“Soul Over Hustle: Redefining Success with Luisa Anderson”

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Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show, an association with Believe Network. Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show, powered by Believe Network. To show what purpose meets perspective and success is built brick by brick. Today we're flipping the script on the hustle. My guest Louisa Anderson is a podcaster, paralegal, and spiritual entrepreneur who's helping people find alignment in a world addicted to the grind through a show flying upstream. Louisa explores what it really means to build a business and a life rooted in soul, not stress, from surviving the storm of corporate life to embracing a spiritual awakening. Louisa's story is proof that peace is power and purpose is the new success. So if you've ever felt stuck chasing someone else's version of success, this conversation is your permission to slow down, breathe, and remember who you really are. Louisa, welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show.

What's up, my good people? Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Johnson Show in association with Believe That Work, the podcast that brings you stories behind the success and where we build success brick by brick. Today we're flipping the script on the hustle. My guest, Louisa Anderson from Boston, Massachusetts, yeah, is a podcaster, paralegal, and spiritual entrepreneur who's helping people find alignment in the world addicted to the grind. From her show Flying Upstream, Louisa explores what it really means to build a business and a life rooted in the soul, not the stress. From surviving the storms of corporate life to embracing a spiritual awakening, Louisa's journey is proof that peace is power and purpose is the new success. So without further ado, welcome Louisa Anderson to the show. Hey, how you doing, Louisa?

Hi, thank you so much for having me on.

Thank you for coming on. Yeah, I know you're a busy lady, you know, see you on Instagram. So you and your co-host, I see you out there doing your thing. So let me ask you this, Luisa, Awakening the Voice. You've worn many titles: paralegal, podcaster, entrepreneur. What moment made you realize that your voice was a true calling?

You know, for me, it was kind of something that I had always avoided. I come from a place of where, you know, stay quiet, be seen, not heard. And during my awakening, that was flipped. I sort of got this message that my voice had power, that I needed to put my voice out there. It was a very difficult process to put myself out there, to start talking and even sharing my opinion in day-to-day conversations with people. At some point, once I did start podcasting, and my first podcast was about spirituality, just because I had just gone through my own awakening. And when people were listening and I started to receive messages about the impact that these stories, my own stories, because it was a solo podcast, were having on people, I really started to understand the power that I had. Because not only had I, like, been a nobody, basically, who refused to use her voice, I had really, really understood that that was my place, like, that I didn't have anything to say. So I think that was probably the first time was after I started my first podcast, when I really recognized that if I can do this, impact one person's life from this small place, imagine what I could do if I use my voice in larger and larger stages.

So let me ask you, Luis, so you said that, you know, growing up, I guess you was a little shy, didn't have the mouth peace that you say you have now. So, so you say after your first podcast, and you realize that, you know, I got a voice and it's reaching people, what actually prepared you to say, you know what, I'm going to start a podcast coming from the humble beginnings that you come from?

Honestly, it was really a soulful experience, to be honest, there's no other way to explain it. I, I started meditating is really what happened. And I started to really hear my own voice and really understand like, what do I want to do? What do I do with my story? Like, what do I do with all of the pain that I've encountered? What do I do with this such, like, bigger than life story that I have to share? And what it really took was me letting go of the fear that I had of people having an opinion about my opinion. I think the moment that I realized that there are two types of people, there are people who do and there are people who don't. And when I decided that I wasn't going to let the fear define me as someone who didn't, then it was just automatic that I would do whatever it took for people to hear me. And podcasting is such a— I feel like it's such a powerful platform because we do get to do this. We get to— you and I, we get to interact. We get to talk and tell real stories of real people and everyday things that we all experience. And I think once I let go of that fear, and that idea that I needed to fit into some box of somebody else's opinions, then I really was able to listen to my soul and understand this is what I'm here for. This is part of my mission. This is why I'm in this 3D world and in this earth and living at this time in this earth.

She said one minute, child, that she was afraid to talk. Now she got a podcast. She can't stop talking. Hey, funny how life changes us sometimes. So let me ask you, Luisa, Was there a specific breaking point or aha moment that led you to your spiritual awakening that you were talking about?

Yeah, so for me, it was divorce. My husband of over 10 years at that time came home in what at the time felt like an uncompletely unexpected move and said that he wanted a divorce. And that flipped everything I thought I knew around. I had built this life that I call it the white picket fence, you know, 2.5 kids, even I have a golden doodle around here, even I have the whole, I had the whole shebang that society told me that I should have, the cars, the travel, the passport to prove it, all of the things. And it was empty. It was completely empty. But for some reason, even though I was completely empty, you know, my husband at the time asking for a divorce felt like unexpected, and it felt like, how could this possibly be happening? That's what prompted my spiritual awakening. It really forced me to wake up and look around and really start to consider every single part of my life. It broke me down to like my foundation.

Mm-hmm.

It broke me down to question every single thing and every single person in my life. And I started to drop what I call dead weight, which are all of the people who were just in my life because there was a benefit to it. And in one way or another, whenever I was no longer a benefit, I realized that they weren't people that were there for me. They were people that were there for what I could give or do to them. And they weren't actually pouring into me. I was pouring into them and not getting anything back. And so that was the turning point. That was the moment that shifted everything because I had to rebuild myself on a new foundation.

So let me ask you, you know, because I can definitely understand where you're coming from and what you're talking about. Sometimes you do. Then a lot of times too, we feel a certain way, but it's not even us that's walking away from them, you know, it's them walking away from us because it's time for the separation. You know, a lot of times when God dealing with us in different areas of our lives, you know, and we want to be with people and we want people people in our space, but they just not meant to be in our space at that moment because God trying to elevate you and we let people keep us back. But let me ask you a question because you said something that was interesting, because you said that getting a divorce from your husband, uh, silly, silly man, but I'm gonna keep that on the low, that, you know, you start seeing people for who they were. So let me ask you this, and this may be getting a little deeper with you, So could it have been the sense of the trauma that you had with him? Like you say, when he came home, it was unexpected. You had the picky face, you know, you had the life that people dreamed of. And so after this situation occurred, now could it have been like a little anger inside of you that you just said, you know what, I'm just gonna get rid of all you non-good— nobody's doing me no good, you know what I'm saying? But you know, it came out to be a good thing. But could that have been a reason too why you started letting some people go?

There was a little bit of anger. So it was the first time actually that I can remember in my adult life that I allowed myself to feel anger. It was the first time that I finally was like, you know, what the heck is this person doing in my life? And what the, you know, all of the questions that I just wouldn't allow myself to ask before. And there was a little bit of the trauma that came along with that, I think, because the trauma was what held me in all of those relationships. These ideologies and this traumatic background that brought me into that marriage in the first place, you know, that made me believe that, you know, you just kind of put up with what you put up with because you entered into this contract, into this agreement. And, you know, having a background in legal, you enter into an agreement and to break that agreement, you know, there is going to be a war. There is going to be a war and there is going to be a winner and there is going to be a loser.. And when I looked at it that way, I couldn't fathom that either one of us was gonna be a winner and the other one was gonna be a loser. That was my partner. Like, I chose this person.

Mm-hmm.

So it was really hard to allow myself to feel the anger that I did feel at some points. Some people, the way that I started to evaluate them was from a place of anger. It was when I think about specifically my family, I, have no family for the most part, even though I grew up, my father that I grew up with is one of 13. And I grew up with each and every single one of his siblings having at least 2 to 3 kids. And I mean, we did this every weekend. Like we did the partying thing in somebody's house every single weekend. I grew up that way. But when I started to really pay attention to the foundation of like the people that are supposed to love you, and they're supposed to take care of you and protect you as a child. And I saw that that's actually where the trauma that led me into all these bad relationships that I was in. I did feel anger, like my family was the first one that I allowed to feel anger toward. And it was a beautiful thing because to be honest, that anger was what kept me fueled. Because after I was able to cut off my family fully and completely, I realized that I had the power to cut anyone else off. That's like the strongest bond that most of us have in our lives besides our spouses, right? And I was like, well, if I did that, well, what else can I do?

Yeah. Once you start letting go of family and friends, you know, I could let go of anybody, you know, because like I said, you try to keep people with you that, you know, God said that they can't, they not meant to go through that door. But, you know, like, I'mma bring them through anyway. So try to bring other people door here open for you. The door shut for you, it's open, but you can't get in though, you know. As soon as you start letting some people go, it's like, wow, you know, you start elevating in life, you know. Now the people that's behind, guess what they start doing a little bit? They start hating a little bit, you know. And some things come up that was always there, it was always there. But just like how you say you suppress the trauma at an early age to realize later on that this is why I got into this, these bad relationships, you know, because, um, it was always there, you know what I'm saying? It was always there. So let me ask you, before I move on, I gotta ask you this. Your ex-husband, was he from Boston or Texas?

New Hampshire.

New Hampshire. East Coast boy. No wonder. Yeah, yeah, no one— okay, so, so let me ask you, from hustle to healing, you were speaking about healing not too long ago, you talked about living in a world that glorifies the grind. How did you learn to value stillness as a form of strength?

So I think that all happened through my education. So I, you know, went to school, I got my associate's degree, my bachelor's degree, my master's degree in law school. And I really learned that You know, having skills was going to give me the tools to get out of the life that I didn't want for myself. I always realized that the more skills that I gained, the more I could, you know, hone in my work ethic and hone in certain skills, especially in the legal field, that I could be successful and I could get to define a career and therefore a life that was going to look however I wanted it to look.

Mm. So with that, for those who are trapped in hustle culture, what's the first step towards healing?

You have to sit with yourself. You have to ask yourself what it is that you truly want. And of course, this isn't an answer that is going to come to you in one meditation session. I really always promote meditation. But I do know from experience that you know, this sitting for one meditation session, maybe even 10, when you've suppressed so much of living life out of your heart and out of soul, that it's not going to come to you immediately. But I think the moment you ask yourself what it is that you want, it cracks something open. Because what it makes you realize first is all of the things that you don't want. It really opens you up to be able to understand that you have placed and added into your life all of these ideas, all of these structures, all of these people, all of these decisions, the job, you know, the way you dress, where you vacation, how you spend your Friday nights, what you read based on what the outside world is telling you.

Mm-hmm.

And once you ask yourself, what do I want to do when I wake up every day? How do I want to feel? Where do I want to go to work? Do I want to walk, you know, 3 bedrooms down to my office like I do now? Or do I want a 1-hour car ride? And I think that really what starts the healing process, because I think it opens you up to realize what you don't want, and then deeper into how you got to the point where you have all these things and living this life that you don't want, it makes you realize what wounds you have. And that is the beginning of healing. When you allow yourself to look at yourself honestly and truthfully, as painful as it is, that's when healing begins.

You know, I like the fact that you say that you have to spend some time by yourself, and you do. And you know, that ties into what we was talking about earlier, because once you start spending time with yourself, you start evaluating things, start evaluating people, you start evaluating, as you said earlier, lifting the dead weight. You know, like, wait a minute, what's holding me back? You know, I get off work, as you were saying, we got so many things tied into life. I get off work, Come home, take a shower, got to go out, hang out with the homies, and then come back home, go to sleep, and do it all over again. At some point, when do you have time for yourself? When do you have time to listen to that small voice? When do you have time to sit back and prepare things beyond what you see right now? If I'm constantly moving like a— It's just like a mother, Louisa. Same routine every day. Yeah, get up to work, get the kids ready for school, come home, cook, help the kids with their homework, make sure they get in the shower, tub, whatever they got to do, do whatever they got to do, go to bed. And then what? Turn back around the next day and do it all over again. You know what I'm saying? And a lot of times we get lost in the shuffle and doing the same things over and over again. We missed the point where we need some time for ourselves in life. You know, like, we can all go to church and we can praise together and dance together and sing together and say hallelujah together, glory be to God together, but at the end of the day, it's still a personal, a personal relationship. It's a personal thing because you can't get me to have it and I can't get you to have it. The Bible say that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess and every person— I know I say man, but every person shall be judged by their own deeds. So at some point, you got to be able to sit back and look at your life and reflect on your life, what you need to do to propel forward in life. Not just here, but in life, you know what I'm saying? That, that's different. So didn't mean to go there with you, but I know I love that.

I think it's— and it is so true, you know, and I love that you called it out because It does happen a lot too. And I talk about this too often about how it does happen a lot to mothers, especially for me when I became a single mom with 2 kids all alone. You know, I had a choice to make. Was I going to repeat the same pattern that I had in my marriage? Or was I going to do whatever it took to pull out that time for myself? Because if I couldn't, you know, to your point earlier, it's like, at the end of the day, you got you. And you need to know who you are. You need to know what strengths and what weaknesses you have as a person, and whether you are okay with those. Are you okay with that version of yourself? Are you okay with if everything else around you falls apart? Do you know that you can sustain yourself? You know, I love that.

I mean, it's like I was telling my last guest, I'm in this 1% Challenge with Eric Thomas and they crew. And so it's a 21-day challenge that started Saturday, so today was day 4. And so one thing you just said made me think about it, confidence. You have to have confidence in yourself first before, you know what I'm saying? And once I have confidence, and as you said, whatever else goes on around me, all hell can be breaking loose or whatever. I'm confident because I believe in what I believe in, and we don't live by sight, we live by faith, you know what I'm saying? But it can be shaken now, you know. Husband come home and say, hey, I won't be with you no more. They go, what? Like, of course he from the East Coast, uh, what? You know, that faith that I had, that foundation that I was standing on, whoo. Shook. Might have some cracks in it now, you know what I'm saying? So how can I, how can I continue standing on that? But God, he will sometimes, he'll just, he'll just get rid of the whole foundation because that foundation, it had cracks in it from the beginning. Marriages, you know, going into a marriage already had cracks in it. All we building, 10 years, 15 years later, 20 years later, getting a divorce. Why? Because it wasn't a solid foundation from the beginning. It was always meant to fail. We just didn't see it, you know what I'm saying? So that's life. Anyway, oh, this is a— this is good. I hope y'all pay attention. We're giving y'all some free nuggets out here on relationships and everything else in between, giving y'all spiritual guidance as well. Hey, so let me ask you, Luis, building a soul-led business, how did Flying Upstream begin and what inspired the partnership with Christy. I can't pronounce her last name, and I'm not going to chop it up like that. But with Christy.

Yeah. So Kristen and I— excuse me— and it's interesting because usually when I have guests on our show, on Flying Upstream, I start by sharing this story because I kind of think it's extremely funny. It also shows the way that the universe and that God works, right? Because we have all these plans for ourselves, and then God's like, yeah, but you're not seeing what I'm seeing, and that's not what I have for you. And meeting Kristen and starting Flying Upstream was exactly it. That was the journey. So once I had my awakening, started my own podcast that was focused on spirituality, I decided to build a digital platform, you know, for what I shared earlier, sharing my voice with the people, my stories. And so I joined this digital course to learn how to create digital courses to create my digital platform. Kristin also did the same. She's all the way in San Francisco. And I'm over here in Texas. And we both are essentially having the same mission. The only really big difference is that she's a vegan lifestyle guide. I am a spiritual entrepreneur teaching about spirituality and healing and all of that. So our paths would technically very small chance that they were meant to cross, right? But we meet in this course and part of it is creating these structures, these little groups of us that support each other to keep us accountable. They're called accountability pods. And they're beautiful when you're building a business. As you know, entrepreneurship can be very lonely sometimes. And so it was a beautiful, beautiful thing. We met at one of the meetings where you get to choose your mates, and we didn't choose each other at all. We just kept it moving, saw each other, kept it moving. A few months later, Kristen had found a pod, an accountability pod, and reached out and was like, hey, just wondering if you have a pod, maybe I can join yours. And I was like, absolutely, we're actually short one person in our pod. And so we come together to this. We're accountability partners for a while. She has, you know, her vegan lifestyle business. I have my spirituality podcast that I'm building a business around. And we meet at one place. I'm doing a segment about the chakras, which are all of the body centers, you know, within our energetic body that really holds a lot of our energy and decide a lot of things for us. But that I wanted to align it. I wanted my listeners to really understand how you could fuel your body in accordance to your chakras.

Mm-hmm.

And she's a vegan lifestyle guide, and I invite her on my podcast so that she can share what foods would be very nurturing for each and every single one of the chakras. And after we did 8 episodes together, She goes, "I think that was really fun. I'd love to do that some more." And I was like, "Great." But, you know, I'm into complete spirituality. So we kind of found the meeting ground for Flying Upstream into what we found that brought us both to the journeys that we were on. And that was living out of a place from soul and not from this hustle culture that we both came from. Me being in the legal field, it's hustle, it's hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle. And before you get one case, the next one is starting. And you know, you have a trial this week, and in 2 weeks you have the biggest trial of your career, and it just, you just go. And for Kristen, she was in tech, and she was, you know, doing tech sales and really running the show at these startups that she was working at. And we both realized that we'd built these lives around everything that society told us our lives should look like. And to us differently, you know, for me, it was my divorce and the breakup of my family. But for her, it was the breakdown of her career. She just felt like she had no more to give. And I felt like I built a life based on just lies and things that I could not see on that shaky foundation that you mentioned. And Flying Upstream was born from this real, like, just desire to urge people to live from soul. Listen, sit down, listen to yourself. Your soul came here with a purpose. There is a purpose. There is a reason you're here. There's a reason I'm here. And what is that? Live from that place. Make decisions from that place. And not from everything that the world tells you you should make decisions from. Not from fear, not from the marketing, not from what your parents want you to do, not from what your spouse wants you to do, but from you, from that little voice that we need to stop and listen to. And so Flying Upstream became that.

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It became really listen to your intuition, listen to that voice. Follow your soul. There is a divine path for you. If you stop and you listen, you'll be able to hear it and walk it and really live the life that you were meant to live.

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It was a song that said, uh, walk it out, walk it out. Yeah, look at— yeah, you know, they don't play that in Boston. I knew they only thing they play at Boston is New Edition. So anyway, uh, let me ask you, speaking of the partnership that you got with, uh, Krista, doing a podcast by yourself, like you said, you said something that caught my attention because I was thinking about that too. When you are entrepreneur, you doing a podcast, you doing things of that nature by yourself, it can be lonely. It can be real lonely, especially if you don't have anyone in your corner that you can bounce stuff off with, or that's not in your space. You can talk to people, but if they not creative or doing things that you doing or whatever, you talking to yourself basically, because they either don't understand what you talking about, or let's be 100, like my wife, really don't care what you talking about, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean You in a world by yourself, and so therefore you have to pick yourself up too. You have to encourage yourself and say, you know what, that's that confidence, like, regardless, you know. Yeah, my first couple few podcasts, first month, 2, 3, maybe 4 months, shoot. Yeah, but I had the mentality that I was gonna keep doing it, and then you keep learning along the way. So let me ask you, with that being said, doing things on your own, doing things by yourself, because I want to write a book next year called Locked Up and Mic'd In, the makings behind the podcast, because I don't think a lot of people really know what goes on into just making one episode of a podcast. And so doing it by yourself, but now partnering with Kristi, how has the transition changed for you as far as workload-wise?

That's a great question. No one's ever asked me that question, and it is truly a great question. I'm looking forward to your book because I do agree with you that people really don't understand everything that goes into just one episode.

One episode.

Yeah, one episode. And so I would say the transition workload-wise, it has remained the same, if I'm being fully honest.

Why?

Because now there's two of us, and now there are two energies of ambition. We each have, you know, our own ambition. We're very ambitious women, which is how we got to our careers and built the lives that we did. And you know, had the success that we'd had up until that point. And what has happened is because we have each other's support, it's almost like we feel like we can run as fast as we were running on our own, but with a support system to fall back on.

Okay. Okay.

So we do a lot more. So for example, we're bumping on all of the social media platforms, but when I was by myself, I only had one social media platform because that's all I could handle. Now we sometimes record 5 episodes in one week. I could barely manage 2. So, you know, it can be— it's almost like the workload stays the same because we're doing more. What I would really say has done is has really allowed us to amplify our voice and our message because there are two of us. So while the workload has not gotten to be less, it has felt like the impact has been greater. And therefore it feels like our efforts are, you know, like we're getting more rewards for our efforts on a regular basis.

Let me ask you, past, present, or even now, just this one question, because I, you know, I love talking to podcasters because we're in the same space. So we know how it is, you know what I'm saying? We know the underlinings of this and that. Some have successful podcasts, some just like me, you know what I'm saying? Just trying to get by. So let me ask you, when you setting things up, you know what I'm saying? And on the ground level, what has been the most challenging thing for you as far as being a podcast?

This is like a mirror question. And one of the reasons I love podcasting is because it has served me as a mirror, and I'll dig down into what I mean. So what has been the most challenging thing has been the realization of how much growth I need to do. Consistently challenged. I consistently feel the need to be better for my guests, for my listeners. I consistently identify the spaces where I can grow, where I need growth, where I need more compassion, where I need more patience, you know, where I need to develop my thinking, where I need to have different perspectives so that when I meet with my guests, I can hear them versus just, you know, sitting there and sort of throwing questions at them, being able to really hear them and understand. And also the listeners, what are they asking for? What does that mean? Right? Because a lot of us, we say a lot of words, but what is the underlying meaning a lot of times? And so that has been the most challenging part, but the mirror aspect that I'm referring to is I really feel like that has been the most rewarding part. I have grown so much in these 2 years in podcasting that I think in a corporate world environment would have taken me 5, 10 years to even come close to, right? Because you're so limited and you're so tapped and you're told where to go and what to do and how to do it in a corporate environment for the most part, that podcasting has sort of given me this gift of Daily challenges, really, but daily challenges that force my growth. And I'm all about growth. I love growth. I feel like if I'm not growing, what am I doing? Mm-hmm.

Yeah. You know, I was talking to somebody. Yes, I was. I was talking to somebody, and I've heard this. They say that regardless of where you start from, you know, like you say, when we first started, like me, I'm just not learning the thumbnail thing, just not. But as you go, I'm like, I go back and look now, like, ooh, what was I doing? No wonder nobody looked But you know what I'm saying? So it's always growing. So to say that, just try to get better. And this might have been MrBeast or somebody that said that, just try to get 1% better each day, you know what I'm saying? Because when you coming in 2 years— how long, 2 years? I just got my 2-year anniversary October 6th.

Yeah, mine was in September sometime too.

Yeah, so we started, had the same mindset around the same time. But look at God, how he turned that around. 2 years later, here we are both with, uh, podcast shows like that. But you know, saying like the growth, and as you said, is it— I was on a podcast last week, I did a couple last week myself, and he asked me that. He asked me a question as far as, you know, what has, you know, said podcasting done for me? And my thing was it showed me and it's taught me patience, on how to be patient. Because as a podcaster, you are therapist. Sometimes you are an encourager, you know. You have to be a listener because you gotta know what people saying, you know. People have to feel— as you said, people have to feel important, like, you know, like you— I'm on your stage, you know what I'm saying? So it's really like, that's not about CJ today. I got Luisa on the show, so this is about Luisa talking about her, her, uh, situations and, you know, saying getting herself out there, her podcast, uh growth and things of that nature. That's why we go on podcast. But you really do have to be a good listener. One thing that I learned that I think changed my trajectory of how my podcast started going, besides being on PodMatch and Believe Network, so, but it was not letting other people's energy dictate my energy. You know what I'm saying? We've been there. I know you've been there too.

Oh yes.

You get on a podcast, I come on, and Louisa on the other side twiddling her thumbs looking like this. And I'm like, hey Louisa, how you doing? I'm good. Like, wow, you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, this is gonna be a long— no, this is gonna be a shorty boy, you know. And I'm gonna tell you, and I'm gonna be honest, and how that happened with me was I interviewed a guy from Florida one time. I probably was like 50, 60 episodes in around this time, you know, but I'm still, you know, still trying to get my niche, still trying to, you know, feel where I'm at. And this guy was so— I think this interview lasted 12 minutes. I lie to you not, because as much as he— because as much as he didn't want to be on the show, I did not want to interview him, you know what I'm saying? That, that's how dull and sickening it was or whatever. 12 minutes, right? And so after that, I made up my mind, Luis. I said, you know what, if anything, I'ma change your energy. Like, what's up, LA? How you doing? Oh, I hate Boston. Straight up, straight up.

I love this.

So, you know, we gotta break the monotony, you know what I'm saying? Break the ice. You gotta find some things where you can, you know, talk to somebody about before you get on stage, see where we at, you know what I'm saying? Whatever, whatever. Let's get on the same page. Let's have some fun. Let's get on here and have some fun, have a few laughs behind stage, you know, laugh in between and say goodbye afterwards, you know what I'm saying? But I, I refuse to let people dictate how I come on my show. This is my show. This is CJ Moneyway's show, you know what I'm saying? So I can't let you dictate how my show gonna go. That'll be reposterous.

So let me ask you, I love that, and it's true though, but it is true. But, and it's not just true about our show too though, right? Like we've built this from the ground up. And when you think, you know, anyone who's built anything from the ground up, unless you have done that, you don't really understand the value of that. You don't really understand how much work goes into that. We mentioned earlier how much goes into one episode. Imagine doing this 230 times. You know? You know, you've built something that means something to you. And energetically, you just can't allow someone to like walk into your business and, you know, behave how they want to behave. You run this show, you built this. So I feel the same. I totally get that.

Yeah, you're just not gonna come in my house and pull down your pants and poop on my floor and think that is all good. Homie, don't roll like that. That ain't how we do things around here in the G. I'm from the G, baby. I ain't from Boston. I heard they got the posse clown in Boston. I forgot the name of that group. I think it was the Posse Clown or something like that.

We got some, you know, we've got some in Boston.

I know, I just gotta tell me that Larry Bird was a clown too. Anyway, he was a great clown though, I'll give him that. Hey, so the spiritual blueprint, what's one spiritual or mindset practice that helped you shift from fear to flow?

Mm, this is a great question. There's so many. I think I already— so the first one is always the big one is really not a lot— kind of what we were just talking about is really not allowing people to sort of infiltrate your energy, infiltrate, dictate, you know, what you have already decided. And I guess your mindset. So one of the things that I did a lot that I always recommend to people is somebody gave me this playlist of like spiritual practices that I didn't even believe in, to be honest, at that time. I was like, what are these things? I'm not getting up and, you know, sitting on my bed and meditating and praying and writing in a journal and doing all those things before my feet hit the ground. I don't have time for that.

Mm-hmm.

You know, but what that has really done, it's become part of my day, of my day-to-day routine. You know, I really see meditation as a way of listening. I see prayer as a way of asking, asking the universe, asking God for what it is that I want, which some people refer to as, you know, maybe manifestation, putting it out there into the universe. And believing that that's what you're going to get back. And the journaling, it has really helped me to shift my mindset because one of the things within journaling that I do every morning is not just, you know, define how I feel, which allows me to like feel myself. I'll check every part of my body, sense it, how am I feeling? But it has also allowed me to dictate my own life in the sense that I write down 3 things in that journal every morning that I need. Those are my 3. If nothing else happens that day, those are the 3 things that I need to get done.

Mm-hmm.

Right? And those 3 things, what it has done is it has shifted the idea that the world and life is happening to me and really put it in my hands. Mm-hmm. Put it in my control. What can I do about it? Outside of what is outside of my control, right? Outside of what's godly, what's divine, what's meant for me, what God has in store for me. Outside of that, here's what I can control, and this is what I'm going to do with that. So these practices, sometimes a lot of people may, you know, consider it whether it's spiritual or religious, because I don't see prayer as a religious thing. I see it as a spiritual thing. And the meditation also, the journaling is really what like grounds those two things and puts it into the shift of the mindset that needs to happen that gives me control. Here are my three, my three things that I'm going to do. Here is me giving me my power back. Here's me giving me control of how I build my life and business, you know.

You know, you said something. We do put distinctions on all prayers, religious, or you— hey, look at me. The Bible say that we should be praying always without ceasing. So whether you believe prayer works or not or whatever, this is what basically what he said is a requirement. It's not an option as a lot of us feel that it is. It is not optional, but we, we live it as it is optional. No, pray without ceasing all the time. He said give thanks given in all things that you do. We should always give thanks, but we don't do that either. But anyway, man, I mean, we got a lot of growing up to do, you know what I'm saying? We got a lot of growing up to do, man. A lot of soul searching to do. You know, you said something like I said, I'm in this course, and one thing I said this to the lady earlier too, it's real confidence is anchored.

Yes, it is.

It's anchored. God is the— he already gave us what he need. All he need for us to do is move forward. 2 years ago, uh, Louisa and I moved forward in our, in our podcast and dreams, and here we are today, 200+ episodes in with plenty more to come. And so can we say thank you, Jesus, because God is good. So So good. Hey, that's all I was saying. I only got a couple more questions for you before I let you go. But before I go, let me ask you this. Your digital program, what is it about it? Does it tie into your journal or is this something totally different?

So it ties into helping people use their voice from a place of soul. So if you're creating a life, a business, whatever it is that you're honing in on, I really hone in on people creating a business because I think a lot of times what happens is we talked about the journey of entrepreneurship is so lonely. And if you don't know where to look, we can get lost. We can get really lost, you know, as to how do I promote my podcast if that's what I've started, or how do I promote my nail business? How do I promote my, you know, my journals business? And what I have found, as you and I both know at this point, is that podcasting is extremely powerful and I feel like it's underutilized by people who are creating businesses. I feel like it can really amplify your voice. And in essence, the same thing that I do is what I implore people to do is find your voice and then ground that by growing it, by sharing it with other people. Like I'm on your podcast today. You know, you are on another podcast last week. And we do that collectively. Not only are we healing each other, right, by the stories that we share, by the experiences that we talk about and the perspectives that I gain from you and you gain from me, but you're also putting out there the message that you were meant to spread. And whether that is the message that you're trying to spread through a business or the message that you're trying to spread because of the story of what you've lived, I find that podcasting is such a powerful tool and my program walks you through that. It does exactly that and it shows you step by step. Here's how to use this amazing tool that we all have access to, podcasts, and learn how to use it to be a guest. Here's what a good guest looks like. Like you said, you know, when I jumped on, I loved your energy immediately, like magnified, like so magnetic. To what I already knew I was going to experience while I got to chat with you. But like you mentioned earlier, if I had hopped on and you were like, oh, I just got home from work and like, oh, let's do this, you know, like the energy is different. I feel different. You feel different.

Yeah.

And that excitement is kind of lost. I walk people through this step by step of going on these podcasts. Here's how to properly pitch. Here's how to properly show up. And show up from a place of like, don't go on there with the objective being like, let me promote my business. Go on there with the objective of giving something of value to the listener, giving something of value to the guest, and creating connection. I truly believe that connection is what's going to change this fear of everything that we're living right now, right? We live in a crazy world right now. There are crazy things happening.

Especially out there in Texas.

Yes, I agree.

We ain't gonna go there though, but mm.

A lot of crazy things happening, especially here and in a lot of places in the country and in the world. And I believe that connection is what's going to change that. Podcasting allows us to do that, just like you and I have connected. Like, after this, I'm super fulfilled. I had an amazing conversation with another human being. We got to learn different perspectives from each other. And we got to grow. We got to talk about your experience as a podcaster. My experience, and the listener takes something from that. So I really believe and have grounded this program in the belief system that I have, is that our voice is so powerful. And if we learn how to use it correctly from a place of soul, if we learn how to use it from a place of let's connect, and let me help you if I have what it takes for me to help you. I think we're doing an amazing job. And living our purpose for a lot of us.

You said a lot of things, but there's two things that I want to touch on before we get out. I know I held you up a little while today. Two things. One, you said that you bring on guests, you know, you had guests, and you know, we learn from each other and things of that nature. And I was just telling somebody this the other day, and I've said this a few times. I say, man, if people really listen to, you know, you just get a podcast, but I was talking about my podcast. I said, if you get If people really listen, I'm bringing on people that can actually help you change the trajectory of your life financially, you know what I'm saying? Learning how to do this, man. And, and, you know, and I tell Pocket, but guests all the time, I say, look, I'm not an expert at nothing, you know what I'm saying? So that's why I'm bringing you on to tell me this, because I'm listening to you. I'm listening to Louisa say that she got a digital program system that helped podcast marketing and this and that. You think I'm not gonna ask about these services because that's some stuff that the kid need. So what I tell people all the time is that I bring all these people on because I'm building bricks, I'm stacking bricks. I ain't even started building my foundation yet. 2 years in, I ain't even really started laying the foundation. I'm stacking bricks, I'm getting the tools. So when I go back, start separating the tools, start putting the bricks together, I got all these podcast guests that I had on here and then gave me all this wealth of information. Yeah, that's how we gotta look at it. That's how it is, you know. That's exactly how it is. Not just to be— it can build your life, but I tell you what, you may not want it, but the kids sure want it. And so another thing, where can we find you at on social media? I know you're on Instagram. I've saw you out there a few times. And where can we find this digital program from to learn about the services?

Yes. So you can find me on social media. On Instagram is where we have everything happening, where we share the best things. Flying Upstream podcast is where you'll find us. And the program is actually on flyingupstreamblog.com/podcastblueprint. And I'll share the link with you so you can share it with your guests, your listeners as well.. And I've loved everything that you've said. This is so powerful. And I agree. And I'm sure your listeners know this, if they're, you know, paying attention. Everything that you hear has a purpose. There's a reason why you're here. There's a reason you're listening to this episode. The only question really is, is are you going to act on it?

And you know, you never know who touched— I had a lady and I ended— I'll let you go on this. I had a lady Last week, pitched somebody for me. She said she was listening to an episode that I had just put out, Chantel Denise, and she said, "I don't really listen to the podcast, but I happened to catch this one." And she said, "I want to introduce you to such and such, such and such." I said, "Okay." So you reading it, but at the end though, this is what got me, Louisa. At the end, she say, "You never know who you may touch with the words that you put out." You know what I'm saying? Something to that effect that you can be touching people and don't even know it. And it was a quote from a lady named Laverne Cox or something, you know what I'm saying? Or whatever. I was like, wow, you know. So as you said earlier, you never know who's listening or whose life you impacted. You said this earlier, even if it's just the one. See, that's biblical. He say the 99 kept going, but the one got lost, and they rejoiced over that one more than the 99 that did. So if I could just change one person's life, that's what CJ Moneyway Johnson come on two times a week, Tuesdays Fridays, and I think it's going to go to Mondays and Thursdays, but I'll let you know. Hey, so Louisa, leave us with something that's on your heart right now today that you would love to share with the audience before we leave.

I want to say live from soul, find yourself, listen to yourself, and stop. Really, I want to tell everybody to stop just for a moment. It can be life-changing. It can be the best 2 minutes of your life that could change the trajectory of the life that you're living into the life that you never thought was possible for you.

And take it from the lady from Boston. Well, originally from the Dominican Republic and then all places.

All the places. I'm all over.

And so Louisa, Louisa has reminded us That when we stop chasing, we start becoming. In a world obsessed with the grind, choosing soul over hustle isn't a weakness, it's wisdom. It's about building from the inside out, brick by brick, with faith, flow, and full alignment. If this episode sparked your spirit or spoke to your spirit, share it with someone who's ready to redefine success on their own terms. I'm CJ Moneyway Johnson, and this is the CJ Moneyway Show. Moneyway Show, where purpose is profit, peace is power, and legacy is built one story at a time. Hey, that's your boy CJ Moneyway with my girl Louisa Anderson. Until the next time, we out of here. Peace.

Peace. Let me leave you with this. Every story shared here, it's a reminder that your story matters too. Keep your faith sharp, keep your focus steady, keep your vision clear.

And if this episode gave you wisdom, hope, or a push forward, share it with Tap in with me on all platforms @moneyway and stay locked into the movement because God's not done writing your chapter.

This is the CJ Moneyway Show. Brick by brick.

And always.

Moneyway Johnson.

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