting to learn well up at, you know, that fee that you're paying that investment is what's going to being in that group. [00:20:46] It will help you get to the next level. There's a lot of people that are pivoting in business right now, they're having to try different things or having to do things differently than they used to. And the investment of a mastermind is just unmatched because you get. So many different minds in a room, even on a zoom together and, and can add kid figure out things and get ideas and get invitations that you never could otherwise. [00:21:10] And so if you've been struggling at all with your business or felt really alone in business, like you don't need to, Jamie's going to be providing a really awesome space. I literally got to kind of mastermind almost with her. even though we're in a mastermind together, she just was such a blessing to my business this fall, when we went to Boulder and we went out hiking and she has the ability to kind of look at a business from a bird's eye view and really help you figure out some strategy and some positioning that are gonna make you incredibly successful. [00:21:36] Well, so, so should you join a mastermind? Absolutely. is the money worth it? 120%? Are you going to get anything out of it? Oh my gosh. Yes. Will you ever want to leave a mastermind? Nope. You really well. So I hope that you will, really consider, joining what Jamie's doing. she has an art for helping people level up. [00:21:57] So that's your friend. [00:21:58]So if this all sounds absolutely amazing to you, and you would like to surround yourself with likeminded business owners so that you can get to the next level and scale your business. I would love to invite you to be part of my brighter together mastermind groups. these are going to be carefully curated groups of no more than 12 people, because I really want you to have a group that you can get to know incredibly well. I have a full process and I'm not going to take everyone. the way that I'm curating. [00:22:34] This is. To look at who's really taking action, who is somebody who's a go getter, who isn't afraid to step outside their comfort zones in order to grow themselves and their business and who might be stuck in the messy middle, and just not sure how move forward, but genuinely knows that they need people in their lives to be a mirror so that they can see. [00:23:00] What they don't see or see the obvious Trinity that's sitting in front of them. And this year, frankly, has been so hard on so many people. And I really want to have an intimate place for you to come and get both the business, but also the emotional support that it comes from having a close knit community that you can trust, where you can be vulnerable. [00:23:26] And you can be honest about what you're going through and how you're growing. So, if you would like to be a part of this, you can apply at, we are brighter together com that link will be in the show notes. And I'm asking, can you do apply by October 21st? But if you are a fast action taker, which by the way are my favorite people, I will be giving a one hour clarity call for free to anybody who applies by the 18th. [00:23:54]This will give me a time curate the groups before we start the first week of November. And this is exactly what you need to set yourself up to start 20, 21 strong, no matter what the year brings for us. [00:24:10]you can get all the details and apply at. We are brighter together.com [00:24:15]and please apply by October 21st. If you have any questions about it whatsoever ever, you can contact me directly on Instagram at Jamie M Swanson. Just send me a DM there. I would love to help you see if this is really going to be a good fit for you or not. And it's been a while since I mentioned this, but I want you to know that I also have a telegram channel for those of you who are listening, who really love what, and want to hear a little bit more from me behind the scenes and connect with me. [00:24:46] So if you are interested in joining that [00:24:48] check the show notes, and it'll tell you exactly how to join. okay. My friends, I am so excited about this and I just cannot tell you how transformational it has been for me to be part of a mastermind this last three and a half years. It's been especially important this past year as I've had to make massive pivots and start over in my business because of COVID frankly, I don't know if I would have had what it took without my friends there to support me through this because I didn't need more content. [00:25:23] I needed support. I needed people who could rally around me and really remind me of that, who I was, what I'm capable of and encourage me when things get hard, it has helped me get through this year with optimism, despite all the setbacks, despite all the disappointments, despite all the really hard stuff that's happened. [00:25:46] And I am so incredibly grateful for each of the people who are here on the podcast with me today, as well as all the other people in the mastermind who have stepped up and supported me, you know, who you are. And I can't tell you how thankful I am, and this is the kind of support and encouragement that I want for you. [00:26:05] I would love to get to know you and your business. And I really genuinely hope that I will see you inside the brighter together. Masterminds would that my friend just remember we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here. Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here Transcript: Okay, my friend, I'm finally doing this thing that I've been wanting to do for over three years, and I'm a little bit nervous and a whole lot excited to tell you all about it in this episode. But man, I've had so much resistance to recording this just to be straight up honest before we even start. But it's time for me to finally put on my big girl panties and share with you exactly what I'm talking about. [00:00:30] 2020 has been an issue sane really difficult year. If you've been following me for any amount of time, you know, that it completely destroyed my seven figure business. [00:01:09] And that I have had to make a complete pivot in my online business, but not only has that been stressful and all the financial ramifications and everything else that goes with it being hard. It's been really heavy and so many other ways, there's all political stuff going on. there's the illness itself and all the fear surrounding that and all the everything surrounding that. [00:01:34] I mean, that's just huge. And then there's all the other crazy stuff that has been happening. Like, you know, Killer bees and our, what are they called? Murder Hornets. I mean, let's make it more dramatic. Shall we? There's just all of these things. And I'm just so much that is causing this year to be heavy for online. [00:01:54] Everybody. I know, even from my friends whose businesses are doing insanely well, So many of my friends have this low level of anxiety that just doesn't go away. And more and more entrepreneurs I know are feeling tired, burned out and more than anything, just do not have the emotional capacity to do as much as they used to do everything just takes takes longer, takes more effort. [00:02:23] And it's the way that our bodies are coping with everything that we've been facing for the last several months. Now, it's been very hard for me, for sure. And. I have a couple of things that I wanted to share with you today, before I tell you what I'm going to be starting in a little bit that have really helped me to get through this time. [00:02:44] And there things that I want to bring to you in some capacity. So first and foremost, by far without question, the most helpful thing for me in getting through everything that I've been through in this past year has been the people around me who are likeminded and who love me and can support me and remind me of who I am as I'm walking through all of these different times. Being surrounded by people who really get me understand the pressures of having the online business and how COVID has affected it, and really know the value that I bring it to the online marketing space and kinda encourage me to step into that and to keep going, has been so. [00:03:36] So valuable because honestly my family doesn't really understand what I do. A lot of my friends who are outside of the business world have no idea. It's really hard to explain to them one what it is I do in general. Right. Have you experienced that too? Um, but also to the unique pressures that come from fully supporting your family and having to deal with this during COVID. [00:03:58]It's different than if you were just working a full time job in dealing with that right now. For me having like-minded friends who are also running online businesses and have the same level of integrity and similar values as I do has been so, Oh, so inspirational and just really a cornerstone to me. [00:04:21] As I've walked through creating a brand new business. As I walked through trying to save my old business before I threw in the towel and even just having them there too, talk through all of this with when you're making big decisions and you're not sure what to do and the ramifications of your decisions. [00:04:41] So huge having people who can be there for you is so valuable. I didn't need a lot more content during this time. What I needed was support. I needed that emotional support and I needed people, cared for me and understood me to surround me as I moved forward, especially during the times when anxiety would overtake me. [00:05:07] The second thing that really was helpful is that, um, I've been really incredibly focused on creating this new business in a way that is so aligned with who I am and with my zone of genius. Now that's a term that I've learned. I've heard it thrown around before, but I recently read a book called the big leap. And in this book, it really helps you see, what's keeping you internally from going past a certain upper limit. Like you hit a level of success and you just can't seem to get past it. And it talks about all the internal drivers that might be holding you back. But it also talks about finding your zone of genius, not just your zone of excellence, which is the stuff that you're really super good at, but drains your energy, but your zone of genius, which is the stuff that you're so good at that you don't even realize you're good at it because it's just a part of who you are. [00:06:01] It's what you do naturally. It's what brings you energy when you're done and just lights you up. For example, I love doing my clarity coaching days, and even though some of them are quite long and they can be mentally exhausting by the time I get to the end of a clarity coaching day, I am fired up like. [00:06:23] None other, I get so excited and I feel ready to go out and conquer the world. That is part of my zone of genius. Now, when I'm working on funnels and writing emails and doing all the tech stuff that goes behind things and setting up softwares and all those types of things, honestly, I'm really good at it. [00:06:45] I am so dang good at it, but it drains me of energy. It's my zone of excellence. It's my zone of excellence. And the big difference between the two is how it makes me feel when I'm done, how much resistance I have to doing it. how much I enjoy it versus not. And so as I've been moving forward through 2020, and not only dealing with the stress from my business, but all the other stressors that are on me, I have been incredibly focused on trying to design a business that is so fully aligned with me. [00:07:19] That it doesn't drain my energy. That it's actually something that can add to the energy that I have and equip me to go into the world, ready to face whatever is there and be emotionally stronger. I didn't even think that was possible. I realized for the last 10 years, I have almost completely been living in my zone of excellence and not my zone of genius. [00:07:44] Isn't that crazy? I cannot believe it. I love the bright future method workshop that I have created, and that I'm currently teaching to a cohort of students. [00:07:55] I love seeing their transformations, but as I've been doing it, I've noted. That number one, actually, teaching the lessons is heavy for me. Like I have all the content outlined. It's not anything I have to figure out because I've taught it before. I'm rearranging a few parts, but it's basically all there. [00:08:12] I'm just polishing it off and teaching it again. And it's not hard, but I don't feel energized by it. It's like thing where it's like, okay, I'm just going to go do this. And I don't look forward to it. That being said, On Thursdays when we do our live Q and a sessions and we're, it's almost like group coaching because we all come together in zoom and I help people walk through the various parts of this because as Brian was saying, Brian's one of my, students in the bright future method workshop. [00:08:42] He's like, This course is hard because you really have to think and be intentional with your answers and figure out what you need really want. It's not just a quick and easy, you know, do X, Y, and Z, and you'll get the answer. It's something that actually requires you to think about who you are and what you want and what you stand for and how you can help people and answered the questions that you really need to answer. [00:09:06] If you want to have a deep impact on your people and in the way world. But I love that stuff. I love working with them. I love helping them walk through that process. And see the big ahas and see how it's already just two weeks in starting to transform their messaging, starting to get them more engagement and starting to clarify exactly, exactly what they need to be doing to move forward. [00:09:32] And I always leave those live Q and A's sessions totally fired up. I stay on them way too long because I want to help people deeply. And so one of the things that I've noticed is that part of my zone of genius is. Helping people but I really believe that if you want to get out of that messy middle, and if you find yourself exhausted and you don't have time and you just dreading the stuff you have to do, and they're just, you're just, it's, it feels like pushing in your business. [00:10:04] You're probably not working in your zone of genius because the more I'm adding things into my business that really. Helped me live in that zone of genius. The easier it is to do, like I get excited about it. I don't dread it. I don't put it off. Those are the things I do first on my to do list. And so if you want to go, so from, you know, that messy middle and really get to the next level in your business and scale, you've got to get clearly focused on what your zone of joy and an easy thing you can do. [00:10:38] Just kind of, as a quick little side note bonus tip is to start. Feeling how you feel as you're going through your day and making note of it. So intentionally doing a task and asking yourself, how do I feel about this? Does it leave me energized when I'm done? Or am I dreading it? Am I avoiding it? Does it leave me drained? [00:10:59] Because I think so many times we live in our zone of excellence or even just our zone of. Capability. Like it's something we can do. And so we do it because we feel like we have to, Oh my gosh. Operating out of obligation, not awesome. Definitely energy draining. That's going to SAP you and keep you from being able to do what you really need to do. [00:11:21] To get out of that messy middle and really thrive. This is why I said a couple episodes ago that getting out of the messy middle and moving forward, isn't about what you say yes to it's about what you say no to, and going really deep on those things that you say yes to that are in your zone of genius. [00:11:39] That just feel light and easy and give you energy. Okay. So the third thing that has been absolutely. Incredibly helpful is having people around me who can be mirrors for me. Now, when we're talking about the zone of genius, I think it's really hard for us to identify it because we can't see our greatest gifts because they're too close to us. [00:12:04] Like they feel like who we are. We don't value them because they are so easy for us to do that. We just do them naturally and it doesn't feel. Like work. It doesn't feel like something we're actually even intentionally having to do. We just, we do it. It is who we are. It is how we are built. It is what we love to do. [00:12:25] Naturally. It's literally the zone of genius. And so this past week I have spent. A shameful amount of hours, not shameful. I'm not ashamed of it by any means. It was amazing. But I've spent a lot of hours talking one on one with a whole handful of different people, really trying to discern and get clarity because yes, I am so good at helping other people get clarity, but even myself, you know, when I'm walking around, I can't see my face. [00:12:57] You know, like if I want to see what my face looks like, or my hair looks like I need to look in a mirror because it's too close to me. It's too close to my eyes. It's not positioned in a place where I can see because it's part of my body. And the same thing happens in our business. Everybody needs people who can be a mirror for them who can reflect back. [00:13:19] Not only who you are, but who can, you know, like what your greatest gifts are because we take them for granted. We don't even realize that. Not every gosh, that's not a big deal. It's so easy. Like that's not a gift. It's just what I do. . Those are the kinds of things that can really help point you towards your zone of genius. [00:13:38] And sometimes talking with other people. We'll help you see that that's your zone of genius. Not only that, but we need people who can be mirrors for us, who can show us the obvious problems, but also the obvious opportunities that might be right in front of us in our business. Now, a great example of this was last fall. [00:14:01] I had a friend who I was chatting with. She was in the mastermind that I'm a part of. And she gave me one comment. You know, she went into her experience and I, I was talking with her about how I was going to move forward about something. And she goes, huh, I've done this before. She's like, have you considered this? [00:14:21] And I'm not going to go into all the details. Not because I'm holding out, but because it would be way too long to explain all the context, but I'm like, Oh my gosh, Of course, like that's brilliant. And this was something that she had done in her experience and it just made so much sense. They get into practice literally within like two or three days. [00:14:41] And. That weekend I made over $32,000 from a single comment from a friend in a mastermind who saw my situation, who had experience in a similar situation and who was able to say, Oh yeah, just do this. This works great. And. You know, I was considering all these different things and it's not something that was unheard of. [00:15:04] It wasn't like groundbreaking, but it was the perfect thing that I needed to see in that moment. And it was just so close to it and considering so many things that it wasn't obvious to me, and it was obvious to her. And so having people around us as mirrors, who can not only help us see who we are and what we're gifted at, but can see those obvious opportunities and pitfalls. [00:15:26] And our businesses because they've been in a similar situation is absolutely unbelievably valuable because like I said, at the very first episode of season three, the reason that I can grow fast now compared to when I was starting out 10 years ago, basically comes down. To experience, I've got the experience. [00:15:49] So I know what works and what doesn't, I've got that confidence. And when you have a group of people around you who can share their experience so that you don't have to do it yourself and learn the hard way and they can save you steps, they can save you time and heartache, and they can point out the easy, obvious path it's invaluable. [00:16:11] It's invaluable. One comment made me all that money and. It was so incredible to have, especially this past year. So many friends around me and some of them who've been through some really difficult situations who could be mirrored for me, who could help me see what seems so obvious to me now. Didn't seem obvious to me even two weeks ago, isn't that funny? [00:16:35] Like sometimes we need those mirrors and this past week has been such a gift to me, even though I've kind of stepped away from some of my daily stuff. I know I've been a little bit more reclusive this last week because I really took it to focus on next steps to focus on what am I going to do between now and the end of the year to position me to really thrive in 2021 to make me the money that I need to get through the end of the year. [00:17:01] All of these things. Wonderful, wonderful things. And this week, one of the other things that I did was I was in a mastermind group and this is a small mastermind that I'm a part of that just started, just started a couple of weeks ago [00:17:16] and the moment I got into this mastermind and we started the meeting. It dawned on me. I, I came into it knowing, and just that it was going to help me really get clarity. Like I just knew this past week was going to show me the next steps. And first five minutes there I am. And I realized, why am I not leading this? [00:17:43] And I've been wanting to do a mastermind for. Years, like three and a half years. I even talked about it way back at the very, very beginning of this podcast so you can go back to season one and start listening from the beginning. [00:17:59] And you will hear me talk about how I wanted to run masterminds. And I've been thinking about a mastermind all year. I've been thinking about how I would just love to run this adventure mastermind, where we go and we travel and we step outside our comfort zones and. We do things that stretch us physically and mentally and emotionally, and we let ourselves get uncomfortable because there's so much growth to be had in those experiences. [00:18:27] And I said, okay, well I will do this other stuff. I'll do my course. I'll start a membership. You know, I'll do all those things first. And then when we can travel again in spring, then I will launch my mastermind. But as I said, sat there in the small group on zoom and I felt the connection and I felt the support and I just felt. How awesome it was to be able to come together even now, even though it's not in person and to have that connection from other entrepreneurs who really get what I'm going through, I just knew I don't need to wait. I can absolutely do that. Now. So what I've decided to do is to start brighter together, mastermind groups, because I want you to be surrounded by likeminded people who can help you get to the next level. And scale your business. I want you to have access to other people's experience and to have that emotional support that comes from having an intimate group of entrepreneurs who really get what you do, who understand you as a person, because they are also doing the same things that you do, who can encourage you, who can support you, who can check on you when you're struggling, because what I have found to be true is that. [00:19:50] We need two things to succeed in our businesses. Number one, we need clarity and strategy and you know, all the business stuff we need. We need to know what we're doing. Let's just put it that way. I'll call it strategy. But number two, we need support, especially. Emotional support and then has never been more clear to me than it has this year, because I know that if you are feeling extreme anxiety or a lot of fear, or you're feeling burned out, it is near impossible to keep. [00:20:26] Moving forward. And if you feel alone through all of this and you don't have somebody, who's there to remind you of who you are and what you're capable of, you're not going to make it. I mean, maybe you will. I shouldn't say for sure. You're not, but the chances of you making it through this and really thriving. [00:20:44] It's so much less, and I know I've done it alone. I did it alone for so long and it, it wasn't until three and a half years ago that I personally joined a mastermind. And at the time. My business had declined by more than half over the last two years prior to that. And it was a scary time. I was burned out. [00:21:07] I didn't want to do what I was doing anymore. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I felt so defeated and. Even though this year has been incredibly hard and I've had to say goodbye and walk away from my old business and start something new this year. Wasn't nearly as hard as when I was at that point. I was at my lowest point and just so burned out and I joined a mastermind. [00:21:36] I made a huge, scary investment with money that I really couldn't afford to spend. And I really was investing in myself and trusting that this would work, that if I invested not just. Like monetarily in this mastermind. But if I invested myself my time and my effort into this mastermind really got to know the people, build the relationships and went deep with them that it would help me grow. [00:22:06] And do you know what it did? It did. It did. I can't. I mean, I can't promise that you're going to get growth through a mastermind, but what happened was I was able to go from that $315,000 a year to over seven figures annually and just. 18 months, 18 months. And it wasn't because they had all this amazing new content for me or whatever else it was because I had the support of other people who understood how to grow an online business. [00:22:37] What I was going through, they helped give me the emotional support and confidence. They helped guide me. They were mirrors for me. I could leverage their experience and we could do it together. Not only that, but I have friends. They've become real friends that are close them family to me. And I just, Ugh. [00:22:56] I know with how, we've been so socially distance from each other. We haven't been able to hug each other and travel and actually spend time together. [00:23:07] Like we used to and we're feeling it. We need connection. [00:23:13] So while I can't bring you together in person yet right now, what I can do as I can help you build that connection with other people online in small intimate. Like-minded groups of no more than 12 people. That'll be led by me that meet twice a month for about two hours per time, and then do one big annual three day retreat. [00:23:41] Now I want to actually have few different groups based on the income level and where you are in your business, so that you can be surrounded by like minded people, but also, so that you're not. left out if you haven't reached a certain stage yet, because I know that you will all grow together and you'll still have access to everyone in the larger group. [00:24:05] Now, the focus is it's going to be both on growing our business, but also. On the personal growth that needs to happen to help you create a business that is fully aligned with who you are that really takes advantage of your zone of genius so that your business gives you energy and doesn't drain it so that you can face the rest of your time feeling. [00:24:30] Like this actually helped you. It helped you to work. You are more prepared to handle the rest of your life because your business energized you and is bringing you in money, then draining you of all your energy. But to do that, you need to do the personal work. You need to do the business work, and here's the thing. [00:24:50] You shouldn't have to do it alone. We've all had those moments when we are struggling. And I know for me, it took an incredible amount of courage to learn, to step up and ask friends for help, especially when I need it, that emotional support, because it felt weak. And I didn't like doing it. And I didn't like admitting that things were hard. [00:25:13] But my friend, things are hard for everybody. We all need help. We all need support. That's what's missing for so many people who are stuck in the messy middle. They're trying to do it all alone. They don't have people who can show them, Oh, look, you're doing this. And this is going to pull you back, , they can't see the obvious opportunities and the. [00:25:34] Obvious pitfalls. And they often are. Aren't running businesses that are fully aligned with them. They're in their zone of excellence and there's zone of excellence is usually huge, but they need to get into their zone of genius. They need to start saying no to certain things. I fully believe that when you come together, where they grow group of entrepreneurs who get it, that the value you get from their experiences and the collective experience of the group is so much more valuable than any course you could buy. [00:26:10] It's so much more valuable than even hiring an individual coach who can only draw on their own. Experience, this is why masterminds are so vital to helping you grow because they are going to support you on an ongoing basis. And you can leverage the expertise and the experience of the people in the group. [00:26:34] And this is truly what helped my business to finally take off and triple and just 18 months. Now, if you. Are somebody who deeply loves people. Who's transformation driven and wants to make a real impact in the world. If you find yourself in the messy middle, but you're so ready to do whatever it's going to take to move forward, to simplify and to build a business that. [00:27:02] Makes you feel good like that isn't going to run your life, but that really amplifies the joy in your life and brings you energy and brings you more income and you want to scale it. And if you're serious about finding your people and being surrounded by likeminded people and this is a big one. If you refuse to compromise your integrity for any amount of income and your huge action taker, you get stuff done. Then I would love to invite you to join the brighter together mastermind groups that I am putting together. [00:27:37] I'm going to be starting. These mastermind groups really fast, an action taker. I'd like to get them started and a couple of weeks at the latest. So if you, you are interested in this, if you need that support, please go to, we are brighter together. Dot com. And fill out the application. It's got all the details. [00:27:58] It's going to tell you how often we're meeting. It's going to tell you all the stuff that's included. It's going to give you all of the pricing. Everything is there. Now I will tell you straight up, it is not one of the expensive $30,000 a year masterminds that you typically we see, but it isn't cheap. [00:28:16] That being said, it is less than the cost of hiring me to do two coaching days with you in a single year. And you're going to get access to me personally, for four hours a month. During these mastermind meetings, I'm going, I'm personally going to be leading these groups. And so we are going to be starting soon. [00:28:36] I would, I really love to have you as a part of this because here's what I know to be true. 2020 has been a difficult year, and there's still a lot of stress on you. And I know that the stress is likely going to continue into 2021, but I will you to be in the best possible place. [00:29:02] To get through whatever comes our way and to prepare yourself to crush it in 2021, John, despite what's happening in the world, I would say want you to have a business that feels light and easy, and that can take you to the next level and help you scale. And I want you to be surrounded by likeminded people with similar values to you who are in a similar stage of business who love taking action and getting stuff done. And I know, I know how beautifully rich and valuable it is to have those friends who become closer than family to support you throughout the entire journey. I want to be there with you. I want to know your business. I want to help you move forward, and I want you to meet your new business. [00:29:54] Best friends. We are truly brighter together. I mean, I created that phrase and I live it and I love it. And I'm calling these brighter together masterminds because of it absolutely true when we, our experience together and we share this experience of growing an online business, the things we can accomplish in the connection that happens is. [00:30:15] Unbelievable. And I want you to experience that. So go to, we are brighter together.com fill out the application. Now, now I'm not going to take everybody. I'm going to be very selective because I know how important it is to have the right people in these groups. But part of my zone of genius is knowing and reading people and really curating incredible communities. [00:30:42] And so that's going to be a big part of what I do. So go fill out the application as soon as you can please, so that we can start moving forward with these. And I will let you know, if you have been accepted and then we'll start moving forward with the groups. [00:30:57] I'm going to work with everybody in the group to make sure we find a time that works for everybody. we can absolutely accommodate anyone in any time zone. [00:31:07] And we would be happy to have you no matter where you are in the world. we are brighter together.com go fill out the application. Don't forget my friends. We truly are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go and make it brighter.

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here. Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here Transcript: Okay, my friend, I'm finally doing this thing that I've been wanting to do for over three years, and I'm a little bit nervous and a whole lot excited to tell you all about it in this episode. But man, I've had so much resistance to recording this just to be straight up honest before we even start. But it's time for me to finally put on my big girl panties and share with you exactly what I'm talking about. [00:00:30] 2020 has been an issue sane really difficult year. If you've been following me for any amount of time, you know, that it completely destroyed my seven figure business. [00:01:09] And that I have had to make a complete pivot in my online business, but not only has that been stressful and all the financial ramifications and everything else that goes with it being hard. It's been really heavy and so many other ways, there's all political stuff going on. there's the illness itself and all the fear surrounding that and all the everything surrounding that. [00:01:34] I mean, that's just huge. And then there's all the other crazy stuff that has been happening. Like, you know, Killer bees and our, what are they called? Murder Hornets. I mean, let's make it more dramatic. Shall we? There's just all of these things. And I'm just so much that is causing this year to be heavy for online. [00:01:54] Everybody. I know, even from my friends whose businesses are doing insanely well, So many of my friends have this low level of anxiety that just doesn't go away. And more and more entrepreneurs I know are feeling tired, burned out and more than anything, just do not have the emotional capacity to do as much as they used to do everything just takes takes longer, takes more effort. [00:02:23] And it's the way that our bodies are coping with everything that we've been facing for the last several months. Now, it's been very hard for me, for sure. And. I have a couple of things that I wanted to share with you today, before I tell you what I'm going to be starting in a little bit that have really helped me to get through this time. [00:02:44] And there things that I want to bring to you in some capacity. So first and foremost, by far without question, the most helpful thing for me in getting through everything that I've been through in this past year has been the people around me who are likeminded and who love me and can support me and remind me of who I am as I'm walking through all of these different times. Being surrounded by people who really get me understand the pressures of having the online business and how COVID has affected it, and really know the value that I bring it to the online marketing space and kinda encourage me to step into that and to keep going, has been so. [00:03:36] So valuable because honestly my family doesn't really understand what I do. A lot of my friends who are outside of the business world have no idea. It's really hard to explain to them one what it is I do in general. Right. Have you experienced that too? Um, but also to the unique pressures that come from fully supporting your family and having to deal with this during COVID. [00:03:58]It's different than if you were just working a full time job in dealing with that right now. For me having like-minded friends who are also running online businesses and have the same level of integrity and similar values as I do has been so, Oh, so inspirational and just really a cornerstone to me. [00:04:21] As I've walked through creating a brand new business. As I walked through trying to save my old business before I threw in the towel and even just having them there too, talk through all of this with when you're making big decisions and you're not sure what to do and the ramifications of your decisions. [00:04:41] So huge having people who can be there for you is so valuable. I didn't need a lot more content during this time. What I needed was support. I needed that emotional support and I needed people, cared for me and understood me to surround me as I moved forward, especially during the times when anxiety would overtake me. [00:05:07] The second thing that really was helpful is that, um, I've been really incredibly focused on creating this new business in a way that is so aligned with who I am and with my zone of genius. Now that's a term that I've learned. I've heard it thrown around before, but I recently read a book called the big leap. And in this book, it really helps you see, what's keeping you internally from going past a certain upper limit. Like you hit a level of success and you just can't seem to get past it. And it talks about all the internal drivers that might be holding you back. But it also talks about finding your zone of genius, not just your zone of excellence, which is the stuff that you're really super good at, but drains your energy, but your zone of genius, which is the stuff that you're so good at that you don't even realize you're good at it because it's just a part of who you are. [00:06:01] It's what you do naturally. It's what brings you energy when you're done and just lights you up. For example, I love doing my clarity coaching days, and even though some of them are quite long and they can be mentally exhausting by the time I get to the end of a clarity coaching day, I am fired up like. [00:06:23] None other, I get so excited and I feel ready to go out and conquer the world. That is part of my zone of genius. Now, when I'm working on funnels and writing emails and doing all the tech stuff that goes behind things and setting up softwares and all those types of things, honestly, I'm really good at it. [00:06:45] I am so dang good at it, but it drains me of energy. It's my zone of excellence. It's my zone of excellence. And the big difference between the two is how it makes me feel when I'm done, how much resistance I have to doing it. how much I enjoy it versus not. And so as I've been moving forward through 2020, and not only dealing with the stress from my business, but all the other stressors that are on me, I have been incredibly focused on trying to design a business that is so fully aligned with me. [00:07:19] That it doesn't drain my energy. That it's actually something that can add to the energy that I have and equip me to go into the world, ready to face whatever is there and be emotionally stronger. I didn't even think that was possible. I realized for the last 10 years, I have almost completely been living in my zone of excellence and not my zone of genius. [00:07:44] Isn't that crazy? I cannot believe it. I love the bright future method workshop that I have created, and that I'm currently teaching to a cohort of students. [00:07:55] I love seeing their transformations, but as I've been doing it, I've noted. That number one, actually, teaching the lessons is heavy for me. Like I have all the content outlined. It's not anything I have to figure out because I've taught it before. I'm rearranging a few parts, but it's basically all there. [00:08:12] I'm just polishing it off and teaching it again. And it's not hard, but I don't feel energized by it. It's like thing where it's like, okay, I'm just going to go do this. And I don't look forward to it. That being said, On Thursdays when we do our live Q and a sessions and we're, it's almost like group coaching because we all come together in zoom and I help people walk through the various parts of this because as Brian was saying, Brian's one of my, students in the bright future method workshop. [00:08:42] He's like, This course is hard because you really have to think and be intentional with your answers and figure out what you need really want. It's not just a quick and easy, you know, do X, Y, and Z, and you'll get the answer. It's something that actually requires you to think about who you are and what you want and what you stand for and how you can help people and answered the questions that you really need to answer. [00:09:06] If you want to have a deep impact on your people and in the way world. But I love that stuff. I love working with them. I love helping them walk through that process. And see the big ahas and see how it's already just two weeks in starting to transform their messaging, starting to get them more engagement and starting to clarify exactly, exactly what they need to be doing to move forward. [00:09:32] And I always leave those live Q and A's sessions totally fired up. I stay on them way too long because I want to help people deeply. And so one of the things that I've noticed is that part of my zone of genius is. Helping people but I really believe that if you want to get out of that messy middle, and if you find yourself exhausted and you don't have time and you just dreading the stuff you have to do, and they're just, you're just, it's, it feels like pushing in your business. [00:10:04] You're probably not working in your zone of genius because the more I'm adding things into my business that really. Helped me live in that zone of genius. The easier it is to do, like I get excited about it. I don't dread it. I don't put it off. Those are the things I do first on my to do list. And so if you want to go, so from, you know, that messy middle and really get to the next level in your business and scale, you've got to get clearly focused on what your zone of joy and an easy thing you can do. [00:10:38] Just kind of, as a quick little side note bonus tip is to start. Feeling how you feel as you're going through your day and making note of it. So intentionally doing a task and asking yourself, how do I feel about this? Does it leave me energized when I'm done? Or am I dreading it? Am I avoiding it? Does it leave me drained? [00:10:59] Because I think so many times we live in our zone of excellence or even just our zone of. Capability. Like it's something we can do. And so we do it because we feel like we have to, Oh my gosh. Operating out of obligation, not awesome. Definitely energy draining. That's going to SAP you and keep you from being able to do what you really need to do. [00:11:21] To get out of that messy middle and really thrive. This is why I said a couple episodes ago that getting out of the messy middle and moving forward, isn't about what you say yes to it's about what you say no to, and going really deep on those things that you say yes to that are in your zone of genius. [00:11:39] That just feel light and easy and give you energy. Okay. So the third thing that has been absolutely. Incredibly helpful is having people around me who can be mirrors for me. Now, when we're talking about the zone of genius, I think it's really hard for us to identify it because we can't see our greatest gifts because they're too close to us. [00:12:04] Like they feel like who we are. We don't value them because they are so easy for us to do that. We just do them naturally and it doesn't feel. Like work. It doesn't feel like something we're actually even intentionally having to do. We just, we do it. It is who we are. It is how we are built. It is what we love to do. [00:12:25] Naturally. It's literally the zone of genius. And so this past week I have spent. A shameful amount of hours, not shameful. I'm not ashamed of it by any means. It was amazing. But I've spent a lot of hours talking one on one with a whole handful of different people, really trying to discern and get clarity because yes, I am so good at helping other people get clarity, but even myself, you know, when I'm walking around, I can't see my face. [00:12:57] You know, like if I want to see what my face looks like, or my hair looks like I need to look in a mirror because it's too close to me. It's too close to my eyes. It's not positioned in a place where I can see because it's part of my body. And the same thing happens in our business. Everybody needs people who can be a mirror for them who can reflect back. [00:13:19] Not only who you are, but who can, you know, like what your greatest gifts are because we take them for granted. We don't even realize that. Not every gosh, that's not a big deal. It's so easy. Like that's not a gift. It's just what I do. . Those are the kinds of things that can really help point you towards your zone of genius. [00:13:38] And sometimes talking with other people. We'll help you see that that's your zone of genius. Not only that, but we need people who can be mirrors for us, who can show us the obvious problems, but also the obvious opportunities that might be right in front of us in our business. Now, a great example of this was last fall. [00:14:01] I had a friend who I was chatting with. She was in the mastermind that I'm a part of. And she gave me one comment. You know, she went into her experience and I, I was talking with her about how I was going to move forward about something. And she goes, huh, I've done this before. She's like, have you considered this? [00:14:21] And I'm not going to go into all the details. Not because I'm holding out, but because it would be way too long to explain all the context, but I'm like, Oh my gosh, Of course, like that's brilliant. And this was something that she had done in her experience and it just made so much sense. They get into practice literally within like two or three days. [00:14:41] And. That weekend I made over $32,000 from a single comment from a friend in a mastermind who saw my situation, who had experience in a similar situation and who was able to say, Oh yeah, just do this. This works great. And. You know, I was considering all these different things and it's not something that was unheard of. [00:15:04] It wasn't like groundbreaking, but it was the perfect thing that I needed to see in that moment. And it was just so close to it and considering so many things that it wasn't obvious to me, and it was obvious to her. And so having people around us as mirrors, who can not only help us see who we are and what we're gifted at, but can see those obvious opportunities and pitfalls. [00:15:26] And our businesses because they've been in a similar situation is absolutely unbelievably valuable because like I said, at the very first episode of season three, the reason that I can grow fast now compared to when I was starting out 10 years ago, basically comes down. To experience, I've got the experience. [00:15:49] So I know what works and what doesn't, I've got that confidence. And when you have a group of people around you who can share their experience so that you don't have to do it yourself and learn the hard way and they can save you steps, they can save you time and heartache, and they can point out the easy, obvious path it's invaluable. [00:16:11] It's invaluable. One comment made me all that money and. It was so incredible to have, especially this past year. So many friends around me and some of them who've been through some really difficult situations who could be mirrored for me, who could help me see what seems so obvious to me now. Didn't seem obvious to me even two weeks ago, isn't that funny? [00:16:35] Like sometimes we need those mirrors and this past week has been such a gift to me, even though I've kind of stepped away from some of my daily stuff. I know I've been a little bit more reclusive this last week because I really took it to focus on next steps to focus on what am I going to do between now and the end of the year to position me to really thrive in 2021 to make me the money that I need to get through the end of the year. [00:17:01] All of these things. Wonderful, wonderful things. And this week, one of the other things that I did was I was in a mastermind group and this is a small mastermind that I'm a part of that just started, just started a couple of weeks ago [00:17:16] and the moment I got into this mastermind and we started the meeting. It dawned on me. I, I came into it knowing, and just that it was going to help me really get clarity. Like I just knew this past week was going to show me the next steps. And first five minutes there I am. And I realized, why am I not leading this? [00:17:43] And I've been wanting to do a mastermind for. Years, like three and a half years. I even talked about it way back at the very, very beginning of this podcast so you can go back to season one and start listening from the beginning. [00:17:59] And you will hear me talk about how I wanted to run masterminds. And I've been thinking about a mastermind all year. I've been thinking about how I would just love to run this adventure mastermind, where we go and we travel and we step outside our comfort zones and. We do things that stretch us physically and mentally and emotionally, and we let ourselves get uncomfortable because there's so much growth to be had in those experiences. [00:18:27] And I said, okay, well I will do this other stuff. I'll do my course. I'll start a membership. You know, I'll do all those things first. And then when we can travel again in spring, then I will launch my mastermind. But as I said, sat there in the small group on zoom and I felt the connection and I felt the support and I just felt. How awesome it was to be able to come together even now, even though it's not in person and to have that connection from other entrepreneurs who really get what I'm going through, I just knew I don't need to wait. I can absolutely do that. Now. So what I've decided to do is to start brighter together, mastermind groups, because I want you to be surrounded by likeminded people who can help you get to the next level. And scale your business. I want you to have access to other people's experience and to have that emotional support that comes from having an intimate group of entrepreneurs who really get what you do, who understand you as a person, because they are also doing the same things that you do, who can encourage you, who can support you, who can check on you when you're struggling, because what I have found to be true is that. [00:19:50] We need two things to succeed in our businesses. Number one, we need clarity and strategy and you know, all the business stuff we need. We need to know what we're doing. Let's just put it that way. I'll call it strategy. But number two, we need support, especially. Emotional support and then has never been more clear to me than it has this year, because I know that if you are feeling extreme anxiety or a lot of fear, or you're feeling burned out, it is near impossible to keep. [00:20:26] Moving forward. And if you feel alone through all of this and you don't have somebody, who's there to remind you of who you are and what you're capable of, you're not going to make it. I mean, maybe you will. I shouldn't say for sure. You're not, but the chances of you making it through this and really thriving. [00:20:44] It's so much less, and I know I've done it alone. I did it alone for so long and it, it wasn't until three and a half years ago that I personally joined a mastermind. And at the time. My business had declined by more than half over the last two years prior to that. And it was a scary time. I was burned out. [00:21:07] I didn't want to do what I was doing anymore. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I felt so defeated and. Even though this year has been incredibly hard and I've had to say goodbye and walk away from my old business and start something new this year. Wasn't nearly as hard as when I was at that point. I was at my lowest point and just so burned out and I joined a mastermind. [00:21:36] I made a huge, scary investment with money that I really couldn't afford to spend. And I really was investing in myself and trusting that this would work, that if I invested not just. Like monetarily in this mastermind. But if I invested myself my time and my effort into this mastermind really got to know the people, build the relationships and went deep with them that it would help me grow. [00:22:06] And do you know what it did? It did. It did. I can't. I mean, I can't promise that you're going to get growth through a mastermind, but what happened was I was able to go from that $315,000 a year to over seven figures annually and just. 18 months, 18 months. And it wasn't because they had all this amazing new content for me or whatever else it was because I had the support of other people who understood how to grow an online business. [00:22:37] What I was going through, they helped give me the emotional support and confidence. They helped guide me. They were mirrors for me. I could leverage their experience and we could do it together. Not only that, but I have friends. They've become real friends that are close them family to me. And I just, Ugh. [00:22:56] I know with how, we've been so socially distance from each other. We haven't been able to hug each other and travel and actually spend time together. [00:23:07] Like we used to and we're feeling it. We need connection. [00:23:13] So while I can't bring you together in person yet right now, what I can do as I can help you build that connection with other people online in small intimate. Like-minded groups of no more than 12 people. That'll be led by me that meet twice a month for about two hours per time, and then do one big annual three day retreat. [00:23:41] Now I want to actually have few different groups based on the income level and where you are in your business, so that you can be surrounded by like minded people, but also, so that you're not. left out if you haven't reached a certain stage yet, because I know that you will all grow together and you'll still have access to everyone in the larger group. [00:24:05] Now, the focus is it's going to be both on growing our business, but also. On the personal growth that needs to happen to help you create a business that is fully aligned with who you are that really takes advantage of your zone of genius so that your business gives you energy and doesn't drain it so that you can face the rest of your time feeling. [00:24:30] Like this actually helped you. It helped you to work. You are more prepared to handle the rest of your life because your business energized you and is bringing you in money, then draining you of all your energy. But to do that, you need to do the personal work. You need to do the business work, and here's the thing. [00:24:50] You shouldn't have to do it alone. We've all had those moments when we are struggling. And I know for me, it took an incredible amount of courage to learn, to step up and ask friends for help, especially when I need it, that emotional support, because it felt weak. And I didn't like doing it. And I didn't like admitting that things were hard. [00:25:13] But my friend, things are hard for everybody. We all need help. We all need support. That's what's missing for so many people who are stuck in the messy middle. They're trying to do it all alone. They don't have people who can show them, Oh, look, you're doing this. And this is going to pull you back, , they can't see the obvious opportunities and the. [00:25:34] Obvious pitfalls. And they often are. Aren't running businesses that are fully aligned with them. They're in their zone of excellence and there's zone of excellence is usually huge, but they need to get into their zone of genius. They need to start saying no to certain things. I fully believe that when you come together, where they grow group of entrepreneurs who get it, that the value you get from their experiences and the collective experience of the group is so much more valuable than any course you could buy. [00:26:10] It's so much more valuable than even hiring an individual coach who can only draw on their own. Experience, this is why masterminds are so vital to helping you grow because they are going to support you on an ongoing basis. And you can leverage the expertise and the experience of the people in the group. [00:26:34] And this is truly what helped my business to finally take off and triple and just 18 months. Now, if you. Are somebody who deeply loves people. Who's transformation driven and wants to make a real impact in the world. If you find yourself in the messy middle, but you're so ready to do whatever it's going to take to move forward, to simplify and to build a business that. [00:27:02] Makes you feel good like that isn't going to run your life, but that really amplifies the joy in your life and brings you energy and brings you more income and you want to scale it. And if you're serious about finding your people and being surrounded by likeminded people and this is a big one. If you refuse to compromise your integrity for any amount of income and your huge action taker, you get stuff done. Then I would love to invite you to join the brighter together mastermind groups that I am putting together. [00:27:37] I'm going to be starting. These mastermind groups really fast, an action taker. I'd like to get them started and a couple of weeks at the latest. So if you, you are interested in this, if you need that support, please go to, we are brighter together. Dot com. And fill out the application. It's got all the details. [00:27:58] It's going to tell you how often we're meeting. It's going to tell you all the stuff that's included. It's going to give you all of the pricing. Everything is there. Now I will tell you straight up, it is not one of the expensive $30,000 a year masterminds that you typically we see, but it isn't cheap. [00:28:16] That being said, it is less than the cost of hiring me to do two coaching days with you in a single year. And you're going to get access to me personally, for four hours a month. During these mastermind meetings, I'm going, I'm personally going to be leading these groups. And so we are going to be starting soon. [00:28:36] I would, I really love to have you as a part of this because here's what I know to be true. 2020 has been a difficult year, and there's still a lot of stress on you. And I know that the stress is likely going to continue into 2021, but I will you to be in the best possible place. [00:29:02] To get through whatever comes our way and to prepare yourself to crush it in 2021, John, despite what's happening in the world, I would say want you to have a business that feels light and easy, and that can take you to the next level and help you scale. And I want you to be surrounded by likeminded people with similar values to you who are in a similar stage of business who love taking action and getting stuff done. And I know, I know how beautifully rich and valuable it is to have those friends who become closer than family to support you throughout the entire journey. I want to be there with you. I want to know your business. I want to help you move forward, and I want you to meet your new business. [00:29:54] Best friends. We are truly brighter together. I mean, I created that phrase and I live it and I love it. And I'm calling these brighter together masterminds because of it absolutely true when we, our experience together and we share this experience of growing an online business, the things we can accomplish in the connection that happens is. [00:30:15] Unbelievable. And I want you to experience that. So go to, we are brighter together.com fill out the application. Now, now I'm not going to take everybody. I'm going to be very selective because I know how important it is to have the right people in these groups. But part of my zone of genius is knowing and reading people and really curating incredible communities. [00:30:42] And so that's going to be a big part of what I do. So go fill out the application as soon as you can please, so that we can start moving forward with these. And I will let you know, if you have been accepted and then we'll start moving forward with the groups. [00:30:57] I'm going to work with everybody in the group to make sure we find a time that works for everybody. we can absolutely accommodate anyone in any time zone. [00:31:07] And we would be happy to have you no matter where you are in the world. we are brighter together.com go fill out the application. Don't forget my friends. We truly are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go and make it brighter.

Interested in hearing more about the Mastermind groups? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for email reminders here Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here Transcript: So today, I want to take you behind the scenes and into my mind, which is a little bit scary because there's a lot going on in there, but I thought you might enjoy hearing a little bit about the thought process that I am going through as I'm building this new business that I'm creating and what I'm doing very differently from the first time that I grew my online business. [00:00:23] So if you find yourself. In a business that just is way heavier than you hoped. It would be where you have a hard time unplugging where, you know, it could be better somehow if you only had the time to change it and stand back and reevaluate. And if you just feel like you're burning out and don't have the capacity that you used to have, or want to have to really move forward. [00:00:48] I think you're going to find a lot of value in today's episode. [00:00:51] I'm in the middle of two days of masterminds right now. In fact, two different masterminds. One of them is kind of this secret small six person mastermind that I was invited to join. That just started with some brilliant women. And the other one is a larger mastermind that has 60 or 70 people in it. That is meeting for two days and both of them are wonderful masterminds, but it's been a beautiful time of kind of stepping back and thinking about this new business that I've been creating. [00:01:56]if you've been listening to season three, you know, that my goal is to really create a business that's aligned with who I am and what I'm finding. And I'm not even quite three months in. I'm finding that it's so easy. [00:02:10]To go back on autopilot and to just do what you think you're supposed to do, or what's easy to do or what you you've always done because you know, it works and it's so hard, hard to be true to yourself and really know what that means. And to know what that looks like when you are just trying to make some money and build some momentum and get things moving at the beginning of growing a business. [00:02:36] So for me to put this into really clear light, I've been doing clarity coaching day, which I love doing those. And I have been teaching the bright future method course, which I just launched a week and a half, two weeks ago. And I'm loving, uh, the students that I have in there. I'm loving, seeing the breakthroughs that are happening. [00:02:57]During this time, I've also been reading the book, the big leap, which is something that we were given in impact mastermind. Yes. I've been a bunch of masterminds. Just bear with me here. It's so good though. They're so good. I can't even tell you how good they are. But the big leap by gay Hendricks has really got me thinking a lot about what's limiting me from really growing big. [00:03:23] And where is my true zone of genius? Not just my zone of excellence, like the things that I'm good at, but what are the things that I'm not only good at, but they give me life. They bring me crazy energy. And when I'm done with them, instead of feeling depleted and tired, I am fired up and ready to take on the world. the biggest question on my mind is what are the things in my business that fire me up and part of learning this, because it's not always obvious, but part of learning, this has been doing, taking action, launching my course, again, doing the podcast, doing all the things. [00:03:59] And as I do them, I'm kind of doing this internal audit. And asking myself what feels the best? What feels heavy? What do I really not love doing? Even though I may be really dang good at doing it, but what feels light and what gives me energy and what fires me up. I'm realizing that a lot of the current business models aren't really fully aligned with who I am and that. There is a greater purpose that I can serve in the world. If I'm willing to think about how to better step outside the box, step outside the ship and, things I've done in the past and the things that I'm used to doing that I'm very comfortable doing. [00:04:42] And think about creating something that's based 100% on the things that light me up. And for me, my zone of genius by far hands down is that I know people and I know how, how are people so I can see clearly as I interact with somebody and I can have conversations that help discover their strengths and see what's holding them back. [00:05:09] And. Really helped them find alignment and clarity. I have clarity when it comes to people. I know how people work, which is why I'm very good at marketing. I know what motivates. I know how to empower. I know what can inspire. And I really love to help people connect and I'm seeing. That what most entrepreneurs need, especially the ones stuck in the messy middle isn't necessarily a whole lot of new tactics or content or strategy, but that they need belonging, that they need somebody who can be there to support, support them emotionally, as they're launching, as they're trying new things, as they are stuck in this messy middle and just exhausted. And I'm seeing that this need is greater than ever with 2020, let's just be real COVID and all the things. [00:06:06] Have really taken a large toll on everybody. Now I know for me personally, I'm incredibly efficient, but my capacity for getting stuff done is probably about half of what it was pre COVID. I just do not have the emotional capacity to do all the things that I used to, [00:06:26] which is part of why I've had to be so inclusive, probably intentional with the things that I'm doing, because I just, I can't work 40, 50 hours a week anymore. I can't work 60, 80. There's no way I can do 60 to 80 hours a week. Like I've done in the past. I have no desire to let my business rule my life like that again. [00:06:44] And I know it doesn't have to, if I'm truly in my zone of genius, if I'm truly doing the things that I'm not just excellent at, but that I am phenomenally gifted at and that bring me life. And so what I've realized is yes, I can teach and yes, my framework is awesome, but I want to help. People, I want to connect with people. [00:07:06] I want to help them connect with each other. I want to help entrepreneurs who feel exhausted and feel overwhelmed and who can't even unplug from their businesses to find a way to redesign their business and feel supported in it and feel like they have other people who really get it. To do this together to connect. [00:07:30] I know for me, the thing that has gotten me through 20, 20 more than anything has been the friends that I have developed and I used to not really have friends and Kay. And I say that very honestly, and it might sound funny, but up until about a year and a half or two ago, I had acquaintances and I had a lot of them, but I didn't have close friends. [00:07:53] Like the ones you can call on anytime, anywhere, and know that they've got your back. They're there to remind you who you are. They understand what you're doing. They see you. And they love you. Despite the fact that they know all the good, the bad, the ugly, you know, all of it. And I didn't have that. I thought it was broken if I'm totally honest, I'm like, yeah, I know how to relate to people. [00:08:16] And I know how to like, Connect with people on a surface level, but I didn't feel like I knew how to have those deep relationships or find and not have them, but find them. That's probably a better way to put it, which is part of why I joined Stew's mastermind. If you go back and look, listen to some of the very first episodes in this series, way back to season one, you can listen to that journey and yeah. [00:08:40] Or about why I joined the mastermind. I literally told them in the very first mastermind that I paid, all of that money. To make friends who get it because I was lonely and I wanted friends who understood the business side, that I could really develop deep friendships with. Like, yes, I wanted to grow my business, but I needed friends. [00:08:57] I mean, yeah. I have people in my life who know who I am that love me, that. You know, care for me, but they didn't get what I did from a business standpoint. And if you've been doing the online business stuff for any amount of time, or you probably know what I mean, I mean, people don't even know what you do. [00:09:11] They're like, how, what, what, what do you do? How do you make money? Sure. You understand? I have found that to be the most valuable thing for me in getting through this incredibly challenging year, especially with the demise of my old business and all of the craziness that I haven't even begun. [00:09:28] tell you about on this podcast that I'm absolutely certain will come out at some point, but it's been such a year of massive transfer information and no tactic, no strategy. None of those things were enough on their own to get them me through this year. I've needed people and able to thrive through this year. [00:09:50] And I don't know if you are out there doing this alone right now, and you do not have people that you can count on and that you can really call on and you feel alone. It doesn't have to be that way. And. It is so much easier when you have people that you can band together with. So what I'm thinking about right now is how can I create that belonging and that togetherness. [00:10:16] For entrepreneurs, how can I leverage this gift of connection and clarity and site for people like you? Who, who are so exhausted, who are stuck in that messy middle, who don't have time, frankly, to make friends because it's absolutely vital. And at some point, if you don't do this, if you don't get clarity on what you're doing, if you don't get alignment on it, you are going to burn out. [00:10:43] You are going to give up and. It's going to, it's going to cost your health, frankly, and you're missing out on all the things that could be, be like our businesses should be making our lives better, not completely taking over our lives and keeping us unable to, to unplug. And so I want to create intentional spaces for people to come together and connect in small groups so they can build deep relationships. [00:11:12] I want to help people. Build business friends like create business friends, deep friendships. And you know, my, my longterm goal is to create an adventure mastermind where I travel the world with a group of entrepreneurs who are willing to stretch themselves outside their comfort zone. And do beautiful wild, creative things together that help us grow while also talking about life and business. [00:11:39] And that I've always just said was on hold because COVID and travel right now is all up in the air. And you know, who knows how long this is going to last, but it didn't Dawn on me until yesterday that there's still a beautiful opportunity for us to connect together and we need it now more than ever. [00:11:59] And so I've decided I'm going to be launching. There, I don't know what to call them. They're kind of like masterminds, but they're a little different because it's not the formal structure of a mastermind, but the focus is gonna be beyond belonging and really. Supporting each other, as we walk through this entrepreneurial journey together. [00:12:19] So belonging and togetherness, and really connecting like-minded impact driven entrepreneurs who want to make a real change in the world who want to do this together, who are so stuck, that they, I barely have time to breathe. And I want to, until it hit a space for you to step back, to take a deep breath, And to help you realign yourself with your business, because if you don't ever stop to breathe and to reevaluate and to see what's working and what's not, nothing is going to change, you're either going to burn out and quit or. [00:12:59] You're going to continue going, going, going, and just be exhausted forever. And I just, I know the need is so deep right now. I don't have all the details yet. I don't have it all figured out. It's not going to be the 25, $30,000 mastermind that I'm dreaming of. It's going to be much less expensive than that, but it's also not going to be like dirt cheap. [00:13:20] It's going to be somewhere in the middle. And so right now, if this is something that you're interested in, I'm literally just kind of gauging interest in need. But if you really want to connect with other transformation driven entrepreneurs, if you really want to have a group of people, it can become deep, lifelong friends who can support you through this. [00:13:41] You can be a mirror to you who can absolutely help you with the business side, right? More than anything are there to support you. In your personal journey and. Here's the big one. If you're willing to engage and support the other people in a small group as well, I would love to hear from you so you can go to the show notes and probably the easiest way would be to contact me via Instagram at Jamie M Swanson. [00:14:11] And let me know, and if you're driving right now or doing something where you can't access your phone, because, you know, You're driving or whatever else. If you could take a moment and tell your phone to remind you to come back to this and send me a message, this isn't going to be a big launch. This is probably going to be me reaching out to some of the most amazing people I know who really would love this, who would get a lot of value from this. [00:14:36] And who've expressed interest in being in some sort of mastermind. Cause it's similar to a mastermind. But it's going to be a little bit different. It's going to be a lot more accessible and it's all going to be virtual for now, until we know we can do something in person, absolutely open to personal or in person events in the future when we're able to do them. [00:14:53] But for now it's going to be virtual. So it should be incredibly accessible to anybody. And I'm not going to run them in the same way that most people are running them really excited about that. I was, we'll give you more details later as I bang them out, because right now I'm literally still brainstorming exactly what this looks like. [00:15:11] But if this is something that appeals to you and you're willing to commit a year, To getting to know other people, letting them know you and really reevaluating your business to create something that's so much more sustainable and so much more aligned with who you are. And you're willing to both work on your business as well as on your own personal growth. [00:15:33] And you get excited by the idea of doing this together, then reach out to me. Let's have a chat about it, see if it's a good fit. And honestly, Tell me, like, what would make this a dream for you? Because right now I can design it any way I want. And I'm very excited about that idea. So without my friend, I mean this more than ever, we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Interested in hearing more about the Mastermind groups? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for email reminders here Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here Transcript: So today, I want to take you behind the scenes and into my mind, which is a little bit scary because there's a lot going on in there, but I thought you might enjoy hearing a little bit about the thought process that I am going through as I'm building this new business that I'm creating and what I'm doing very differently from the first time that I grew my online business. [00:00:23] So if you find yourself. In a business that just is way heavier than you hoped. It would be where you have a hard time unplugging where, you know, it could be better somehow if you only had the time to change it and stand back and reevaluate. And if you just feel like you're burning out and don't have the capacity that you used to have, or want to have to really move forward. [00:00:48] I think you're going to find a lot of value in today's episode. [00:00:51] I'm in the middle of two days of masterminds right now. In fact, two different masterminds. One of them is kind of this secret small six person mastermind that I was invited to join. That just started with some brilliant women. And the other one is a larger mastermind that has 60 or 70 people in it. That is meeting for two days and both of them are wonderful masterminds, but it's been a beautiful time of kind of stepping back and thinking about this new business that I've been creating. [00:01:56]if you've been listening to season three, you know, that my goal is to really create a business that's aligned with who I am and what I'm finding. And I'm not even quite three months in. I'm finding that it's so easy. [00:02:10]To go back on autopilot and to just do what you think you're supposed to do, or what's easy to do or what you you've always done because you know, it works and it's so hard, hard to be true to yourself and really know what that means. And to know what that looks like when you are just trying to make some money and build some momentum and get things moving at the beginning of growing a business. [00:02:36] So for me to put this into really clear light, I've been doing clarity coaching day, which I love doing those. And I have been teaching the bright future method course, which I just launched a week and a half, two weeks ago. And I'm loving, uh, the students that I have in there. I'm loving, seeing the breakthroughs that are happening. [00:02:57]During this time, I've also been reading the book, the big leap, which is something that we were given in impact mastermind. Yes. I've been a bunch of masterminds. Just bear with me here. It's so good though. They're so good. I can't even tell you how good they are. But the big leap by gay Hendricks has really got me thinking a lot about what's limiting me from really growing big. [00:03:23] And where is my true zone of genius? Not just my zone of excellence, like the things that I'm good at, but what are the things that I'm not only good at, but they give me life. They bring me crazy energy. And when I'm done with them, instead of feeling depleted and tired, I am fired up and ready to take on the world. the biggest question on my mind is what are the things in my business that fire me up and part of learning this, because it's not always obvious, but part of learning, this has been doing, taking action, launching my course, again, doing the podcast, doing all the things. [00:03:59] And as I do them, I'm kind of doing this internal audit. And asking myself what feels the best? What feels heavy? What do I really not love doing? Even though I may be really dang good at doing it, but what feels light and what gives me energy and what fires me up. I'm realizing that a lot of the current business models aren't really fully aligned with who I am and that. There is a greater purpose that I can serve in the world. If I'm willing to think about how to better step outside the box, step outside the ship and, things I've done in the past and the things that I'm used to doing that I'm very comfortable doing. [00:04:42] And think about creating something that's based 100% on the things that light me up. And for me, my zone of genius by far hands down is that I know people and I know how, how are people so I can see clearly as I interact with somebody and I can have conversations that help discover their strengths and see what's holding them back. [00:05:09] And. Really helped them find alignment and clarity. I have clarity when it comes to people. I know how people work, which is why I'm very good at marketing. I know what motivates. I know how to empower. I know what can inspire. And I really love to help people connect and I'm seeing. That what most entrepreneurs need, especially the ones stuck in the messy middle isn't necessarily a whole lot of new tactics or content or strategy, but that they need belonging, that they need somebody who can be there to support, support them emotionally, as they're launching, as they're trying new things, as they are stuck in this messy middle and just exhausted. And I'm seeing that this need is greater than ever with 2020, let's just be real COVID and all the things. [00:06:06] Have really taken a large toll on everybody. Now I know for me personally, I'm incredibly efficient, but my capacity for getting stuff done is probably about half of what it was pre COVID. I just do not have the emotional capacity to do all the things that I used to, [00:06:26] which is part of why I've had to be so inclusive, probably intentional with the things that I'm doing, because I just, I can't work 40, 50 hours a week anymore. I can't work 60, 80. There's no way I can do 60 to 80 hours a week. Like I've done in the past. I have no desire to let my business rule my life like that again. [00:06:44] And I know it doesn't have to, if I'm truly in my zone of genius, if I'm truly doing the things that I'm not just excellent at, but that I am phenomenally gifted at and that bring me life. And so what I've realized is yes, I can teach and yes, my framework is awesome, but I want to help. People, I want to connect with people. [00:07:06] I want to help them connect with each other. I want to help entrepreneurs who feel exhausted and feel overwhelmed and who can't even unplug from their businesses to find a way to redesign their business and feel supported in it and feel like they have other people who really get it. To do this together to connect. [00:07:30] I know for me, the thing that has gotten me through 20, 20 more than anything has been the friends that I have developed and I used to not really have friends and Kay. And I say that very honestly, and it might sound funny, but up until about a year and a half or two ago, I had acquaintances and I had a lot of them, but I didn't have close friends. [00:07:53] Like the ones you can call on anytime, anywhere, and know that they've got your back. They're there to remind you who you are. They understand what you're doing. They see you. And they love you. Despite the fact that they know all the good, the bad, the ugly, you know, all of it. And I didn't have that. I thought it was broken if I'm totally honest, I'm like, yeah, I know how to relate to people. [00:08:16] And I know how to like, Connect with people on a surface level, but I didn't feel like I knew how to have those deep relationships or find and not have them, but find them. That's probably a better way to put it, which is part of why I joined Stew's mastermind. If you go back and look, listen to some of the very first episodes in this series, way back to season one, you can listen to that journey and yeah. [00:08:40] Or about why I joined the mastermind. I literally told them in the very first mastermind that I paid, all of that money. To make friends who get it because I was lonely and I wanted friends who understood the business side, that I could really develop deep friendships with. Like, yes, I wanted to grow my business, but I needed friends. [00:08:57] I mean, yeah. I have people in my life who know who I am that love me, that. You know, care for me, but they didn't get what I did from a business standpoint. And if you've been doing the online business stuff for any amount of time, or you probably know what I mean, I mean, people don't even know what you do. [00:09:11] They're like, how, what, what, what do you do? How do you make money? Sure. You understand? I have found that to be the most valuable thing for me in getting through this incredibly challenging year, especially with the demise of my old business and all of the craziness that I haven't even begun. [00:09:28] tell you about on this podcast that I'm absolutely certain will come out at some point, but it's been such a year of massive transfer information and no tactic, no strategy. None of those things were enough on their own to get them me through this year. I've needed people and able to thrive through this year. [00:09:50] And I don't know if you are out there doing this alone right now, and you do not have people that you can count on and that you can really call on and you feel alone. It doesn't have to be that way. And. It is so much easier when you have people that you can band together with. So what I'm thinking about right now is how can I create that belonging and that togetherness. [00:10:16] For entrepreneurs, how can I leverage this gift of connection and clarity and site for people like you? Who, who are so exhausted, who are stuck in that messy middle, who don't have time, frankly, to make friends because it's absolutely vital. And at some point, if you don't do this, if you don't get clarity on what you're doing, if you don't get alignment on it, you are going to burn out. [00:10:43] You are going to give up and. It's going to, it's going to cost your health, frankly, and you're missing out on all the things that could be, be like our businesses should be making our lives better, not completely taking over our lives and keeping us unable to, to unplug. And so I want to create intentional spaces for people to come together and connect in small groups so they can build deep relationships. [00:11:12] I want to help people. Build business friends like create business friends, deep friendships. And you know, my, my longterm goal is to create an adventure mastermind where I travel the world with a group of entrepreneurs who are willing to stretch themselves outside their comfort zone. And do beautiful wild, creative things together that help us grow while also talking about life and business. [00:11:39] And that I've always just said was on hold because COVID and travel right now is all up in the air. And you know, who knows how long this is going to last, but it didn't Dawn on me until yesterday that there's still a beautiful opportunity for us to connect together and we need it now more than ever. [00:11:59] And so I've decided I'm going to be launching. There, I don't know what to call them. They're kind of like masterminds, but they're a little different because it's not the formal structure of a mastermind, but the focus is gonna be beyond belonging and really. Supporting each other, as we walk through this entrepreneurial journey together. [00:12:19] So belonging and togetherness, and really connecting like-minded impact driven entrepreneurs who want to make a real change in the world who want to do this together, who are so stuck, that they, I barely have time to breathe. And I want to, until it hit a space for you to step back, to take a deep breath, And to help you realign yourself with your business, because if you don't ever stop to breathe and to reevaluate and to see what's working and what's not, nothing is going to change, you're either going to burn out and quit or. [00:12:59] You're going to continue going, going, going, and just be exhausted forever. And I just, I know the need is so deep right now. I don't have all the details yet. I don't have it all figured out. It's not going to be the 25, $30,000 mastermind that I'm dreaming of. It's going to be much less expensive than that, but it's also not going to be like dirt cheap. [00:13:20] It's going to be somewhere in the middle. And so right now, if this is something that you're interested in, I'm literally just kind of gauging interest in need. But if you really want to connect with other transformation driven entrepreneurs, if you really want to have a group of people, it can become deep, lifelong friends who can support you through this. [00:13:41] You can be a mirror to you who can absolutely help you with the business side, right? More than anything are there to support you. In your personal journey and. Here's the big one. If you're willing to engage and support the other people in a small group as well, I would love to hear from you so you can go to the show notes and probably the easiest way would be to contact me via Instagram at Jamie M Swanson. [00:14:11] And let me know, and if you're driving right now or doing something where you can't access your phone, because, you know, You're driving or whatever else. If you could take a moment and tell your phone to remind you to come back to this and send me a message, this isn't going to be a big launch. This is probably going to be me reaching out to some of the most amazing people I know who really would love this, who would get a lot of value from this. [00:14:36] And who've expressed interest in being in some sort of mastermind. Cause it's similar to a mastermind. But it's going to be a little bit different. It's going to be a lot more accessible and it's all going to be virtual for now, until we know we can do something in person, absolutely open to personal or in person events in the future when we're able to do them. [00:14:53] But for now it's going to be virtual. So it should be incredibly accessible to anybody. And I'm not going to run them in the same way that most people are running them really excited about that. I was, we'll give you more details later as I bang them out, because right now I'm literally still brainstorming exactly what this looks like. [00:15:11] But if this is something that appeals to you and you're willing to commit a year, To getting to know other people, letting them know you and really reevaluating your business to create something that's so much more sustainable and so much more aligned with who you are. And you're willing to both work on your business as well as on your own personal growth. [00:15:33] And you get excited by the idea of doing this together, then reach out to me. Let's have a chat about it, see if it's a good fit. And honestly, Tell me, like, what would make this a dream for you? Because right now I can design it any way I want. And I'm very excited about that idea. So without my friend, I mean this more than ever, we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.