705. Q&A: Questions on Growing Your Biz

Hard work takes away anxiety. I'll tell you every time it trumps anything else you can do. Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of Light Pink, best selling author, three time fitness world champion, and I'm a crazy, multi passionate entrepreneur. My journey has taken me everywhere, from being a broke waitress, barista, retails associate, and personal trainer with massive anxiety and no belief in myself, to later becoming a multimillionaire in love with my life. In 2007, my husband and I lost everything. We found ourselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. At rock bottom, we had no ideas and I had no education to fall back on. This is when I found personal development and learned everything I could about business. Not by choice, but because I realized no one was coming to save me. The conversations on this podcast are going to let you know that you're not alone and that we all feel like we don't know what we're doing. We're going to give you the tools to help you face your fears, take action, start your business, and grow those massive dreams that are keeping you up at night. It's time to create a life that you can't hide from and put so much on the line that your higher self is forced to come out. You're going to stop waiting for someone to approve of you, and you're going to anoint yourself. Because I'm obsessed about building businesses that give women a platform, I want to feature you. So if you text the word podcast to 310-496-8363, you can get your questions answered on our Q and A segment along with a shout out. And if you rate, review and subscribe to this podcast, we're choosing someone every month to get coached and featured on our show. It just might be you. So let's get started. Evans welcome back to Questionably awesome where we're going to answer some questions from our audience and we may or may not make it awesome. We may or may not make you smarter.

We'll definitely make you smarter.

Yeah, you know what? 100 always going to make you smarter. So you guys can already tell if you feel like maybe having a laugh or laughing at us. This is the podcast for you. If you're looking for like a deep dive into something a little more intense or, I don't know, serious. Not for you. Not.

Nope.

Okay.

Go to the library.

Go to the. Hey, I love some good library time. Liberry. Do you remember the kids that would call it liberry? And you're like, yes, there's an R in there. But also, it's kind of like they could battle back with Wednesday, right? They could say they're like, we're already starting. Yeah. You say library. You say Wednesday. I say Wednesday.

Wednes Day.

But what is that? Like, it's W E N D. That's what it is.

Wednesday.

It's how everybody says. Yeah.

Also, did anyone ever say library where you're probably not, but no, that's very Southern.

Are you going to the library?

You go in the library.

Southern. That's. They're fixing to go to the library.

Yep.

Yes, Library, Absolutely. We were just talking on another podcast. They said if you want to, like, really throw someone off, just say you're fixing to go somewhere.

Do it.

How do you even know if it's broke if you haven't been there yet? You just need to. It's a question we all should ask ourselves. Yes, Evans. What's new? The Midwest is getting warmer. The Midwest South.

Yes. It's thriving. Everyone is doing our yards. They're doing house repairs. We are power washing. We are out there.

Power washing is real as well. Like, it is like, yeah, clean that up or you will be. I feel like that's the Midwest tagline. Like, get to Home Depot or thou shall be judged, judges.

So true. Like, we were a little late in cutting our grass.

Oh. And I was like, oh.

And we're new in the neighborhood, so I feel like we set a bad tone. Bad tone.

I had a really funny experience happen when we first moved here. Well, to me, it was funny. To you, it might be really not at all. Uh, but. So we put out our garbage, and we didn't know what garbage day it was. And there was, like, four. You know, we had four garbage cans. And it's a lot of garbage cans, but when you move, you use every ounce of your garbage can. And so we had them out there, like, overflowing with boxes, you know, for like, a week, because we didn't know when the garbage was coming. And all of a sudden, one day, the garbage was gone, but so were the garbage cans. And we were like, oh, my God. Did a neighbor, like, say, screw these new people and, like, hide everything? Like, I was flabbergasted. I looked around, I was like, you gotta be shitting me. Like, I don't have a garbage can now. And I was like, oh, no. Maybe we have passive aggressive neighbors. And so I'm trying to figure it out. And I'm trying to figure it out. We call the garbage people, like, the garbage company because it's weird here. Like, they. It's not the city. You have to purchase a service from, like, different garbage. So there's different garbage companies all around town. You have to purchase the service. So we figured out who the service was, and we called them, and they're like, oh, no, your service was up. So we just took everything, and we were like, oh, well, we'll transfer that and. But I felt so much better because there was a solid day to two days in there where I felt like, oh, no, I have the passive aggressive neighbors who live in shit. Yes. So I felt so much better. I was like, okay, point taken, universe. Like, I will make sure that I'm more on top of it with the neighbors, with cutting grass and getting my garbage cans in.

Oh, man. And you know what else has been hard is speaking of garbage, like, when you're on your dog walks and you got a poop bag and you're like, well, I can't throw it in my neighbors. Like, in Santa Monica, there are public trash cans everywhere. But here, you got to hold on to that poop.

Oh, my goodness. I sneak it into the garbage cans. If they're out.

You do. Okay, maybe I should start. But I'm scared to. I don't know what the rules are.

It feels like an alarm will go off for sure. Every time I open the lid, it feels like an alarm will go off or they'll actually pop out and be like, hey, I finally caught you. And I'm like, I. I mean, it's. It's a little bit of a rush, but it does help wake me up in the morning. I can't carry the boot. I can't now. I don't throw it in the recycle. Like, that's one thing I will not do. I'm like, okay, we're not gonna make you. We're not gonna drink out of a, you know, a plastic or tin can that later on karmically comes back and has my dog's poop in it.

So although bananas poop would be good, because he eats really good dog food.

He does. It's really, really, like, a hearty, healthy poo. So it is like, his poop does not stink like bat. Anyway, I've definitely babysat for dogs where I'm like, oh, they must eat a totally different brand of dog food. This is just getting weird. But everybody who has an animal completely.

Knows, you know what your dog's poo smells like.

Yeah, you do. And I just think you're used to it also as a parent and you're just like, oh, it's fine. And you. It's probably when you babysit for someone else's kid.

Yep.

I don't know. I haven't done that either.

Me neither. I think things are off to a great start there.

Me too.

I feel really good about this. Do you have a review?

Oh, yes, I do. Okay. This is from Kate. Wait, no, we did that one last week.

Oh.

I don't. I have a quote. You know what?

I'm gonna say my quote and talk about it, and you can find it too.

How's that? Okay, that sounds great.

Great. So I went to the good.

I went.

We're so good at this. I went to the good quotes page on Instagram where all news is accurate, accurately, false, and accurate. So with that said, it says a lot of things could be fixed with a simple conversation. I just thought that that was such a, like, profound, yet easy statement to realize. So many of the things that we feel are a problem is because we're just not expressing them because we're afraid of the outcome. And I. I feel like the best thing I can say to myself and to everybody listening is be more afraid of. If you don't have the conversation, like, that outcome is going to be even worse. It will affect your life. It will probably drain you from all of the good things that you could be doing. It's an energetic drain when we hold onto those things and especially, please listen. If you're having those conversations with not the person. If you're having them with everyone, but the person you need to have them with, that's truly the worst thing that you could ever do to yourself because you're just literally giving away your power to everything else except for getting your power back from that thing. I'm now babbling. Did you find a review?

Oh, yeah, I did find a review. Sorry, I meant to give you the thumbs up.

Okay, great. I was just trying to use as many words as I could.

This is from Love Always, Amy Beth.

Oh, great.

Okay. Amy Beth says the show is a burst of energy. This is my favorite show for personal development. Lori gives amazing pep talks and advice. It's why I tune in. I love her chats with Lindsay and guests on the show. They are always super real and relatable.

Oh, my God, Amy, thank you so much. Maybe it's Amy Beth together. I don't know, but I love it. Thank you. We appreciate it. I love a good double name. I really do. I. I really wish I would have gotten, like, really gotten mine grounded really well. In the beginning and just use Lorianne on Instagram because your Instagram name becomes your name. Like, you officially are like E Crad in my head because of Instagram. Like, I just. I'm like Evans. Oh, yeah, her name is Evans.

That's right.

For those of you who don't know, Evan's name is actually Hillary, but from birth, everyone has called her Evans. But if that didn't just blow your mind, I don't know how else I'm gonna do it today, so.

It's so weird. It's so weird. So wait, did we do a quote yet? You did your quote.

I did my quote. You got. Yeah, I want to hear your quote.

Okay. It's from Thomas Edison. And the quote is, opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work. Oh.

Oh, that's good.

Oh, yep, yep.

So everybody wants to put on the glam squad right away, but you really got to put on those hoop covered overalls and you gotta get your hands dirty. It's true.

Just like Thomas Edison did.

Just like te.

Old Te.

Te. It is crazy how it's like we think of all of these super fun things and we're like, what a great idea. And then when it comes down to doing the work, we're like, how about I sabotage myself instead? Because this seems hard or scary or people could judge me or maybe I'm not doing it right. All of those things that the overalls can help you with. Hard work. Hard work. Hard work takes away anxiety. I'll tell you every time it trumps anything else you can do. So that's the key to today's takeaway, is keep working hard. And that's about it. So put on the overalls.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

So a lot of people had a very similar question. I'm going to read you one, but.

This was one of probably like five. Oh, my goodness. Amazing.

This is from Carly Nash, and she says, how do I grow my business? Being extremely introverted and camera shy, everyone's afraid to do lives they're nervous about, like, being themselves on social media.

What do you do? Oh, man. The only way to get over this is to do it often. And it's not just like, I know, worst thing to hear ever. And you're not just going to set out one day and be like, okay, I'm going to start doing it today. You actually have to have a plan in a schedule of when you're gonna do it. So I think it needs to be a set thing. You're like, okay, Wednesday at 7, I'm jumping on. So Tuesday night, I know that I am going to prepare for what I'm going to say, and I'm going to get on and I'm going to stay on for this duration of time. And I'm not getting off until I've talked about X, Y and Z. And, you know, you have to stay on it through the uncomfortable. And even if only three people come on and they, like, jump off right away, and, you know, your mom says, hey, what are you doing? I am trying to call you right now while you are on Instagram Live. But it is literally the only way. And you do start to get over it. But of course that fear is there, and the more that you don't do it, the more you are afraid of it. It's kind of like when I haven't flown for a while, I get really nervous all over again. I went on a plane recently and I was like, oh, my God, I used to do this twice a month. All the. I was flying all the time. And, you know, I hadn't flown in like a year, what, over a year because of the pandemic. And I was so nervous all over again. And it's funny because I can go on my podcast, like, not even thinking about it always, but once in a while, if I go on Lives now, because I haven't been doing lives, I'm like, oh, God, I'm really nervous. But it's whatever you get used to, right? So, yeah, the only way to get over that is just to make yourself do it and have a plan around it, because you're never going to do it if you don't have a plan. So what I would do is say, okay, what is it that I want to go on for? Like, do I want to talk about something? What is it that I'm going to be consistent for? And you know what I've seen work really well is when people do, like, challenges, like, okay, I'm going to do this every day for 30 days. I'm just going to tear the band aid off. Or, you know, I'm going to stick to something for three months. And it's going to be every Tuesday and Thursday, and it's going to be at this time. And they make an announcement to everyone so that they stick to it. Maybe you line up guests to do some lives with so that you don't have to do it on your own at first. So you get appointments, like, in the calendar. Like, okay, I have my appointment for my first person on Tuesday at 5pm we're gonna go live on here. Like, we're actually gonna do that on Clubhouse. We're gonna start something that's consistent. Cause I've been wanting to do it, but I'm not doing it myself. Like, I've been avoiding it. I'm like, I don't wanna go on there by myself. That seems really daunting and scary. So I have a couple friends that I asked. I'm like, I feel like it's such a great modality. Like, let's make sure that we do this. So let's make a regular, like a regular thing that we just commit to. But know that, you know, if I can't make it one Wednesday, like someone else, you know, you can take over. But it has to be something consistent. So not what you wanna hear. But if you want that thing, it's the only way that you're gonna. That it's gonna happen. I know Evan's like, you're writing, you're helping us write emails right now for light pink. And I know that you were freaked out, like the first emails that you wrote, but now that this is. Yeah, but. But you do it. But you do it.

Yes.

So is it as crazy as the first one?

No, it gets better every time. And it's also keeping the mindset of, like, of course I'm gonna make mistakes. Of course there are gonna be edits. Like, this is what it's about. This is like, you can't get good at something in five minutes. I mean, maybe you can, but I can't. No.

And especially if you are, you know. Cause I'm just thinking of like some of some of the amazing emails you've sent. Like, especially if it's like somebody who you're writing for that has something that came up that week that you'. Oh, we also, let's edit this part so that we can put in this part. Because this is like what has come up this week. And it's. I think it's like non attachment always. Oh my God. It's the attachment to like what we thought we were doing or what we think we're doing. Trust me, it happens all the time to me. I'm just like, oh, I can't get attached to this idea or what I'm thinking, especially now with light pink. I'm working with so many people that, you know, I throw out ideas that I think are great and then I'm like, oh, they don't think it's that great, but it's my company. And then I'm like, but Lori, it's reflecting back to you that these 10 people, you're the only one that thinks it's great. So maybe it's not or maybe it's not the idea, right? We can't even say that. We can't even say it's not great. We just have to say maybe that's not the idea. Maybe that's not the fit, maybe it's the seed. Yeah, totally. It's the thing that sparks something else or whatever. And I think that's the thing we have to realize too. And I think that's the biggest thing I've realized even with your emails, is it sparks like, oh, this is the direction we should go or we should pepper in this or we should do that or whatever that looks like. So, yeah, I think it's all just freaking growing all the time. That's cool.

I really like that. It's that spark, thinking about a spark, how it can spark something else.

It is. And you have to have that and you have to have it from other people. So relating back to the question, like you have to just start. You have to start and it has to be super consistent. So yeah. Was there another question?

Oh, yes. This is from Jessica for Fush. When do we know it's time to hire a team member?

With the holidays and the new year coming, you probably are looking around your house thinking that you would love to upgrade and freshen up your environment. And there is no easier way to do that than with your window treatments. Nobody covers windows better than Blinds.com. blinds.com brings your space to life in your way. They have free design help. Other retailers may claim to have experts, but blinds.com has spent nearly 30 years building an award winning team of over 100 design consultants that are ready to help you create your dream space. Always convenient, always tailored to you. Three ways to shop 1. Perfect fit. Whether you want a DIY, have it all done for you or you're somewhere in between, choose what works for you and rest easy knowing the fit is guaranteed. So the holidays come fast, you guys, and you can freshen up your window treatments fast as well. And unlike some competitors, the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden fees and there's zero pressure. From blackout in motorized options to classic shutters. Blinds.com has window treatments for every room, style and budget, even shades for your outdoor space. The Black Friday deals@blinds.com are going strong all month long, so don't miss your chance to save big. And as always, our listeners still get $50 when you spend $500 or more, just use code earn at checkout limited time offer rules and restrictions apply. See blinds.com for details. 2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss. You've become the leader. That idea that you have that has been eating at you forever that just will not leave you alone is going to come to life. Maybe it's something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And and with Shopify, 2026 is when you finally make it happen. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started, you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did and that I use Shopify. It gives you all the tool tools to easily build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match. Your brand setup is fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos. So marketing is built in too. You can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets and do it all from the same dashboard in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com happy go to shopify.com happy that's shopify.com happy. Hear your first cha ching this new year with Shopify by your side.

This is a great question. I always say hire before like you feel like you're drowning and you need someone because the second that you get resentful and think you're dropping the ball, that's when you kind of start getting burnt out and you don't want to do your business and you're missing opportunities and you're out of the creative that makes. Here's what we have to remember when we're in our zone of genius. The thing that you're doing when you're at your best is typically the same exact thing that is going to create the most company, the most money for your company, your small business. So with that said, if you're the creative and you are the person working with the working direct, with the client, you probably now, in the beginning, you're going to have to be the everything person right in the very beginning. But if you're noticing that you're starting to make money and that you could make more money if you were able to spend more time, if you had more time to spend with one more client, that's when you start paying someone to take care of the customer service, to start taking care of all of these other things that are taking you away from acquiring more customers. So I think that's the main thing, especially for me right now with light pink, like, I'm really observing where my efforts could be moving the needle a lot more and getting a lot more people interest. Like, I could be going on a lot more podcasts. I could be, you know, writing other personal newsletters. I could be reaching out to people to see if they could get on board with this initial campaign. And because I'm really stuck in email land right now and just logistics, yeah, it's taking me away from those things. So I'm like, oh, I need to hire another team member coming up really soon. So that's when, you know, when you're like, oh, I'm getting pulled out of the thing that I do best. And I'm really noticing that I'm taking a lot more time than I think somebody else would on this. So if you're, you know, having to respond back to Instagram posts and you're noticing that's taking so much of your time and you're not doing the work that's really important, maybe you hire someone for an hour every day to comment back on all of your posts. You know, like, what are the things that you could be doing that get you back into your zone of genius?

So I bet that's hard, too, when you've created something all on your own. And it's hard to give away those things at first. Like, when you've built it, you know it is.

But we have to remember that that's how we stunt our growth. Like, that's it's not going to grow at all. And as much as you love your business, you're going to start hating it because you're doing the things that you don't love.

Preach.

It's true, because I have been there. So, man, Evans, drop some. Drop some wisdom on us for our last.

I just think that we all need to put on our overalls and get in there, get in there, get dirty.

Get in there, get dirty. Schedule it. You got to schedule it a Farmer scheduler.

Overall time.

Think of a farmer. He is not like, you know what? Maybe on Wednesday I'll feed those chickens. Yeah, no way.

I will.

And then he goes out and all the chickens are dead. And you're like, why are the chickens dead? I came out when I wanted to.

Huge schedule.

Don't kill your chickens. That's what you're doing. Don't kill your chickens. Go schedule it. Like, that's. You're killing your dreams. The chickens are your dreams.

You guys.

Do not kill them. Be consistent. Be regular. Take some exercise. Regular.

Yes. All right, we got our pooping.

Same humor. I like it. That's why we're together. All right, you guys. So grateful for you as always. We love hearing your questions. You can text the number that is in the intro. I am going to also try to get it really quick while we are just waiting here using some words. It is text podcast to 310-496-8363. And what we do from there is we send out a text around this time asking for your questions based on a certain topic. So if you want a shout out and you want to get your answer, your question answered, you can text podcast to 310-496-8363 and we will answer your question. Evans, thank you so much for coming on. I always love seeing your face.

I love seeing your face, too.

You can't see your outfit, but she looks like a really sexy wilderness woman. It's the vest. It just. All you have to do.

It's the puffy vest.

All you have to do is put that, like, that dark green vest on and it's kind of fitted. And all of a sudden you're just, like, mysterious. Like, you could be woodsy. You may not be. You may just be a fashionista who works in her yard or a super wild wilderness woman who could save our lives.

Oh, I think the second one.

Oh, the second one for sure. I literally looked at you and was like, yeah, she's going to be in my camp if I ever get stuck out in the wild. Okay, so everyone. So grateful for you. Make sure you text that number. And until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone.

Bye.

Sam.