572. Is it ok to display joy and do business during tough times?
11 Aug 2020 · 29 min
Lori and Chris Harder discuss whether it's okay to feel joy and promote your business when others are suffering. They share personal losses alongside moments of happiness, argue that posting positivity creates a ripple effect that helps people, and say celebrating wins matters even in hard times.
Chapters
Because we are happy to be the light during a time when people need some light to shed some light on the path that they're going down.
Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of he said, she said.
We're back.
See? He said, she said. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I forgot. I. For some reason I had my head. His and hers. Who's that?
I'm not sure.
Okay. Anyhow, we have never really named this episode, but it's an important episode because we just like to talk about whatever is real for us as a couple right now. And boy, life is real, real crazy right now, isn't it?
In the best way and in the most interesting ways.
The whole world is just in such transition.
We're just in such a reframe mode that, you know, it's. It's really become our default that if things are not going well, which we've had, some things really not go well. A couple big losses in our life of amazing humans and animals. And I really just think that we are. Yes, I think that we are in a reframe mode. Not that we're not feeling it, but man, feel it. And then you gotta reframe or you will live there. And I'm not. I. I know I don't know about you, but I don't want to live there.
No, I refuse to live there. My default is not to live there. I mean, for those of you that are, maybe you just found us. You know, my dad died literally eight weeks ago today. And we were super close, like best friends. He was young and vibrant. It was totally out of the blue. The best human dog waffles. Who's our. Like, our child because we don't have kids yet. Died in. In January. We've all shared this Covid craziness together. We've all shared, you know, riots, everything else together. Right? We're all, as a world going through this Together. Now, that is one heck of a challenging year. You see all the memes about 2020, but the subject of today is, is it okay to display joy and happiness during tough times? And the. The place that this subject came from is, number one, my default. And I think your default now, just because we spent so much time together, is one of joy and happiness, even during these tough times. I have had one of the best summers of my life. I know the dichotomy feels weird to me, so if you hear that and you're like, that doesn't make sense. Trust me. It doesn't make sense to me either.
Well, explain that just a little bit.
You know, when we went home for five, six weeks when my dad died to be with mom and get her set up. They live on a lake. And every night, we'd work our tails off getting mom set up physically, financially, emotionally, and still keeping our businesses afloat. And then in the evening, we'd go out on a boat. We keep a boat up there in Wisconsin. We'd just walk right. Right down the grass, right to the. Down the dock, get in a boat, and we'd go wakeboarding for an hour or two. And that was how we unwound every single night. And the sunsets were amazing, and just being out on the water was amazing. And a few weeks in, we're like, wow. During the saddest moment of our life, we're actually having, like, the best, most joyous summer of our life. And it didn't make sense to us.
And I just want to say, like, we were intentional about that. It wasn't just like, yay, let's get on the boat. Like, after a long day, you're tired, and grief is exhausting. And I think all of us were, like, we had the conversations of, come on, we know. It's good for us. Let's go. And I think that's everything. Like, come on, we know this is good for us. Let's go. You have to say that to yourself. And people are like, oh, my God. Like, it's hard to go get on a boat. Yeah. Sometimes it was when you're sad or, you know, we had to leave his mom inside, even though we were with her all day long. Like, those things are hard.
She's a kid going out on a boat.
Right. She doesn't, you know, enjoy going out on the bumpy boat, like, the way that we were going out. And it's decisions that you have to make to make sure you're taking care of yourself and doing things to de Stress. So you were so conscious of that every single day. Like, you know what? You're gonna work this hard. I'm also doing this.
Okay, so the real point though, of today is, is it okay to display it, to put it on social media during tough times? Because other people are having tough times. And it's not that we weren't having tough times. We're also choosing joy and fun and being intentional about it as our default. And where this episode really came from is we always get messages, by the way, you know, 99% positive 1% always kind of poking the bear or trying to poke holes in what we're doing. And you got one recently that said something like. Because you posted you cheersing champagne to our Fast Foundations members who graduated from our recent.
Yeah, I was. I was celebrating their success and I was popping a bottle of champagne and.
And so you did this cute post about it and you got a message that said, what?
So this was actually yesterday morning. And I got a message that just said. And it was very conscious. It was actually very. It was said in a very kind way.
Said with good intention.
Said with good intention. It just said, you know, I think during a time that so many people are stressed out and hurting so bad, I don't know if it's in the best taste. It doesn't feel right to me that you're posting a celebration of the good life. And I just had a moment of. So what I do is I take a moment and I step into their shoes and I say, yes, this makes complete sense to me. And then I say, what would happen if I stopped this? And who would I stop helping if I stopped posting things and letting them know that there's an opportunity to actually be happy and successful at this time? And I just had that moment of, no, Lori. And you're not gonna be everybody's cup of tea, but you will be able to help people. So that is my. I just had this moment of. This is my version of being able to take action is helping people. And I think it's vital to always be showing the other side. Now, there are moments where it's, you know, insensitive to be posting certain things on certain days, for sure. But I know that you have a thought right now, so tell me what you think.
I totally have a thought. Because Lori, when she got this message, she takes this nice, methodical. I'm gonna stop, analyze it, think about it. Is it right? Is it wrong? How should I react? Not me, right. I'm the emotional, fast acting one. I had the instant reaction of, you gotta be outta your freaking mind. Good intention or not. Are you kidding me? It's not okay to display joy and happiness when the world needs bright spots. Are you outta your mind? I will never live in a world where I cannot display joy. I will never live in a world where I cannot display happiness. For those that need to see us lead by example, you know, we've worked hard to make this our default. It happens over time. Some people, I think, are more prone to it than others. But everybody can build that as their default. See the positive side and things, see the upside, see the silver lining. That is our default. And we are going to show other people you can operate with that default. As you can tell, I'm passionate about this because here's why. It's no different than like generosity. There's a chain reaction that happens with that. Give you an example, when somebody in a coffee shop buys a cup of coffee for the person that they don't know behind them in line, what happens? Typically the person that received it, they say, oh, I'm going to do the same. And they buy it for someone, and that person buys it for someone and that person buys it. And before you know it, you know, 20, 30, 40 people got free coffees. That is called a chain reaction of positivity. In that case, it's generosity. Well, listen, when we are showing positivity, in this case, we were so proud of our fast foundations Mastermind people that graduated the last round. When we are showing positivity, damn it, we are not going to apologize for that. Because people need to see that. They need to realize, wait a minute, maybe it's okay for me to show positivity too. And then someone who sees that, they're going to say, wait, maybe it's okay for me to show my happy moment too. And someone who sees that, they say, wait. Maybe it's okay for me to, to share my truth because I had a good day too. And before you know it, instead of this world commiserating around misery and doom and gloom and fear and everything else, now we're all saying, hey, the Smiths next door, they seem pretty happy. Why can't I have a good day?
Yeah. This is so important. I mean, take me to church, Chris. So.
It'S.
You become what you're consuming. Your reality becomes what you're consuming. And I will tell you, when I have weeks of like, oh my God, maybe they're right. Maybe I should not be showing these things. Maybe I should just be like showing my hard times and, you know, I think that's the thing, is it's not that we're not having hard times. Like a lot of you might be thinking, yeah, it's easy for you to say. It's easy to be happy when you have this plush, great life. Okay, well, we have a lot of challenges that come up. And also, Chris and I have lost everything. And our default was still to be like, okay, if we've lost everything, what do we know we need to do? You guys, we've been in personal development for so long that we know that a good idea and your solution is not going to come from the same place that your problem came from. So if you are feeling like shit and you are feeling negative and you are focusing on what's not good in the world, there is no creative idea that is coming from that place. The only way you're gonna get one, or your solution or your answer, or the people who are attracted to helping you solve that problem is if you. A good space. I don't care what good means to you. It just means a happier, more positive, more neutral place than sad, right? Like, sad, nothing comes. Sad is a suck of energy. Like pain and sadness sucks everything out of you. And I get that we need to go through it. That's why I said, you don't live there. You visit there, right? But it's not your final destination. It's not your home base. So with that said, I visit there a lot, but what I don't do is fricking move my bags in and start to just, like, feed on that. And I can feel it when I start to, like, feast on the pain or the sadness or this world is a scary place. I say things to you like, I am not in a good space. Like, I need your help getting out. Or like, let's go for a walk, or I'm warning you, whatever I say right now might be really negative, but I need to process through until I can get into a good space. Cause I know I'm attracting shit right now, and I don't want to be a shit magnet. So it's not that you can't, you know, it's not that we're not processing or having things happen or we didn't lose everything and we weren't $300,000 in debt. We are lost. Our cars, our home. Like, we did that, and we still found the silver lining, which also gave us the solutions to come back stronger than ever.
Our silver lining back then was, hey, we get to choose again. Hey, we get to. To Build what we actually wanted instead of just being stuck down this. This freeway because it's going so quick. It was, hey, we still love going for walks every day. Walks are free. Like there were silver linings back then. There are silver linings during this tough year right now. And you have a responsibility. You listening right now? Listen. Every action you take causes a chain reaction because people are watching you, strangers are watching you. So you don't even see the chain reaction that you are causing, but you are causing a chain reaction. So every decision that you make to hold back and not display your happiness, every decision you make to not demonstrate joy, to not celebrate a win, then you are missing an opportunity to cause a chain reaction of further joy. Person after person after person that are watching you, that you. You don't even know that you're causing this. Now, the flip side is true when you don't share, but instead, maybe you, you are even putting out the energy of being down or sad or whatever it might be when instead of celebrating this joyous moment, now you're causing a chain reaction of someone watching you saying, wow, they haven't posted anything happy, so maybe I'm not allowed to post anything happy. And the person watching them says, well, if they're not watching posting anything happy, then maybe I. And you're accidentally causing a negative chain reaction of nobody sharing any joy. I'm telling you, the world is in a better place than everyone thinks right now. I know that sounds crazy. People are happier than people think right now. I have conversations every day. Things are not as bad as people think they are right now. Now listen. I know right now you listening. You might be like, you don't understand. My stimulus ran out. I don't have a job and I don't know where my next meal, next rent comes from. That's real. I get that. We've been there, though. That's how I can speak from experience. Saying that there is always a silver lining and there is joy. And if you have any joy or anything to celebrate right now is your responsibility. Not maybe, should you. It is your responsibility to demonstrate it on social media or out in public where people can see it freaking scream from a hilltop if you want, so that people can then start that positive chain reaction.
Yeah, I think you have to always. You know, when, when this first happened, there were moments where we just focused on, wow, the business as we do, it is not happening like in person events. A large majority of our businesses were in person events. And we could have either said, holy shit, like a lot of this is going away. What do we do? But instead we were like, holy shit, how do we pivot and make this better? Not just how do we pivot. We literally set out with the intention of how do we pivot and make this better? And I think that if you don't start switching your thoughts to that, and there were some rough, rough months there of, oh, my God, if we don't figure this out, like, we're not gonna be able to help people in the way that we want. And here's the thing. I think everybody is afraid of. Judgments and opinions is a big part, because right now there's a lot of money to be made online.
More than ever.
More than ever. Because everybody's at home. So everybody is, you know, everyone is a consumer right now at home. So it's not about, you know, what was I doing? And gripping onto that. And that's really where our pain comes from, is we are still stuck in the expectation of what was. And you need to just start thinking of a solution for what is. But I think we're all stopped by judgments and opinions. And you shouldn't be selling right now. You shouldn't be happy right now. And I have to tell you, you have to want to help people more than you worry about the critics. Yeah, you have to want to help people more than you worry about the judgment. You have to want to help people just a little bit more than you worry about the opinions. Don't let those people stop you from helping people, because I'll tell you that if we let this stop us, we would have stopped helping. In this last round, we had 50 incredible entrepreneurs who, some of them did their first six figure launches, some of.
Them, three of them had their first six figure month, multiple back to back months.
And can I just say that majority of the people in our mastermind gave back to a charity with that money. Not all of it, but they ended up having enough money to be able to take care of themselves and realize that they were now able to give back to someone. And a lot of them started their own masterminds who then helped people make this money as well.
The chain reaction we were talking about before, and yeah, those are the extreme examples that we're celebrating. But I'll tell you what, how about the people who made their first 20,000 real? This is a real example. I'm thinking of one woman in particular right now. She went from zero just an idea to her first $20,000 when she figured out what she was going to do. $20,000 makes a big difference to people.
Yeah, it was life changing for her.
Exactly.
People were bawling because it was like taking away their stress. And they now believe and know to their core that they have the ability to make money. That gift, when you teach someone how to fish during a time where there's a drought, that gift in and of itself will change your life forever.
Yeah, I'm thinking of another guy. He went from pivot to just 9 to $10,000 a month in revenue. And when I say just, I'm trying to give you like really realistic examples, saying it's not all about the six figure months. Sometimes it's building just that new six figure year and out of a brand new product. And that's exactly what he did. So, dang it, we're not going to stop celebrating these people. We're not going to stop celebrating when we have a good day. We're not going to stop sharing the joy and sharing the happiness. If you guys want to be inspired, follow Lori, follow me. I promise you, we are keeping this thing positive because we are happy to be the light during a time when people need some light to shed some light on the path that they're going down.
And I want to tell you something. The more positive I am, the more I stay in this good place, the more good things come to me when I'm not here. I watch things not come to me. I watch opportunities not come to me. I watch people not come to me. I watch my texts and my phone not ring. It is a cycle. It is a cycle. People want to be around the bright spot. Even if they're secretly being around you, they're secretly in your DM saying, thank God for you. I get this all the time. I'm like, it's so funny how people, people will thank you publicly. But I mean the thanks really come in the dms. Like, thank God. Like, I just need to feel a bright spot. I just need feel different than I feel right now. And I know that I have been there. I get there. Like, so I follow people who do the same thing.
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Yeah. The bottom line is this. We all have had one of our craziest years yet, except because of our positivity and momentum. Lori and I are also simultaneously having our best year yet in almost every single possible way. We have momentum right now, and that momentum is simply a component of win. Being stacked on win, being stacked on win, attracting people that want to be around wins. That's what it is. That's what we want for you. That's what we want for everybody else. So I guess number one to end this whole big, long rant is, is it okay how we open the show? Is it okay to display joy and happiness during tough times? The answer is yes. Not only is it okay, it is your obligation to display joy and happiness. Yes. Remember, Lori said there's some days you shouldn't post. There's some moments you shouldn't post. But 99% of the time, it is your job to display your joy and your happiness when it is authentically happening for the person or the people who are watching you to cause that positive chain reaction. That's number one. Number two is you kept bringing up fast foundations. We're going to fill this thing again. If you guys want this type of energy, this type of momentum, this type of positivity, if you want our guidance in your business and you make less than $500,000 a year right now as an entrepreneur, even if you're pivoting, if you say, I've got this idea, but I'm at zero, or I'm at five grand a month and I want to get to ten, or I'm at ten grand a month. I want to figure out how to have my first six figure. All of these things happened in droves with the 50 people that just graduated in this last class, by the way, 55% of the 50 people, they re signed up for the next one. Even though enrollment's not open yet, we always give them first dibs.
And some of them didn't sign up because they've been in it for two years already.
Yeah, exactly.
Which is so cool. They're like, okay, I'm gonna do this now.
Well, here's what happens. Because 55% renewed, there's gonna be a limited number of spots left in this next round that we took. Totally virtual. And if you're listening, you're like, yeah, give me some of this.
Totally virtual.
This is what I want. Totally virtual. It's never been easier for you to join, because in the past, it wasn't virtual. That means you had to leave your family for a few days twice in a six month period. And in the past it also meant that you had to pay for an airplane ticket and a hotel. And in the past it was actually $9,800 to join this six month mastermind. But what we did this time is we said because it's virtual, we're cutting the price, the investment basically in half. We're making it easier, more attainable for people to come in. And because there's so much demand on the waiting list, we have a secret VIP waiting list. It's not secrets, I'm telling you right now. But for the people who are really serious, like, yeah, give me some of that. We're going to put people who are super serious about this on a VIP waiting list where you're going to get to join 24 hours before anybody else. Before we tell social media that cart is open, before we email all of our lists, that cart is open. If you want to be on this VIP list to get a 24 hour jumpstart on everybody else and the people on this list get $750 off that no one else will get. That no one else will get. Because it is our way of say, saying thank you for committing and being so serious, like about your future with your business. Anyhow, I'm rambling because I'm excited. So here's how to get on a VIP list. Text the word fast. That's it. Text the word fast to me at 310-421-0416. Again, just text me the word fast. Nothing else. Text the word fast to 310-421-0416. I'll say a number one more time for you. 310-421-0416. Text me the word fast and you will be on this VIP waiting list. We're going to open this cart between one and two weeks from right now and you're going to get a 24 hour head start and 750 bucks off that nobody else is going to get.
Yeah. I want to say who this is for because this is for somebody who knows that they're ready to take full accountability of their business. Because obviously you could just join another course and not take the action. But it is tough to hide in our mastermind because you have individual accountability.
One on one coaches.
You have one on one coaches.
We hire one on one coaches for you.
So literally, with the money that you are spending on the mastermind would be the same amount, if not more that you would spend on a one on One coach for six months.
Do I know how we pull that off, by the way? Because we have so many coaches we work with, they want to be able to plug into our network and do a good job. So we vet the best of the best coaches that we teach and then we assign them to you the entire six months. It's so cool.
So you get a one on one coach. You get access to incredible library of pretty much learning everything that you can possibly imagine over 100 hours now. A video library of video library. And you also get access to Chris and I on live calls. So we do Q and A live calls all of the time in there.
Every other week we do a live zoom with you. You get to ask us any questions you want. It's like two hours long. You get to learn from each other's questions and ours.
And not just that, you also get virtual masterminds. So you will get two days in a row. In a row. You'll get two meetings of two days in a row. So four days total.
It bookends the six months. Yep.
Of these expert speakers that come on, you get to ask them questions live. And we're going to bring in some of the best teachers. Especially now that it's virtual. We can pretty much get anyone that we want because they don't have to fly or their schedules aren't super packed. We can arrange it around them where you are going to get incredible trainings. But I have to tell you, like I said, this is not for people who want to sit back. This is not for people who are like, oh, that's the magic pill. I'm just going to join and they're going to fix everything. Hell no. These people who have made huge strides in their business, put in work, they used the other members in the mastermind to partner up with, to ask questions. They collaborate partners, they do the things that the videos tell them, they ask questions, they do the things that we tell them and they have done things that have blown their mind. You guys, this is true accountability. The Facebook group has a lot of accountability. You have to show up, you speak in front of everyone on these live virtual calls or these two day virtual events. Like you will be speaking in front of everyone and making accountability goals and telling people why you hit it or why you did not hit it in front of everyone. So it is very important to know this is not a sit back thing because I can't take responsibility for your business if I give you all the tools. Right. You have to apply the tools. So if you're ready for that. All of the tools are here, all of the people are here. If you're truly owning everything right now, this is the spot to be at. This is where you can create the craziest, most amazing life. That six month period in a six month period.
And remember the examples. Some people had their first six figure months. Some people just went from zero to their first 20 grand in a couple weeks. Some people went to 10 grand a month for the first time. It's the entire range for anyone who makes less than $500,000 right now.
If you're willing to show up, if.
You'Re willing to like, we will show up for you. Sleeves up. Massive action. You can't hide in this one anyhow. Text the word fast to 310-421-0416. If this is the vibe and this is the care that you are looking for to once and for all, like find those homies that get you and will guide you.
I literally just love all of our people in all of these and it's so cool because we actually get to know everyone and cheer them on, which is so exciting. So you guys, I hope that we get to work with you over the next six months. And it is a wild ride. It's an exciting ride. It's a journey. It's up, down, all around. And I'm telling you, you come out a completely different person. If you don't believe me, go to some of my last posts about the Mastermind last week and you can go and read all of the comments. We had a ton of members chime in about their success, which was so cool that they all just, they show up for us, which is just the coolest thing ever because you become like a little group who moves forward together. So yeah, I just love the people who have walked into our lives through the Mastermind and getting be a part of their journey and their business.
All right, guys, so whether you join us or not, listen, because of today's lesson, I want you to get out there. I want you shine your light. I want you to be positive. It is absolutely okay to be to display joy and happiness in a tough time.
Yes. Let us know your biggest takeaway on Instagram. Tag Chris. Tag myself. And we will see you next week.
Adios guys.
Bye. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment. Tell us what you think. Tell us. Tell us what you want to hear. More of it would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again guys. Bye bye.
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