How to Manifest Your Dream Business with Danielle Mendoza

Are you someone who has a dream of starting a business or growing a business, but you feel like it's not big enough because you've been hearing all of this hoopla on Instagram and LinkedIn that, you know, everybody wants to reach 7K, like everyone needs to be going for the big K months and years and you're like, my dream and my goal is not really to go there. I just want to add a little extra money in my pocket, or I want to support my retirement, or I want to, you know, spoil the people in my lives a little bit more, or I want to spoil myself a little bit more. And I have this gift that comes so easy to me, but apparently I can't really do that unless I want to go really big.

Well, this episode is for you because One, you're not alone.

So many women have things that they want to bring into the world, but they kind of feel like if it's not big, like all of these awesome other ladies are doing it, maybe it's not worth it. And that's why I'm so excited to have Danielle Mendoza, who is a business development consultant on the show, who's going to talk about how you can bring those things to life, how you can manifest those gifts into a business that you really want.

That you really love.

And I'm so excited to have her on the show. We have connected through a networking group and she's one of my new little business besties, um, where we're— we like really jive on this concept of like, do the business that you want, how you want, and don't let other people's dreams crowd your dreams out of the way. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how you can bring that about, some little things on how to grow your business if you want to put it out there and what to do. And what I love about this conversation is Danielle keeps it really real, really raw, and shares her journey along the way as a bestseller on Amazon as, as an author. So be sure to stay tuned and listen all the way through. You're listening to the She's Crafted to Thrive podcast, and this is your host Nikita Williams. On this show, we're talking about what it's like to start, grow, and scale a business while living with chronic illness. You will hear from other creatives and CEOs as they share their stories and the lessons that led them to learn to lean more into what works for them. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection, and fear, negative thoughts, and challenges are all a part of the journey, but there is always an abundance of wins. So stay tuned and you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to craft a life and business that thrives.

Hey there, beautiful.

I've got something for you. If you want to feel more ease and joy in your business without sacrificing your health, energy, and creativity, but you feel like you've got to, you know, pay your dues first, or you're feeling sort of lost in your business, then you want to check out my mini course, 5 Days to Getting Crystal Clear in Your Creative Business. Created this course to help you remove the frustration that's blocking you from receiving exactly what you want and go from stuck to creating the business that you want with ease and joy. So visit thrive with nikita.com minicourse and use the code THRIVE to get it free. Again, that's thrivewithnikitawilliams.com/minicourse and use the code THRIVE to get it free. That's my special gift to my podcast tribe, so go off and thrive. All right, let's hop on into this new episode. Enjoy.

I am so excited to have Danielle on the show today. She has become a new friend in my circle of the world because I talk about probably in the outro. Welcome, Danielle!

Hi, Nikita! Thanks for having me.

Thanks for being here. Please tell us a little bit about you, some fun facts, anything interesting you want us to know about you.

Sure. So probably my most fun fact is that I'm a total crazy cat lady. I have 5 right now. I've had as many as 11 at one time. We had a mama who had a bunch of babies, and so we had a dog at the time. Yeah, it was It was a full house of animals, and I am all about my animals. I mean, I have kids and I love my kids, but I think I dote on my animals even more. But they're just the love of my life. I love all their different little personalities, and it's a nice, cozy companionship where there's just never any judgment as long as they're fed.

Oh my God. Yeah. As long as they're fed. That's so right. Especially cats.

Yeah. Then they start judging right away. They get real upset.

Yeah, oh my gosh, I don't know how I didn't know this. How— I, I don't know how we didn't have this conversation sooner. I didn't know you had that many cats.

Yeah, it's a whole thing. It's, it's a lifestyle.

Oh, I love it. I love it. Well, everyone knows that I have 2 cats and a dog, and I'm very like empathy pet person. Like, my husband always has to be like, we can't save all of pets. And we can't have all of the pets.

I know my husband the other day heard about a stray kitten and he's like, should we get it? Should we bring it home? I'm like, we cannot. Like, we have a, a good little hierarchy going with our pack of animals right now. We need to just keep the peace.

So, oh my goodness, that's so funny. Well, I am so excited to have you in the show because you are one, just had an amazing book on Amazon. That's still there and available, you guys. The link will be in the bio. But excuse me, the new meds are definitely affecting my voice these days. So, um, it's hit bestseller. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about your book hitting bestseller?

Oh, it was really amazing. It was kind of a wild journey to just birth this thing out of my brain and put it forth in the world and then watch it in the first 8 hours climbed to the top of the charts on Amazon. I felt so blessed that everyone received my words and my ideas so openly, and the feedback has been really, really great. And I'm just enjoying sharing my message about manifesting with women everywhere.

I love it.

I love it. So tell us how you became Danielle Be Myself Now. Like, tell us how that started.

So I would say the inkling of the idea started way back when I was 19, but I didn't know what a life coach was. And I was like, maybe I'll be a physical therapist or personal trainer who can cook too. And then I can talk to people about their problems. And I used to tell people, like a therapist, but not— I just didn't have words for what that really was until I started my own transformational journey in 2017. And then I went ahead and got certified as a life coach in 2018, and I started out coaching teens. And that's sort of where the Be Myself Now came from. I thought if I could bring anything to people with my coaching, what would it be? And I really realized if you know yourself, you can create your life. And we have to just show up and be ourselves right now all the time in order to create this life that we can love, that we feel embodies who we are. And so I landed on that name and then I shifted into spiritual coaching for women because I found a really big need there. Through a lot of the people I was talking to. And then some of the most common questions I got, even from the teens, moms, from these women I was coaching, they're like, how did you start your podcast? How did you do this? How did you set up your website? You know, it was all these like technical business type of questions. And I let that lead me into this place I am now, business development coaching, where I help women get started.

I love that. And you are so like clear on your niche too. Like You're like, I'm going to let you tell them, but like, you are so clear. So what to you, what do you feel like is your magic sauce in even doing that?

Well, I focus on women getting through their first 4 and 5 figures of growth. And for a lot of women, that's enough for them. They don't necessarily want to jump into the 6 and 7 figure business world. And I found almost all business coaches out there are like, let's get you to 6 figures, 10K months. Yes, this big, loud, resounding voice. In the business world, and it's scaring a lot of women off, and it's causing them to keep their gifts to themselves. And I just thought, you know, we can't let all these women die with their gifts bottled up inside of them. They need an opportunity to bring that forth. And so I decided to focus on that market, on women who are brand new, who are ready to just take their big idea and transform it into a business, whatever that might look like. And to find a way to fit their business into their life in a way that feels really good. Because as women, especially driven women, we're busy. We got a lot of stuff going on already. We've got families, we've got church, we've got friends, we've got other volunteer things we do. And so to start a business, you have to carve out some space, but I don't think you have to carve out 40 hours a week and you don't have to hire a big team and you don't have to run a ton of ads or dump a bunch of money into it right away. And I saw my own organic growth happen, and I thought, this feels really good. I'm building relationships, I'm talking to people, I'm letting them know how I can help. And so many women think business feels icky. They don't want to market, they don't want to do sales because they're like, oh, it's like that used car salesman is popping into your DMs and it's like, hey, look at this new vitamin I'm taking. And that kind of approach just turns so many people off. And so I really wanted to step out there and say, we can do it differently. It does It doesn't have to look like that. It doesn't have to be 6 figures and it doesn't have to be icky. So let's just find what works for you and go with it.

Yeah. So I love all that what you just said because that's literally a thing. Like that's literally, I think that's where we align a lot about just finding the way that works for you and your goals are your goals and no one can tell you that they're too big or too small. They're your goals. Like they belong to you. And so I love that that's what you're doing. Um, for, that niche, especially. I think another niche you work into is like those women who are trying to decide what they're going to do with their retirement and stuff like that. Like, what are they going to do? And they don't want to be like running a whole nother life now. They want to just have something that's fun and also like pay some bills and have some fun vacation time. And it doesn't have to be all that big.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. A lot of moms, a lot of retirees out there, their life is already financially supported. They don't really need to seek out that 6 and 7 figure level and they don't want to put all the work into it that that takes because truly that takes a bit more work. It takes a bit more of a team. It takes a bit more diving in and giving it full maybe 30, 40 hours of space. And so I like to help them figure out how can we work maybe 10 hours a week or 20 hours a week and at the end of the year still have $20,000, $30,000, $40,000. I mean, we often hear about it's like not business success, but I'm like, who doesn't feel successful when they have an extra $20,000 in their pocket, right?

I mean, let's just be real, who doesn't feel excited when they find a dollar in their pocket that they thought was hidden, like they didn't know was there? Like everybody's excited, oh, I found a dollar! Like, we are excited. So $20,000, $30,000, like, hello, that's a big deal.

Absolutely. And it shouldn't be ignored, and it shouldn't be put down. We shouldn't be in this place where we feel like, oh, I only did 5 figures, I'm a failure. Like, we need to celebrate every sale, every client. You have to be able to celebrate through 4 figures, 5 figures. Even if you want 6 figures, you've got to be able to celebrate earlier on, or you'll miss the celebration later on too.

Yeah, yeah, 100%. I totally agree with that. So have What inspires you? Like, what inspires you to do this? I know you kind of touched on it a little bit, but what inspired you to feel like to help women see this, that they can build whatever they want to build?

Well, in 2016, I faced a bit of my own skin cancer journey. I have basal cell carcinoma, which is something I call the small C cancer. It's not one of those big C cancers where you have like a timeline of life being given to you, but it is still scary. It was still something that kind of woke me up a little bit. And I was like, wait a minute, I've just been being a mom all these years, which is great. I love my kids. I love being a mom. But I just felt that there was so much more to me than that. And I hadn't shared that with the world at all. And even with this small C cancer, I was like, I could die. And then I had to get to the point where I'm like, I could always die. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. You know, I mean, we're all facing that unknown possibility at any moment. And what are we doing sitting around keeping our gifts kind of squirreled away inside of us because we're busy as mom or because we're busy at work or, you know, just busy with life? We need to be able to align our lives in a way that we're living and showing up and offering those things out to the universe at the same time.

Yeah, I love, I love that. And I also, I'm— whenever I hear those kind of stories, I feel like, man, some of us are just really hard-headed. Like, we need to have— like, we have to smack ourselves with life, life, and be like, oh wait, you know, put those brakes on and really take an assessment. I mean, there's— I'm so honored and privileged to have so many women on the show who have shared that same feeling. Like, something happened that helped them realize, like, look, I'm not even living the life that I want to actually live. Like, I'm kind of living it. Like, this I love my family and love all those things, but I'm not actually tapping into the thing that I feel creates that space for me to show up more authentically as myself. And I love that you recognized it because sometimes we can go through those big things and not see it, right? Um, I think that's a huge thing. Is that something you feel like you help your clients do in their journey, is like recognize, or are they already know that they're ready to do this and they're jumping in?

Um, it depends on where they come into contact with me in their journey. Some are ready to jump in for sure and are ready to create their business as an avenue of self-expression and to show up more truly. But like a lot of women who read the book, it's things in the book that help bring that out in them. You know, I have in the book ways to reflect on your gifts and talents, ways to find out, you know, am I showing up fully as myself? And then they can kind of see like Hey, everybody's always asking me these questions about like how to put the flowers together for Thanksgiving or how to like make cutesy little napkin rings. Or I'm always making these fun printables for my kids and maybe I should start to share some of that with the world because I could make some money at that and it could be a lot of fun to just show up in that space. Yeah.

Do you feel like fear stops a lot of women from doing that, or do you feel like it's more of an awareness that stops people from doing that?

I think the awareness has to kind of come first, but I think the fear trails really closely behind. So it's like they might have these knocks on the door. Maybe they didn't get clubbed over the head like I did with the life awakening moment. But even way back at 19, I was hearing these knocks on the door to kind of like, come help people, come show up in this way. And I let so much of the normal practical life get in the way. We're like, well, I have to have this job where I go 40 hours a week and I make X amount of money in my paycheck, and I have to have the things set up in the way that everyone else says they quote unquote should be. And I ignored those knocks on the door. And I think a lot of women do that. And then when you do finally open that door and kind of like peek through, it feels like it's a big scary monster on the other side, especially if you've ignored it for a long time because you've pulled yourself away from that identity. And I think fear does stop a lot of us. And so that's something that I encourage people to just embrace their fear. We're all afraid. Like, even when we post on Instagram, even though I've been posting on Instagram for years, sometimes I'm still like, oh God, what if somebody sees this? Right? But I want them to see it. Isn't that the whole point? So I just have to, like, embrace that fear, say, hello, fear, what are you trying to teach me? And if it's not a true lesson that's coming through the fear, I need to just put it in the backseat and keep moving.

Yeah, because the unknown is going to be a little scary. Like, it's going to be something we've never experienced before. And I think there's a level of just tapping into acting in— like, acting despite fear and leaping a little bit with some faith there. Because I do think a lot of us lean really heavily— I've even experienced this in my own journey of thinking, oh, well, I've experienced this before, so it's safe to do it that way. I always crack myself up when I'm thinking that. I'm like, yeah, but that was like a different me, a different life, a different circumstance. So it's not really going to pan out exactly the same when I decide to do this thing now. And it's like really giving yourself permission that you're never going to know all the answers, one, and that part of the answers come when you step into doing something that you've never done before and, and having some faith that you're going to learn some things along the way.

And it creates a much more exhilarating experience. I mean, when I was 19, I worked at a summer camp at one point, and we went up on the ropes course as the staff before the camp opened, and I climbed 50 feet into the air, and then I walked out to the middle of a giant log. And I'm super afraid of heights, so this was like sweating, you know, white-knuckle gripping on the ladder, like, but I made my way up there, and then I'm not sure that this is exactly legal, but they let out some rope and then you did just like a free fall. You just fell backwards off of the log and everyone on staff got the chance to do it. And I was so afraid at first. I was like, I'm not going to do it. I don't think so. And then I was like, when is this opportunity ever going to come up in my life again that I could experience like a 30-foot free fall and not die at the end of it? Like, never. That's never going to never going to happen, probably. So I said yes to it and I pushed through my fear. And it's one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done. So when we allow that fear to just be there, but we do it anyway, we can find on the other side that it's just that much more exciting than our everyday life.

Yeah, yeah, that's such a— yeah, that's such a good point. Like just leaning into that fear that way and looking at it for what it could be versus what it's you couldn't do. I think that's the thing, like the way you perceive what it is has a lot to do with it too. I love that you just shared that, that example. So like, what are some fears for you? Like, what are some fears in your journey that you've been overcoming and pushing through?

I think the fear of not doing it right comes up a lot for me. I tend to have a bit of a perfectionist bent. I like to show up like I know what I'm doing, and for the most part I do.. But there's still that nagging fear that's just like, I might get this wrong. You know? And I think school conditions us a lot to, you know, get the A, get the 100%, don't miss anything. But business isn't school. And I've had to learn to just let go of that mindset and say, you know, the fear is okay. And it's okay if I don't do it right, I'll just learn and I'll be able to do it better. And there's very little— I tell women, there's very little in business that you can do that will actually like sabotage anything, even if you get it wrong, even if you're embarrassed, especially in these early stages, because nobody's looking at you. It's not like you have 200 million followers or anything like that. You got like your auntie and your good friend and maybe 5 other people. So if you mess up, it's very kind of small stakes. So we can find some comfort there to help us overcome that fear by just saying it's okay if I do this wrong. I think of Gretchen Rubin. She has this saying that she's mentioned a few times. It's, you just commit to doing it badly. And it doesn't mean that you're going to do a bad job, but it means that you're just like, okay, I'm just going to do and see what happens. And you learn to listen to your market and let them tell you what's working and what's not working. Because we like to think we know anyway, but sometimes we don't really know what our market actually wants to see. And so it's helpful to just remind myself, like, these women will tell me if what I'm doing is working, you know. Their response is the most important thing, not my own, you know, behind the scenes, like, lining up all the perfect ideas. And it almost never goes to plan anyways, and what happens in the end is better than anything I could have imagined.

Yeah, yeah, I love that you said that too, just like leaning into your people, like, to tell— for them to give you the feedback. Like, the right people, you guys. Like, not like the people who are naysayers, correct? Who aren't your people. And that also might include people that are your family that are not your ideal people. Like, there's a lot of things, caveats to that, but you know what we mean, right? We mean the people that you are trying to serve, those people. Um, so yeah, I love that. I love that. When you say like doing it quote unquote, write, when you find that you don't know what you don't know and you do it anyway, what are some of the things that have come up for you in those experiences? Like, if you have one that you specifically could think of, because I know writing a book— we've had this conversation— writing a book to me is like, I've thought about it, it's been in the back of my head, oh, I should write a book, and it's like, ah, no. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. But for you, there was something that motivated you to be like, yeah, I'm gonna do a book, and you've never maybe done one before. So how did that look for you?

Yeah, that book is a really good example of that. I mean, I definitely feel competent as a writer, and I had a chapter in a co-authored book, and so I felt like, okay, I can get words on paper. And I went through, you know, the fear of people reading my words. And that one especially was about my personal journey with cancer. And so it was really nerve-wracking to put that out there and worry about people judging me, like, oh, your cancer wasn't that big of a deal, it's not like, you know, the big cancers that people get diagnosed with. But I learned to just stand in my own power and to just feel good about sharing my words because they might touch someone, I just don't know. And I learned to kind of trust the divine flow of all of that. And so when it came time to write my single author book, I was really nervous. I signed up for the Authors of Influence Academy in April of last year, and by June I was like, all right, I got to get this book written. You know, I'd committed to a publishing date at the end of August, and I was like, this is it. If I don't start now, I'm not going to get enough words on the page. So I'm, I'm one of those people who needs a fire under my butt to kind of get me going. Yeah. So I just committed to getting all of my thoughts down on paper. What do I want my ideal client to know and understand on her early journey? And I threw it all into the book. And in one of my editing rounds, it was really funny. I noticed that I was writing a lot of, like, I think and maybe and perhaps and just kind of like these soft statements, which I think as women we tend to do. We tend to underqualify ourselves and be like, well, I think this might work. Instead of just saying, this is what will work. And men have such a big business advantage on us because they tend to walk in the room and say, this is what will work, even if they have no idea and they've never done it before.

Oh my gosh.

So there's something to learn there about being a little bit more brazen and just standing in your truth a little bit. And I went through and I edited out all of those I thinks and just and maybe and I just left those statements as strong statements. And I think the book came across much better because of that, because I was able to sort of just be sure in what I was saying instead of trying to ease my way into those thoughts. And there was a lot of fear around that, too. I mean, I was like, who am I to be saying these things? I could think of 3 different ways people would disagree with me almost immediately.. But I decided to just quiet those thoughts and recognize that this book is meant for the people that it will serve, and it's not meant for everyone. So even all those people who could disagree with me, then it just wouldn't be the book for them. You know, I remember the business principle of if we're attracting our people, we're repelling probably 90% of people. And so I committed to repelling those people by taking such a strong stance, and I think it really paid off.

Yeah, I love that you brought that up because that's something that I feel like as women, we're kind of— for the most part, a lot of us are people pleasers. Like, we want everyone to feel, you know, good and accepted, and we'll do all of the things to make sure that everybody feels that way. But in business, there, there is a beauty between repelling and repelling people and attracting the right people because you're not wasting your energy trying to explain something that your people get and the other people don't get. Like, it's not— you're not trying to convince them that don't get what you're thinking. And I think that's a beautiful thing. I do that all the time. When you were saying that, I find myself often being like, I think, and I'm like, no, I know. Like, it's just one of those things. And I think all of us have experienced that. When we're chatting with people and talking about our expertise, we don't think potentially because I don't have this, you know, degree or went to this place or did that thing that I can't come with a like solid belief, confidence in doing what I do. But I love that you just said that because it's something I'm constantly on my own journey getting more comfortable with, just saying I believe or I know. Yeah. And it's like, I know from my own, you know, my own place of where I'm coming from. And it may be different for you, but I know for myself. And I think that's a beautiful thing.

Yeah. As we own that more for ourselves, as we're able to say, I know from my experiences and perspective that this to be true, then I think when we hear other people say they know and it's not something we agree with, we don't worry that we have it wrong and maybe they're right. It's easier to say, well, they know from their perspective and experiences, and we make more space in our lives for a multitude of perspectives. And we can take what's good from that for us, or we can leave it behind if it's not good for us. And it becomes easier to do as we get more strong in our own language.

Yeah, yeah, such a good point. So I want to circle back to something we were talking about earlier. I do this all the time, and people are like, oh, Nikita, you waiting to sneak up on me. I'm like, I'm just, just thinking about it. So I want to circle back to something that you were— when you were talking about the small c. For you, how has that really affected your business? Like, I know it's the thing that helped you to embrace doing the thing that you love, but is that something that you're constantly thinking about or something you have to deal with on a daily or yearly— like, how does that affect your view and life now?

It definitely brought me through a perspective shift, a lot more of like, why does this really matter? Is it something that will really matter when I'm at my end? With getting upset with my kids, I used to get upset with my kids over, gosh, almost everything. I mean, I'm a good mom, y'all, but sometimes I have a short fuse. It's just the way I am. But I've learned Who cares if they have a couple marshmallows? Or who cares if they have cereal for dinner? Like, does it really matter? And I can say, yes, it does. If they have cereal for dinner every night for a month, that's going to affect their nutrition. But most of the time it's just here and there stuff, and we get so hard on ourselves. I think, again, it's that perfectionist, people-pleaser bent to, like, do things the quote-unquote right way. And I learned to just let go of that, to just let go of whatever the right way might be for someone, and instead looking at what's the right way for me right now and letting that just evolve on a moment-to-moment, day-to-day basis.

Yeah, I love that you said that because really what you're talking about is boundaries, right? Like boundaries for yourself and then for your perception of what's happening in the world. So how has boundaries helped you in your business and in your life to keep things not, you know, I would say to keep harmony in all of the things that you've got going on, because having kids and having a house full of pets, a husband, you just recently had a huge move. So like, how are you finding like boundaries and balancing with all of that?

I would say it went back a step further and it started with my values that I had to decide, like, what do I really value in life?. And I learned one of my top values is fun. Like, I just want to have fun. I want things to feel fun. If we're not having fun, what is the point? Like, that's kind of how I feel in life. And so I decided to, you know, then align my boundaries with my values. And I could say, like, is this boundary cutting into things feeling good, or is this boundary helping me feel good? And it would help me decide sort of like the overall life stuff. But in terms of business, the boundaries were everything because I gave everything to my kids. You know, I'm a driven woman. I want to go all in on everything that I do. So then when I started my business, I realized I have to make space for that business, which meant I had to reduce a lot of what I was doing for and with my family. And we homeschool our kids, so they're always around. Um, and at the time I started, my husband was still working out of the home, so it really was just me and the kids. And I had to set up a system that would work. And so I had to have boundaries with the kids. I had to have boundaries with myself around when I set my working hours. I had to actually get work done because I didn't have— I couldn't be like, oh, I'll do it later, I'll do it on the weekend. I had to decide what was going to be right for me and right for the kids as well, because I do value my family. I value my kids having a happy, healthy life. And so I wanted to make sure that there were enough boundaries in place that all of that could coexist in harmony. And I think we found a good sweet spot so far. Helps that my husband's working from home now and he's able to help out a lot more with the schooling and that kind of stuff. And the kids are getting older, so they're much more self-sustained. But it's just new stuff when they get older. I don't know. I mean, they're not walking off cliffs like toddlers, but it's just new issues, right? There's new things going on in their life that you still have to kind of be present for. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, the boundaries have helped a lot. That was a really important lesson for me to take in. And especially the idea of reinforcing my boundaries and not expecting other people to uphold my boundaries.

Say that again. Say that again.

Yeah, if I set a boundary and I expect my kids to just obey that boundary all the time and I don't do the work to reinforce it myself, it's just not going to happen. You know, people have their own boundaries and those boundaries will push on ours. And we have to be willing to stand strong and say, no, sweetie, I can't get you a snack right now. I'm working. Remember, I'm working from 1 until 3. At 3 o'clock, I can help you. And just be willing to remind them, and especially to remind them from that place of a loving gesture, not being like, oh my God, you asked me again and I told you I can't until 3. We have to show up and say, okay, This is what I need for myself. I love myself enough to give this to me. I love you, I want to help you, but I will do that at 3 o'clock. And just, you know, regularly reinforcing those boundaries. And it took some time, it took probably about a year for my kids to kind of understand, like, when Mom's door is closed, she's working, and we need to not, like, be knocking on it all the time. Um, but, you know, it took me standing in my own power and reinforcing those boundaries. And not— I still don't expect, you know, I like to think that they would uphold them and, you know, respect my time, but they're still kids with needs and they have their own, like, lives going on. So I can't expect everyone else to uphold my boundaries. I have to be willing to do that.

Oh girl, that alone could be an episode.

Like, everything could be like 5 years of work. Like, it's not just an episode.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, that's what— like, that alone could be like a whole book, just boundaries alone. Like, it's It's such a crucial thing. Like, it's such a crucial thing. And I think you nailed— like, you said it so perfectly. My coach has taught me that too over the last several years. It's just really reinforcing. Like, we get all upset when people encroach on our boundaries, but it's like, yo, you didn't tell them about it. Like, you didn't keep enforcing that for them to remember. And they've got their own stuff that they're dealing with. So it's really unfair of us to, like, put those boundaries and expect those people to keep them because we aren't.

Absolutely.

So I love, I love that you brought that up because that's something that I think all of us could work on because we, we hear that phrase like, um, being taken advantage of. I'm being taken advantage of. And it's like, how? I mean, there is, there is some— you're letting people, like, let's, let's be real, you're kind of letting people take advantage of you. Without implementing your boundaries. That's really what's happening. And I think in our businesses that happens so much, like the emails, and when people call you, and when the boxer, and all these different things, and you're letting people create the boundary for you versus you standing in your own power and saying, you know what, this is this, you know. I don't know about you, but I have clients that I'm like, no, it's okay to have on your calendar only times that you are willing to work. Required.

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. We feel like we owe them something, especially early on in the business journey. Like, they paid me this money and I owe them my time and attention. And you do, but you created a value exchange with your pricing, and you have to own your self-worth enough to say, this value exchange means you get 2 hours of my time on this day, and stick to that and not feel like you owe them outside of that, because you have created a good value exchange and you know they're getting what you're worth out of that price level and just showing up in your power that way. Yeah.

Oh goodness, that's such a good one. So what would you say has been one of the biggest mindset shifts? And I think it might be boundaries for you as, as an entrepreneur, as a woman building a business.

How—

what has been one of those things for you?

Well, other than the boundaries, I would say definitely owning the way that I want to do business. Just recognizing that I don't want to work 40 hours a week, that I don't need to, that our worth is not determined by the number of hours that we show up. I think that is such a common American Western thought that we've got to be in the office for 40 hours a week to earn our paycheck. And we do a lot of trading time for money in the business world. And I've had to shift my mindset to realize that I'm trading money for value, not for time. So there is a time element to me showing up to serve my clients, but what are they really getting out of that time together? And what is that valued at? Instead of saying like, I'm, you know, $90 an hour, or— and a lot of new coaches, I think, like to start off you know, in that safe time range where they feel like, okay, they're getting X number of hours and it's for this many dollars, and, and that feels fair, you know, through their own money mindset. Also is, is a big one. When you can graduate your money mindset, you can realize, I can be worth more than this per hour. It doesn't have to break down to an hourly exchange, and you start to really focus on the value. That was a huge one.

Yeah. Oh yeah, I had a lady on the show a while back and she blew my mind with this statement. She did coaching for like virtual assistants and she was saying, she said this thing, and I'm sure everybody will remember this if they listen to the episode, which is like, people are not paying you for your time, people are paying you for theirs. Like to get their time back, or whatever they perceive to be valuable. So we could be charging less than what they even value their time for. And it was just like such an eye-opening conversation. I was like, oh, that's, that's, that's just— we just blow some stuff out of the water with that. And it's the same thing what you're saying, like trading time for value, not money. And I think that's such a beautiful thing to keep in mind. I think because pricing Pricing is a thing. Pricing is a big thing.

Oh yeah.

Especially if you have your own business. You're not like, even for my clients that have like products like jewelry and candles, that's a whole conversation because like, well, I'm just talking about, you know, the expenses it takes me to put this together. I'm like, yeah, but what about how long it took you to figure out how to do that? Like, are we adding that in there?

Absolutely.

Adding that value.

The 10 years it took you to figure out, you know, that you even wanted to make jewelry and what kind of stones to use and what kind of hooks were better quality. I mean, It's like you think about an artist and some of those abstract paintings where they like send the bucket spinning over the canvas, and those paintings take maybe 10, 30 seconds to make, but you are not paying that artist for 30 seconds of time. You're paying them for the 30 years that they spent, you know, learning more and getting inspired by more and gaining new perspectives and just growing as a person. And your clients are paying you for the same thing, for your whole history of life and what you bring to the table now as that complete person has a lot of value to it. And when we're just like, okay, 1 hour equals this, then we're just wiping away all of that value that we really bring to the table.

Yeah.

And it's hard because we do live in a society that still thinks about that. They still think about things trading time for money. And it is something you have to kind of make a mindset. So do you have any affirmations that you like to share with people? Because I know you're really, really good on this. Like, any affirmations to help women who are working through that pricing thought process?

So every chapter in my book actually starts with an affirmation because I love affirmations so much. But I would say probably my favorite one is I am healthy, wealthy, and loved, because I think that's where we get off track. We start to think we're worth less, or we start to think, I need XYZ qualification, or, and once I'm worth more, then that means I'm loved more, right? We start to equate it with this thing we will get at the end of whatever expectation we've sort of set up in our mind. But when we can start from that place of I'm healthy, I'm wealthy, I'm loved, no matter what the circumstances actually look like, right? Like, there are ways that we can feel unhealthy, that we can feel not wealthy. But when we can center ourselves into that energy, then I think it's a lot easier to see our own worth and to start to graduate that money mindset because we are not as, you know, hooked on the idea of money equating, you know, what I'm worth. If I am healthy and wealthy and loved, in my own right, like in my birthright, God-given, healthy, wealthy, and loved, then I can just pour out from there. I don't have to worry about what I'm taking in and kind of get into that scarcity mindset and scramble.

Well, I love that. What are some tips and tools? So I love that affirmation. You guys, if you want some more affirmations and some more goody, goody, goody yummies on how to manifest success in your life, a lot of times we hear about manifestation. Um, and I love Danielle's approach to it because she really talks about like, it's a mindset, but it's also like aligning what you do with that mindset. And I think it's a beautiful thing that you really help people to see, like, you know, it's not always just like thinking and then just believing it's going to happen. You have to align your life and your actions in order to create that in your life. And so, um, love, love that. I'll have the link in the, in the show notes for you guys to go check that out. Um, what are some tips and tools for a woman, your woman, that's like, you're like, would love to work with, that you think will help them get them going down the path that leads them to the success that they, that they want?

So the first one I like to share is a business tip called the Action Formula. We often think that we take action, especially through fear, we like to just like put it out there and close our eyes and look the other way and be like, I'm done, I did it. But you're not done at that point. So you have to take the action, you have to try first, then you have to observe how your audience is responding to what you tried, and then you have to adjust based on that response, you know. And maybe you get really lucky and you don't have to adjust anything, but most of the time you're going to have to make some adjustments on what kind of caption you used, or what that picture looked like, or, you know, the way you talk about what you do. And then you have to repeat it. You have to try again with those adjustments in place. So reminding yourself that there's a whole formula to taking action. So we can't just take action and throw it out there and be like, I'm done, I did it, and just celebrate that we did it. I mean, I still want everyone to celebrate that they did the hard thing, but then you have to be willing and open and humble enough to look to your audience and say, what do you think? How did they respond? Did they all ignore it? Or did they all hit like, you know, that can tell you a lot. Not that we do it for the likes, but it tells us about what our audience is receiving and what they're responding to.

Yeah, yeah. That's, that's the whole art of business, you guys. Like, that is literally the whole science of business. I feel like I had a coach call me out recently about that thought. She's like, so are you like thinking that you did this one thing and now you should have gotten it by now? I was like, Maybe I was like, maybe I was thinking that. She's like, yeah, that's not how— and I know that. Like, I tell my clients that all the time. I'm like, it's not, it's not a one-size-fits-all all the time and it stays the same. Because even when you do the action and say you get lucky that first time and everyone loves it, it doesn't mean the next time you do it that everyone will. Totally. Other people's circumstances and how they— there's so many things that, you know, are a part of what happens in those actions. So it's really— I love that you said it's about the humility to get yourself in that place to be ready to be wrong, one, and two, to observe and tweak and try it again. And it takes a lot of those tries to get to the point where you do start creating that consistency, but it takes so many, so many action steps before you get to, to that point. So I love that you shared that point.

Thank you. I also like to talk about the business development triangle. So if you picture a triangle, and in each corner there's— one corner's time, one is cost, and one is quality. And typically we get to have the positives from two of those corners, and we trade off for a negative in the third. So if you want something done really quickly and you want it to be good quality, it's probably going to cost you a lot. Or if you want something done low cost and really good quality, it's probably going to take a lot of time. Or if you want something done really low cost and really quick it's probably not going to be the best quality. And so when you can remember that business development triangle, then you can make decisions early on in your business about where do I spend the money, because we start with such a limited budget often until we have clients rolling in. You know, we're like, every precious penny has to be spent wisely. And that doesn't mean doing it perfect, but you do have to understand what those trade-offs are as you're working through it.

Yes. Because there are trade-offs, you guys. There are trade-offs. It's kind of like shopping at the dollar store versus shopping at Anthropologie. There is going to be something going on there. There's going to be a difference.

Absolutely. Absolutely. That's a great example.

Like, it's going to be—

and sometimes dollar store is all you need. Dollar store is great and it's what you want. But sometimes you got to be willing to, you know, make the time and shell out the money to get it from Anthropologie because that extra quality can make a difference.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so, so much goodie tips with that. Thank you so much for sharing. Please tell everybody how they can find you on all of the things. Also tell us a little bit about your podcast.

Sure.

Yeah. So you can find me on Facebook at Be Myself Now or on Instagram at @bemyself.now or on my website, bemyselfnow.com. And My podcast is called Be Myself Now in Business, and I like to talk to women who are really capitalizing on doing business their own way and showing up in that development stage and just making things happen, even when it doesn't look like it does for everyone else.

Yeah, you guys, and I'm so glad to have been on her show. So we'll have a link to that too, so you can listen to our episode. Um, and so much goodness. So thank you so much again for being on here. I think those last two tips and just your experience in general, it's going to really help some women kind of just give themselves some permission to make all the mistakes.

Thank you. I'm so happy to be able to share and hopefully inspire some of them to take the leap and share their gifts and talents, because I truly don't want any woman to die with her gifts and talents bottled up inside of her. The world needs you. That's all I can say is someone out in the world needs you, so don't ignore more.

All right, y'all, that's a wrap. Thank you for listening, and I hope this conversation inspired you. Be sure to visit craftedtothrive.com to check out our show notes, connect with our guests, and grab some of those goodies. Join us for the next episode, and in the meantime, remember, yes, yes, yes, you are crafted to thrive.