656 -The Inner Work That Has Made the Biggest Difference in My Business

Welcome to the Next Level Life podcast with Christine Corcoran. This podcast is made for the powerhouse business women who are ready to ignite their fullest potential. This is where we will dive deep into mindset breakthroughs and sprinkle in some pick up the butt motivation so you can scale your business with confidence and clarity. Whether you're craving more income, impact or inspiration, this podcast will be your ultimate resource for all things Next level. Listen in as we have authentic conversations with game changing female entrepreneurs as we reveal the secrets of what it takes to rise and thrive. So go ahead, ignite your inner fire and let's get you taking massive aligned action. Are you ready to elevate? Let's go. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much for hitting download. Oh my goodness. There's been some awesome things happening. So if you haven't seen the tickets for Unstoppable Women went on sale for a short time, the early bird tickets were announced and everyone started snapping up the tickets. It was so exciting to see all the names coming through and majority of people who bought tickets bought VIP which blew my freaking mind. Pricing an event is actually really challenging because firstly, this is the first of this type of event that I've run. So again, I don't have social proof, I don't have like the, you know, all the speaker lineups from last year to lean on. Like all of the things that often happen when you're running an event. You have previous events to go on to prove that it's going to be worth the ticket price and it's going to be super valuable for you to attend. And so all I can rely on at this point is my reputation and can rely on what I'm going to be telling people about the event. So it's so exciting to have seen all the support come through since announcing the event and putting the tickets on sale. Like I honestly had tears in my eyes last week when I had all this feedback coming through and just people saying so excited and saying how reasonable the prices are, like everything. And I think like I did a bit of research around what other events are happening around the country as well. And so I wanted to price my ticket price at the stage of like, because it's the first event of this kind, I wanted to make it reasonable, but I also wanted to cover costs and I also wanted to make it something that people are like, it's a no brainer, Like I needed it to be a no brainer ticket price. And when you think about like everything that we're going to be bringing to this event and what I want to create for this event, it's absolutely so exciting. And I've been chatting to all the vendors and like getting all the quotes and getting all these details and everything leading up to this price point and figuring out like how I'm going to cover costs and all the things. And basically to have like such an influx of people buy tickets right from the get go when I haven't even announced speakers blows my freaking mind and it just makes me so freaking excited. I've also secured another speaker that is going to be phenomenal and I cannot wait to tell you about who it is. But I am. The way I'm going to be announcing speakers is basically giving a focus attention on that speaker for a whole week. And so I have to confirm with the speakers what week that's going to be. So then they are active for that and available to talk about it and be sharing it across social media. So the speaker that I've just recently confirmed, who is the huge phenomenal one, she can't do that until June. So you're not going to get information about that speaker until June. But I want you to know it's going to be so worth it. And I also want you to know too, that the way that I'm curating this event, it's for us to go deep, as in like practical, making sure that you get value out of the event. So I'm not going to be packing the speaker lineup with a whole bunch of people. Uh, it's going to be really great speakers and we're going to give actual dedicated time to work on elements of your business. Because what I find sometimes when you go to events, you get a whole bunch of information. At the end of the day you feel so overwhelmed, you're like, okay, now what do I do? And you go back into your own world and you kind of like lose the momentum and the motivation, the inspiration, because it was just one day. And so what I want to make sure happens is that each speaker will get a minimum of 45 minutes to dive deep onto the topic that they're going to be sharing on. So you get valuable information to dive into. Plus there'll be other exercises throughout the day to help you integrate the work that we're doing to help you really get to connect. And there'll be curated experiences where you get to connect with other people in a really effective way to make sure that you're actually growing your network and you walk away with incredible connections that will help expand your Business. That's my intention for this event, so I cannot wait to bring it to you. And for all of you who already bought tickets, love you so freaking much. I'm so excited and I can't wait to start announcing the speakers now. I also want you to to know and the reason why I want to share this podcast title to you today. So this one is all about the inner work that has shifted and changed my business for the better. And I wanted to start here because while I've been working on this event, it has been bringing up so much stuff, like so much fear, so much doubt, so much anxiety around, like, oh my God, is this going to work? Are people going to buy tickets? Do people really want this type of event? Like, who am I to create the stage for myself? Like, all of the stu is coming to the surface. And so I've been leaning on a lot of inner work recently in order for me to keep moving forward and keep taking the steps and acknowledging why this is coming up. So when you, when it comes to you growing and scaling your business, what you believe about yourself and what you're capable of, what you believe about business, what you believe about success, what you believe about money impacts your actions every single day. And so if you don't believe you're capable, if you have fear around that next level of success of like, being able to handle the responsibility, being able to handle the level of support that you have to give clients, like, there is so many mindset blocks and so much nervous system work that comes into play when it comes to scaling and growing your business. Now I want to talk to you about a couple of the things that have shown up for me recently, but also what some of the inner work that I've done over the years. And I think it's because I just, maybe I just haven't shared it enough or I just felt really called to share this today because I felt like it's something that we often neglect or we push to the side as well. We kind of like don't make it as important as the strategy work. But in my experience, it's been the work that has made the biggest difference, honestly, like it has been every single time I've had experiences come up where I've had been forced to address the inner work, their mindset blocks, their nervous system stuff that has what's catapulted my growth every single freaking time. And it's doing the work and taking the time to do the work. And that way your strategy then feels much more aligned and you Feel more aligned with the action that you're taking, which means it works more effectively. So you cannot ignore the inner work. And the more you ignore the inner work, the more harder business gets and the slower your progress is, right? When you're sitting in it and you're literally going, I'm just going to keep pushing and I keep pushing harder and harder and harder and expect things to change. But you're doing it from a place of desperation or you're doing it from a place of trying to prove your worthiness. We're doing it from a place of, like, almost rebellion, of like, well, I'm doing the work. And this must be. Has got nothing to do with how hard I work. It's got everything to do with everybody else. Like, if we get stuck in the victim mindset, like, all of that, if we're not willing to take the time to address the inner work, you will always keep yourself stuck. Always. And so I want to highlight this, that even as a high achiever, right? I would address myself as a high achiever. Like, I work my butt, butt off. I am always going for the next big thing, right? Absolutely. Would see myself as a high achiever. Even as a high achiever, you have blocks. Even if someone has a great work ethic, you have blocks. Even as someone who takes action on a regular basis, you still have blocks. And so if you're not willing to look at that and you're willing to look at prioritizing or investing in other parts of your business first, thinking that that will be the secret pill, you're missing the point. You're missing the catalyst that makes those things work more effectively. And it's you. It's you. Because your business is a reflection of you. Your bank account is a reflection of your belief systems. Your level of visibility is a reflection of your belief systems and your fears and your doubts, right? All of that is you. And so I say this not as a place of blame, but a place of, like, this is awesome. Like, when you work on you, everything else externally changes. And so if we're willing to address that, you can take it to a whole new level. And I'm not saying that you do one and not the other. No, that's not at all what I mean. I'm saying for me, in my experience, the inner work has been the catalyst that has changed the way that I address my business and approach things in my business, changes the action steps that I take, changes the way that I show up, changes the way that I go after certain things, right? It has been the catalyst. I have still worked on the strategy of my business. I have still asked for support when I needed it. I have still worked on the systems, the processes, the automations, everything in the back end of my business. Like, I'm still doing all of that, but the difference is in the energy that I'm doing it in, right? If I did not do the inner work, I probably would have given up on my business years ago, years ago, and I probably would not have gotten it to where it is today, which I'm pretty bloody happy with. And I still have growth to work on and I still have success to achieve, right? So I don't see myself as anywhere near where I want to be in my business. Even though from the external, you may look at it and think, oh, it's awesome. She gets to travel the world, she gets to have beautiful masterminds, you get to have great experiences. She gets to have an incredible podcast launching a new event, like, about to bring her book out. You might look at that from the external and be like, wow, it's so easy for her. It's so. It's amazing that she gets to do that. She's so capable, she's so confident. No, fuck that, that's not true. I am willing to do the inner work. I'm willing to address my belief systems. I'm willing to do things even though I'm frickin scared. I'm willing to take the action even if I don't know if it's gonna work out. I'm willing to risk it. I'm willing to risk it. All right? And so you wanna ask yourself, like, what is it within you that you need to address to move forward? So let me break down some of the biggest, biggest pieces of inner work that I've done for myself over the years of my business. One of the first, most powerful focuses I believe that I had in my business was a willingness to try things even when I didn't know the answer, even when I wasn't going to get a perfect, even when I did not know the outcome. And the focus was long term, not short term. That focus was I was willing. And I remember the saying that I used to say to myself, I'm going to show up until they show up. Because addressing social media or creating a podcast on a regular basis or sending emails on a regular basis can feel really hard when you feel like no one's paying attention. Because it's like, what am I even doing this for? I feel like I'm wasting my time. But Building a business is in a long game, and if you're not willing to do the things, the people can't trust you to show up, right? You've got to be reliable before people can trust you. And so I had that willingness to be like, I've got to build the consistency in the habit to show up no matter what, even when I don't feel ready, even. And when I don't feel comfortable, even when I feel like I've got nothing to say. That consistency habit was a hell of a lot of inner work. There were times where I was like, I can't be bothered recording the podcast today. I've got nothing to say. Oh, I've got so many other things on my plate that I need to do instead of that. Like the consistency on my social media. Like, willingness to show up in the mess, willingness to show up and say what it is that's happening, or to just show up on stories like that. Consistency took guts and took courage. And it was my willingness to look within, to be like, what is it within myself that I'm doubting here? Or I need to reframe those thoughts to change the way that I'm viewing my business and change the way that I'm perceiving what I expect to have happen in order for it to be worthwhile and valuable, right? Like, when I think about if I, oh, I'm not going to do a podcast unless someone pays attention, or I'm not going to show up on stories because my engagement is so low. Like, if I had listened to that, I would not have 600 episodes of the podcast. I would not have the following that I have, even though it's a small following, right? I would not have people coming to work with me because they've seen me show up consistently online. That wouldn't have happened. And so I feel like that was that first expectation of myself, of, like, the standard that I set for myself to build the habit and the consistency to show up no matter what. And I remember a family friend of mine saying, you know, you're probably going to have to work at that business for at least three years without paying yourself for it to be worthwhile. And I actually didn't believe her. I was like, whatever, whatever. No, that's not going to be me. That's not going to be me at all. But it did change the way that I thought about business because I was like, well, I'm not going to be just in it for three years. I'm not looking at this from short term. I'm looking at this of like, this is where I want to be in 10 years time. So I've got to act from the place I want to be, not from where I am right now. And so that then takes me to the next key piece was the identity shifts that needed to happen, right? I needed to believe in the value of what I was delivering. I needed to believe in the, in the impact of coaching. I needed to believe enough to sell myself with confidence. So that's when I then had to work on those belief systems around sales, even when I'd come from sales. But when you step into your own business and you're selling your own stuff, it brings up a lot of insecurity, a lot of, am I good enough to do this? Is anyone going to believe me? Is anyone going to pay me? Like, it absolutely brings up all of that stuff. So please don't think that just because I came from sales that meant sales was easy. It was not showing up. And selling online was very different to selling in person. When I was selling a separate product and a separate element of what we used to do in corporate, right? That was so different. And it's a different headspace is a different mindset. When you're going in and it's you, like it's you, it feels like you're selling you. It's very different. And so I still had to work through all those mindset blocks. I still had to work through. And I still think this shows up every now and then of like, oh, am I going to be annoying? Am I being salesy? Like, I think that still is just so ingrained. I think because I came from corporate sales and then also teaching sales, I still hear a lot of that conversation because people talk to me about it and how they feel about it. So I had to address those belief systems and change again that selling is serving and that you have to believe in the value that you offer in order to get in front of the right people. And honestly, it's a numbers game and that you have to believe there's people out there that are ready to buy. Which then brings me to the next key piece. The next element of work that I did was on money mindset, which you probably know, I talk a lot about money mindset on the podcast. This actually came from one an interest. So I remember like exploring it in the, you know, I think it was maybe year three or something in my business. And I remember looking at it because I recognized that I had these patterns of money and I'd pushed up against this Income ceiling. I had two income blocks, right? I had one hitting 10k months because I had this fear around being able to hold and manage that amount of money. Because previously when I worked on cruise ships, I earned pretty good money. And I remember getting home from a couple of contracts and having 10 grand saved and being like, oh, God, I'm rich. What do I do with that money? Because I had never had that much money just sitting in my bank account before. And so I ended up losing it all. Like, not losing it all, but spending it all. I went and I did all these trips and I traveled, and I literally was frivolous with my money. I just threw it away instead of actually thinking about my future and what I wanted to utilize it for. And so I threw that money away. And so then when I was getting close to hitting the 10k months in my business, I had this fear around hitting the 10k months and it unpacked. It was because I couldn't trust myself with money back when I had it then. So why did I think I could trust with myself now? So again, I had to address those money blocks. I got so obsessed with the money mindset work because of the impact that it has on every part of your business. Being able to sell yourself with confidence and charge what you want to charge and all these things. Because I started when I started my coaching business, I started really low, pricing myself really low. And so that, again, was something I needed to work on. So I recognized it was something almost like I wanted to do the work around money mindset, identified that I had money mindset blocks. And then there came a time, and I've shared this in the podcast before, there came a time where I wasn't really managing my money very well and I had a debt that I needed to pay off that had gotten to the point where they would then almost go into collections. I was. Had never been in that position before. I was like, this is bullshit. Not at all what I want to experience. And I remember having, like, you have to pay this within two weeks, otherwise it's going to collections. And that was like my nervous system was like in full, full fear response, in panic mode. And I was like, in that moment, I said to myself, you've been doing all this money mindset work, but now it's up to you to do the work. Like to trust that what you've been doing works. Because there was still an element of skepticism. So I was still doing all the manifestation work, and I was still doing all the money mindset work and working through my blocks, but I didn't fully have trust. And this is. When you look at money mindset work, there's different levels that you go through as you evolve beyond scarcity. And there's a level of trust right before you can then step into worthiness and seven to overflow. Like, there's actually seven, there's actually eight stages of frequencies of wealth. And so, and I teach us in unstoppable sales. Because when it comes to that phase of business that I was in, when that showed up for me, that experience showed up for me, is because it was showing up for me, right, to actually build the trust with money. And so I went back to my money mindset work. I doubled down on the next level of trust and belief that I needed to have and like work through anything that prevented me from doubting, sorry. Prevented me from believing that it was possible to have money flow to me easily and effortlessly. And so then I did the money mindset work and within that two week time, I had a whole bunch of money fly into my business and into my personal life that I was able to then pay off that debt and then some. So that was like this catalyst that it was like, holy shit, this stuff works. And so that's when I doubled down on that work and doubled down on my business and went all in on. On certain things in my business, not fearing the investment and not fearing that next stage of growth. And so that was like next pivotal kind of moment that really worked on that in mindset work. Okay. That then led me to the next key piece was being able to take time off because I recognized that I was working really hard. And again, that came back to some money blocks and also came back to me being able to trust my business. So I had some time off when my father passed away. And I knew that was coming because he was very sick. And I was traveling down to Victoria and I had all of that happening, but there was not ever a doubt that my business wouldn't support me. And that was beautiful for me to like lean into that level of belief and trust in myself, but also in my business. And I'd worked on some key things to have some income coming through while I was on break and I built out a online course and all these things. And yet what actually ended up happening was that money flowed in, in other ways and in client ways. And they were happy to like pay now and start later. And all of these things that allowed me to be able to still take time off and grieve without the pressure of Scarcity and no income. So that was a whole new level of trust with money that really served me in so many ways that I can only attribute to the inner work. Right. Yeah, I did still build, like, obviously build out my business and make sure that I was taking care of the finances and stuff like that throughout that time. But honestly, like, I honestly can only attribute that to my money mindset work, because having that level of trust and not having fear or doubt or panic around money at that time was really beautiful. To be able to fully step away from my business and just rest and just integrate and grieve really allowed me to be there for my mom and my family. And it just, yeah, built a whole new level of trust within my business. It was awesome. Awesome and terrible, obviously. Okay, so the next key piece that I wanted to highlight was, was identity work. Really working on identity work. And I feel like it's something that we're always doing if when we do this in a work and it shows up in different elements. I'm experiencing a lot of that at the moment where we're really getting down to the core beliefs, the core fears, the core doubts of who you believe you are and what you believe you're capable of. So I remember making a huge investment in my business. I think this was towards end of 2022, and it was one of the biggest investments that I'd ever made. It was joining a US Mastermind. And I did not have the full amount, but I was able to do the payment plan. But it was a huge investment. I remember being like six and a half or seven grand, which is all I really had in my savings basically at that time. And that wasn't the full amount. I remember the full amount. I think it was like just under 18 grand or something like that. It was massive. And at that time, I had not invested in such a scale. And I remember thinking, okay, well, I might have that level of savings sitting in the bank account, but how am I then going to also do the payment plan every single month? And so for me, there was this level of standard that had to raise in order for me to really build systems in my business and build consistency in my sales habits and all the things that really kind of shifted the way that I did business. And it was that investment in that mastermind, but it was every single month when that payment was coming out and being like, oh, my gosh, that money is there. Which is awesome. But it was all coming back to how I treated my business, because I think up until then, which I think Everyone goes through. You almost like, treat it not like a hobby. That's probably not the way to go about it, but, like the word to use. But it was more like, it's just me, so I can kind of like get by if I need to get by. Does that make sense? So it's almost like even if you're not really making great money, if you're making money to get by, it's kind of like, yeah, I can have a slow month or a slow week and it's not. Not Dire Straits, but I can feed myself just a little bit less, or I can just not go out or book in for any events and stuff like that. But I remember having this moment where I was like, you can't do that anymore. You can't just get by. You've actually got to thrive. And I remember having a session with one of my coaches in that, and she was like, mapping out, helping me map out my mastermind that I wanted to launch and building in reoccurring revenue options for my business. And I remember being like, oh, that means I'm going to have to show up more effectively. That means I'm going to have to stop just winging things and really step in as the business owner and step in as the CEO and start showing up like, I fucking mean it. And that was huge identity shifts for me. And that also brought up visibility fears. And so I had to work through some visibility fears of, like, who do I think I am being able to show up like this? And, you know, also being in the room in that mastermind of, like, believing that the challenges that I was having were valuable to bring to the table. The questions that I was asking was even worthwhile. Like, I had these fears around, like, people thinking that I was stupid or just some little business. Like, I had all that stuff showing up for me, and so I had to do the identity work to shift that. Because I think sometimes when you're in your own business, in your own little world, in your own little office, there's no mirror to show you there's limitations there. And so when I was in that mastermind, there was definitely mirrors to show me the limitations and how I was playing small. And so there was some beautiful mindset blocks that had to come to the surface. And that experience really brought those to the surface because I was remembering saying to myself, like, I'm going to treat this investment. Like, I've invested 20 times this and I'm going to shop and I'm going to be prepared and I'm Going to ask questions even if the questions are dumb. And so I remember like getting on the zoom and jumping on live and asking questions to the room and fear, like having so much anxiety and so much fear of like, oh my God, people are going to think I'm so dumb. But yet asking the question and getting so much valuable feedback from it and then being able to fine tune that question for next time, next time. Or having other people being like, oh, I really love that question you asked. And I was like, oh really? And so having those identity shifts start to show up of like, oh, I am the type of person that invests at this level. I am the type of person that shows up consistently online. I am the type of person that has a mastermind. I am the type of person that asks really great questions in a room full of successful entrepreneurs. So it was starting to shift my identity because otherwise sitting in my own little office, you know, a day in, week out, like it wasn't really shifting me in any way that served me. And you know, back then we were in 2022, so there was still a whole bunch of lockdowns and stuff like that. So it wasn't really. And I remember I was actually still at my parents house so I was spending more time with my mom. And it was one of those things that was like, I need something to shift and change me from the inside out, otherwise nothing's going to shift and change. And so I chose to then invest in myself, chose to invest in being in the right room to do that work so then I could show up in a way that was really going to benefit my business. Okay. Other inner work that I've done as well is not just mindset work and identity work. It's actually been a lot of nervous system work as well. So I actually did a lot of breath work and deep breath work. So I actually had these facilitated sessions with a breathwork facilitator and they were personalized in depth trauma release sessions. Like it was full on. I remember having like my full body experience work with my shifting my nervous system and working through processing trauma from the past. And so I reckon I did like nine to 12 sessions, I think it was. And that was really deep, phenomenal work that just shifted so much on a cellular level and shifted my belief in myself, shifted my identity because it was really working on releasing past stuff which was showing up and affecting my relationships and affecting my business and affecting my money. Like it was actually affecting so much and I hadn't realized it until I did that real Deep work. Now that was probably over a good like three months, I think it was. And I remember like every single session feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. But every single time I did it, it got easier and easier. And now I feel like breath work for me is a reset for my nervous system. And it is something that almost like brings me back into tune and centers myself and brings me back to who I am. And that's why I love it as a regular practice in my life because it does help me really center back in and tune back in and have that connection to the universe and feel so freaking good. So breath work has definitely been since then actually been a real huge part of my inner work as well. Okay, so then from there, I think the other only other big catalyst ones have been my trip to America, which I know I've spent a lot of time talking about, so I won't go into too much depth, but it started with a huge investment. It was started with the commitment of choosing to attend three main events in America, which means I'd have to fly across, do accommodation, all the things. So it was a massive investment. My biggest one to date and as I mentioned and I also talk about in my upcoming book was these next level conversations, which really showed me how I was playing small, showed me that I was also capable of being in rooms like that and also challenging me to really address any mindset blocks, any identity belief systems that were preventing me from being the version of myself that I wanted to be in those rooms. And it shifted my identity over the whole entire year. I remember having like so many breakthroughs, so many choices that I had to make that came from a place of fear that I was like, no, I'm going to choose courage and I'm going to take the action. And then the results, like flowed from there. It was so incredible. And I believe that I'm doing that again this year and really dressing like anything that's coming up that is activating me. So really building that inner mind, body connection and tuning in to be like. Like when emotions are showing up, what are they here to show me? What's the lesson here? And this year is really about this next stage of growth and expansion and visibility because obviously launching my book, getting this event out there is really bringing up so much stuff to the surface of my belief in myself, my willingness to be that face of that, of that event in my book. And it's really leveling up the visibility fears and my identity blocks and imposter syndrome, like, like all of it. Which makes sense because my book is about imposter syndrome. So ideally, like, what I wanted to bring to this podcast day was share with you that it's not all fun and roses behind the scenes, that it is actually a lot of work on yourself because the work on yourself is the biggest catalyst to creating results in your business. So if you're not getting the results that you want, you've got to address the inner blocks first. You've got to address what's going on internally for you to then be able to take next level action aligned action as well. Because like some of the action steps that I take within my business as some of the things that cause a lot of fear and doubt, but I do it anyway. I don't entertain the fear and doubt thoughts. And that takes a lot of work to change your mindset and to address that so you can show up in a way that you really want to show up. So whatever is happening for you, it is happening for you for a reason. So taking the time to address it and checking in with yourself to be like, hang on a minute, how am I? What am I choosing to believe here? So if any of this has resonated with you, this is the work that we're going to be doing inside her expansion. It is a six week upgrade. We're going to be addressing the fears, the doubts, the identity blocks that are preventing you from being the next level version of yourself that you know you're capable of being, but you just keep getting in your own way. And it's also addressing the messaging and the strategy that needs to happen in order for you to level up, to be seen as that next level, go to person in your industry. So if you're feeling called to do this work, because as I've addressed it today, that you're like, yeah, I've definitely got some stuff to work through. Check out her expansion. It is starting next week, just after Easter. Make sure that you dive in and grab your spot because we're going to get started the 22nd of April. All right, lovely. So thankful for you being here and I hope that you've benefited from everything that I've shared today. And if you have any questions or if you just want to share with me some of the breakthroughs that you've had when doing the inner work, send me a DM on Instagram. All right, lovely. Have an incredible week. Thank you for listening. And if you found any value out out of this episode, make sure you hit the follow button so you get access to the episodes as soon as they are live. And make sure you come hang out with me on Instagram. You can find me at Christine Corcoran Underscore Coach. Have an incredible week.