What It Takes To Build a 7-Figure Online Business w/ Stephanie Anne Hughson

What's up guys, welcome back to the podcast. I am so excited for today's episode. I feel like I say that every single week, but that's because I genuinely am. I don't really publish podcasts that I'm not excited about, but I'm especially excited for this week's episode because we have an amazing guest on the show this week.

We are joined by Stephanie Ann Hewson, also known as @itsexojingy on Instagram.

She is a mega business coach and she has such a wealth of knowledge about entrepreneurship, showing up online, marketing your offers, all of the things. So you guys are gonna wanna stick around and learn all of her tools and tips and insights. So if you don't already follow Steph, just a little bit of background on her to give some context to this episode, but she's a multimillionaire coach, a content creator, and an influencer and wealth expansion Brander. So she has turned her love for social media and brand building into one of the top coaching practices in the industry and has also created one of the most innovative personal brands online. All you have to do is follow her on Instagram to see what we're talking about. But Steph has built her business using 100% organic social media attraction. So no paid ads and relationship building. So she serves hundreds of clients at this point in her group programs and delivers some of the most fire content on Instagram. Her teachings are the perfect blend of tangible steps and energetic momentum. She's undoubtedly a visionary entrepreneur who continues to pivot, set trends, and pave the way for influencer coaches around the world. And we just love her hot takes and triggering posts that tell it like it is. So I'm so excited for you to learn from Steph. Before we dive in, really quickly, I wanted to let you guys know that in my world I have some really, uh, some really awesome opportunities opening up to work with me. So I have some private business mentorship spots that are now open, which is very exciting because these don't open that often. And I have 2 spots right now, and this is 3 months of private business coaching with me. So this is the most intimate and transformative container in my world. This is for the woman who is really done with guessing and hoping and wishing and trying and is ready to start claiming the business of her dreams and skyrocket toward success. So in this container, we get to hang out together really intimately for 3 months. We have weekly coaching calls, just you and I, and you also get unlimited Voxer access. For text and voice note support between our calls. So it's a really supportive environment to help us dig into all of the behind the scenes stuff in your business, unpacking structure systems, reorganizing your offers and your product suite, building out new programs or courses, transitioning away from one-to-one potentially and scaling your income through groups, um, optimizing your time and your workflow, balancing masculine and feminine energy, working through mindset blocks or the bottleneck that you might be hitting in your business. So This is for you if you really are ready to go all in on your business. You already have a coaching business up and running, even if you're just taking a few clients, but you have a business that's up and running and you're ready to take it to that next level. This is also available in a 6-month package if you want extended support. So there's an option for that. And then I also have something really exciting for people that maybe just wanna dip their toe and they want to kind of like ease into the business coaching space or they're already kind of happy with what they're doing and how their business is going, but they want that continued support and to have someone as just kind of like a sounding board and that extra place for guidance and bouncing ideas off of. So this is 1 month of Voxer-only support. So you'll have 1 month of business support in your pocket.

I'll be kind of in your pocket at all times.

Unlimited text and voice note for the 30 days that we're together in Voxer. And this is where you can run specific things by me, like pricing or issues with clients and boundaries, or, you know, creating a program application or sales, marketing, social media questions, general mindset stuff, entrepreneur advice, venting, sharing, all of that kind of stuff, because we all really need someone in our corner on this crazy fucking ride of entrepreneurship. So those are the two things that I have for you guys right now. One-on-one mentorship or Voxer-only support. If this sounds interesting to you, if it is striking a chord with you, if you have been thinking about hiring a coach or a mentor for your business for some time but the right opportunity hasn't come across, I would invite you to tune into your body right now and listen to your intuition and what's coming up for you. If you feel like this could be it, DM me the word rocket ship because this is for my girlies who are ready to take off. So for either option, just DM me the word rocket ship and I will send you all the details. We can chat back and forth in DMs, or we can get on the phone if that feels better for you, and see if it's a good fit to work together. I'm so excited for the women that are about to come into my world and skyrocket their businesses and allow me to guide them for a small part of their journey and experience the behind the scenes of building their soul-aligned business. So that's it for this intro. Without further ado, I can't wait for you guys to listen to this conversation with Steph. Let's go! Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development.

This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life.

So turn the Volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shift happen.

Okay.

I'm so excited to have you on the podcast, Steph. I also just have to say, and for everybody listening, like, I have been digging so deep into your world lately and I'm so excited to like continue and get into more of your programs, but I've done like 3 of your things recently and you're just one of those people that I found online and I followed and immediately I could like feel your energy and your fire and your passion for the work that you do and the way that you present on social is so unique and fun. And like sassy. And I was just like, this is someone that I want to be in their energy. So immediately I was like, okay, what can I do? How can I get into your space? And it's been so fun to just kind of dive in and learn from you. So I'm so excited to have you here. It feels like an honor for me. And I know everybody listening is going to be really, really excited to hear from you and to learn all the things.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I love that you've been diving into so many different things in my world and I'm very excited and grateful that you asked me to come on into your space and connect and go deeper and connect with your audience. So thank you. And you know, how fun is it, right, to just feel— I'm just going to go right into it based on what you said. It's like, this is what it is though. This is where my brain goes. I just want to dissect things. But like what happened for you when you found me is you just saw someone feel really pure online and you felt the purity. Like, sure, maybe you resonated with things that I've said, but I think the biggest piece is like you felt like there's someone just like in a vibe doing their thing. And I think like that's a big difference of like someone versus someone who's just posting to post versus someone who's like very like putting their energy and their embodiment into their social media. Like that's the world of a difference. And so that's what you felt. And it's like You know, I always say to people like, it's not— don't try and be me or try and be someone. People are going to feel that same thing when you figure out how to show up in your own authentic way and people feel the authenticity, like the genuine energy of it.

Yeah, totally. I think the embodiment piece is huge because you can just tell that you are really like living your message and you're like the proof of what you're telling people is possible. Like you have done that and we'll kind of dig into that just to give context for everybody listening because also like your story is just so inspiring. So let's give some context of like where you started online versus where your business is now. So you can maybe throw out some numbers just to give people the context because the transition is like mind-blowing.

Absolutely. So I have been on social media, you know, on Instagram since 2012, right? I was in university, just Instagram started to become this popular thing and that's when it started for me just posting. Like I didn't know, I didn't understand social media, but I quickly learned it was a cool way for me to document my own journey. And at that time I was in school and I was on my own like health and fitness journey and it was really cool to post about fitness on Instagram around that time. It was just like the mirror selfies and the things. And I was doing it because I was following like other fitness influencers and, you know, whatever. And so I quickly learned like, wow, this is really cool. You know, there's connection here, there's community here. And so I really just fell in love with social media back then. And then what happened was I was part of like a a person in the audience of other big like influencers on social media. And so I understood, oh, like you can really create something big beyond just our personal accounts. And so that was my evolution before I even found the coaching space. And then I actually ended up doing social media work for an online, like I call her like a fitness celebrity. But anyways, I joined her team or they hired me to do some social media for their company. So I was really in it. Like I really understood what it looked like to build a personal brand. I understood, you know, the strategies and the ways that social media works. And then that job ended and I was in a place in my life where I'm like, it was very clear to me I didn't want the regular traditional life with a regular job, like not what I went to school for. And it was very clear to me that I love social media and the flexibility that comes with having a business on social media. And so at the time, Eric, who's my husband now, was my boyfriend, was like, why don't you just start selling your workouts? Like kind of like what this person that I was working for was doing. But he's like, just do your own thing. And I'm like, oh, okay. Like I have no idea how to even create something that I could sell like in a way that's scalable. Had no idea about business, had no idea I don't even know how you make a freaking link. Like, I have nothing. I know Instagram. I don't know anything else, right? And so I was like, this makes sense. Let me just figure this out. So then I just started to do things, messy action, messy action. Again, I didn't even know the online coaching space was a thing. It was still very early. So this was around 2017. But what I did see was I had some connections of people who were like selling courses on how to monetize online, how to do this online, how to whatever. And so I ended up with like a very generic program that taught me some things. And then meantime, I was selling online $14— that's my big story— $14 programs. Like it was working, but at the same time, I had no idea what I was doing. And then I just decided, like the energy behind all of this, I just decided I'm going all in. Having no idea if this is a long-term thing, a short-term thing, having no idea. I'm gonna go all in. And that's when I, at the beginning, I invested big. Like one of the first mentors that I happened to see online in 2018, she's still my mentor today, Melanie Anne Lair. If you don't know her, go look her up, you'll be mind-blown by her. I was just like, I think it was like a $7,000 or $8,000 investment. At this time, that's a wild amount of money. Like what? Like I don't even know what I'm investing in. Like what is this, right? But I had this feeling of like there's something here, go all in. Like it was a very all-in type of energy. And so it was the all-in, I'm going to figure this out, I'm going to invest in support, I'm just committed no matter what, like head down kind of vibe. And my first full year was 2018, just the fitness stuff, about $100K a year. And 2019 was very quickly a $600K 2020 was the first million and then last year was 5 million. So you know, when Sam's like the growth is crazy, sometimes I don't think it's crazy until I look. I'm like, wait, did I miss a year? What happened? But it's crazy because of so many things that I teach, right? You're in my world, I teach all the how-tos and whatever, but I can't discredit this like all-in energy that I just had since day one and I still have. And it's this feeling of like, if I'm going to do this, there's no half-assing it, right? And so, of course, from then until now, so many things change and you grow and you evolve and you add pieces to allow the growth to happen sustainably. That's something I'm very proud of is like it wasn't just a random spike. It was like I'm building. Yeah, it's building fast, but it's sustainable. So yeah, I mean, I'm in a place right now where I did transition obviously from only fitness to fitness and business, and now I'm only business coaching. I feel really excited about what I built and really excited to share as much as I can because I just know, like you were saying, like I'm living what's possible for so many people. And when you tap into this, it's not even just living my version of this. You get to live your own version of this and that could be well beyond. So what I've seen and learned in the last few years is just there's no limits to what we're creating, but there's gotta be this energy of like, I'm all in.

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Yeah, I love that too. And I think like the, you know, you investing in Eleni at that level at the very beginning, like I, I think sometimes when you're in this space for a while, you start to get desensitized by numbers, like you probably do a lot. And so we have to go back and remember how big those first investments felt, even though for you to invest $7K or $8K now is the easiest decision ever. It's like, "Okay, yeah, let's go." Maybe that's for a 1 or 2 day experience and you're like, "Worth it." But Yeah. It's so interesting to like reflect back and remember like how big those moments felt. Like I remember when I invested the first $5,000 into a coach just to learn the basics and be like, okay, I like know that there's money here. I know that this is an industry that is, you know, has so much potential. I have to get in on it and I have to start now. I'm going to do whatever it takes. Like I literally borrowed money. I didn't have, I didn't have $5K and that's what it was going to take to get my foot in the door. So I was like, okay, family who wants to help me out, who wants to support me, believe in my dream. I had to pitch and do this whole Shark Tank thing with my parents for them to believe in me to invest in my business. But yeah, it's wild to think back. And I think it's important for us to remember that too when we're helping clients take that initial leap. But what we can't help them with is having that energy of wanting to go all in. That's something that You just have to.

Yeah, we can't take away the having the courage and making the decision as part of the process. You know, people know I need, quote unquote, need to, or I should invest, but like that feeling and that feeling of choosing to do it yourself is part of the big, the process of just going all in, right? So it's like, it's scary and I don't discredit that, but it's like, Having that moment to yourself to decide will change your life forever and over and over again. This is something else too, is I notice a lot of people, like, we think, oh, I only have to do it at the beginning, and then we stop, like, investing or we stop taking big jumps. But in my experience, the way that I feel still so activated is because I feel like I'm always on my edge. What's my next thing? And it's investing, but it's also like other things too, like what's the next thing for me? What's the next offer? What's the next branding or whatever to stay activated? Because I think, you know, at the beginning you're so excited, like, I'm going to take on the world. And you like, you know, and then sometimes we get in it and business grows and there's more things and we lose that buzz. But it's like, how can you keep that buzz? Because that's the magic right there.

Yeah. Like always continuing to push the edges of your own comfort zone, not just doing it once and being like, oh, that was amazing. And now I've arrived. But it's like, okay, now where's the next edge and the next edge and, and always finding that edge of your comfort zone and choosing to meet it and kind of explore and play and see how you can step beyond the bounds of it. So, so important. And I think what you were kind of touching on before is this idea of like the investment in and of itself is the expansion. Like sometimes even just making the investment is the quantum leap. It's not necessarily you've made the investment in this specific program that has this specific information in it that's going to be the quantum leap, but it's like a lot of times the energy of you just going, I believe in myself, I trust myself enough, this is the level that I'm playing at, I have to make this work, this is who we are now, that is what creates a big leap for people. Even if you don't learn all the things in the container, you've expanded yourself energetically.

Yeah, because it really just is like this declaration of in that moment, you're saying yes to yourself. You're saying I'm committed to me, you're saying I'm going to take this leap. And so just hitting the button, doing the thing, just celebrating that you did that can make a shift that day without even the program starting yet or whatever the container is, right? It really is us saying yes to us, and I think that this industry is built on, or in my experience, the way to go the furthest or as far as possible is built on our own, our own decision time and time again to say yes to ourselves from brave action, from courageous action. If we don't keep doing that, we lose We lose it. So it's like we've gotta tap into that over and over again if we really wanna stay expanded, growing, not just financially, but like, you know, I have so many new stories and things to teach, not because of what I did on day one, but because of what I'm still doing all the time. So it's like to be a better coach, content creator, leader, to stay playing the game, that's what I called it, calls it, it makes me a better coach 'cause I'm in it and I'm expanding. I'm experiencing it. And then it's like, I'm in it with my clients. I'm in it with my people.

Yeah. I have goosebumps on that one. So good. I want to talk a little bit about, like, I know you're really good at delivering kind of tough love in your content in a way. And so for people that are like, holy shit, you know, Stef is a unicorn. She's this, you know, unheard of success story, created something out of nothing. You know, you just, Congratulations. I know that you just celebrated 2 million for the first 90 days of 2022, which is fucking amazing. And I love that. But I think some people can then look at that and maybe there's a disconnect between understanding what it actually takes to create something like that and thinking like, oh, you know, you're just really lucky or something popped off for you at the right moment. Or it was just this one right thing at the right time or one connection. And rather than us believing that you are energetically special or like something just happened for you in the right place and time, actually understanding like the behind the scenes of what it has taken for you to build a business like this, because I'm sure that it wasn't all butterflies and rainbows. So give us like just an inside, maybe behind the scenes kind of look at what your life has looked like. I'm sure it's more balanced and, and better now, but from 2017 until 2020 or 2021? Like what was that actually like to build this?

I mean, you know, I even to this day, you know, I say it's blood, sweat, and tears. Like, you know what I mean? In the sense of like I spent years dedicated to building a community, building brand, building content. And I still do to this day, like all day, every day. Like, and in a sense of like I would wake up 2017, 2018, 2019, like What am I sharing today? How am I serving today? How am I building trust today? Like there was just that nonstop. Constantly just thinking about how can I do better. Duh, we should all— I still do this. Like how can I be better? How can my training be better? How could that free video be better? Like how can I be delivering this message better? Like how do I serve an audience better? Like this constant growth or this energy of constant growth. But behind the scenes, I mean, it is constantly this mindset battle of like to keep going when it's not working, to keep going when it is working and then all of a sudden something goes wrong. Like to keep going in those moments has been the hardest thing for me, especially in the last few years of like, you know, people who are mean or clients who leave or the defaults or this or this or like the projections or feeling misunderstood. Like those have been a lot of really hard moments, but you know, I, I built this business in a very simple way. Like my business model is extremely simple. So I've been able to do a lot of it myself up until like the million dollar year, which is great. But with that being said, like I work a lot. Like in the sense of just like I'm doing all the things all day, every day. You know what I mean? So I think people don't realize that it's not just like post on social media and make sales. It's like post on social media, create content, you know, you're doing your free community building, you're doing, if you have a podcast, you're doing all that stuff, you're coaching your actual clients, you're selling, you're doing any backend stuff, if you've got a team, you're navigating things with your team, you're, if you've got a family and whatever that dynamic looks like, how that fits in with your business, like it's so many things, you're being mentored if you're in things, right? It's so many different things, and because it's so many different things, in my experience, it's so many different energies, right? Because it's like there's a lot of good things happening over here, there's bad things happening over here, there's this mess over here, there's this mess over here. So it has been stressful, it has been tiring, it has been exhausting. You know, I have— I got married in 2019, right? And so that was a huge moment. In my life. But then it's like to have a husband who then is navigating this in his life and then our relationship, like it's so many things. So it's been the furthest thing from easy. So it's very easy for people to be like, wow, just massive growth, which yes, it has been the best time of my life as well. But behind the scenes have been complete dedication to this and at the same time like the dedication to me becoming the kind of person who can handle all of this. And I think that's where people get tripped up of like, it takes emotional intelligence and some kind of mindset to keep going when you don't see it working yet, or to clean up the mess, or to have someone talk bad about you, or to have— you know what I mean? It's like, it takes— those are the moments where it's really easy to be like, I can't handle it. But in those moments, you grow the most. And But at the same time, they're the most challenging. So, you know, this journey has been every day. It really just feels like I'm dedicated. I'm doing this. Bring it on. I'm here for it. And I still to this day, you know, wake up with that energy.

Yeah. Well, I'm so glad that you brought up your relationship because I wanted to ask you about, you know, being married and Eric's kind of experience or his lens of watching all of this. Unfold and like maybe at what point he was like, holy shit, like what the actual fuck is happening? And also experiencing all those hard moments with you. Like I'm sure you've had breakdowns, anxiety, stresses, like a lot of things. That's a lot of responsibility. The more that you grow, the, the more successful that you are, the more responsibility that you hold. Especially once you have employees and things like that. Like it's, it's a lot. So what has his experience kind of been like navigating this whole thing? Like my wife is generating multimillions, like in months, like this is wild.

I mean, he has been so incredible. Like I couldn't have asked for a better support system. He gives me so much grace and so much space and like he believes in me and he's seen work ethic before I even started. So his support and his belief was always there. But I mean like, I think it was my first $20K month or something. And then when I started to hit like $40K, and then we were like, I'm making what you make in a year in a month. Like, what is happening? Like, we've had so many crazy moments. When it comes to money and finance, we've always seen it as like we do life together. Like there's been no, there's never been like a competition vibe or him feeling some kind of way. I know that that's a dynamic in some relationships, but we've always had really We've always seen eye to eye in that, right? And so when we really started to see how much money I could be making in my business, there was no weird energy. We just had conversations about it. Eric still works. He's in the Canadian military. He's still in the military. He still works his job. Like, we don't see money as that. We just see each other as living out our purposes and we're very happy for each other. But with that being said, Eric didn't sign up for me to be a basket case sometimes. He didn't sign up for me to feel pressure. He didn't sign up for— I mean, there's times, I'll be honest, where I'm like on my phone all the time. And like there have been times that it's like, wait, what's going on here? Like that separation, me working from home, he goes to work, he comes home, he's off work, but I'm what? My work is with me. I'm me, I'm my work, right? So navigating that has been challenging, but it's something where it's like You know, we have conversations of like, this is a season in my life right now. So there will be a season when maybe we have a family and stuff like that. So I won't be as in it right now. So we do sacrifice things for our own goals. And again, I feel grateful that Eric understands that because he lives a certain— has a certain mindset with his own career as well with that kind of dedication. But I It has been fun, it has been wild. We've done things together that we would have never done, you know, if I didn't do this. But he's extremely supportive. And the reason that he is too is because I share what it is, right? So if your partner or your friend or your family doesn't really understand what you're doing, they're not going to believe it. But Eric's been really close beside me as he's seen, oh my God, you made a $500 sale. Oh my God, someone paid you what for what? Like this is— so he saw, he sees it. So he believes it and then he sees how real it is.

Yeah. I think it's like such a special experience to share if you have the right partner who's really like on your team and supportive and like cheering you on, at least like in my experience through my journey, it's been, you know, I sold a $22 ebook and he was like so excited for me. And you know, now we sell much bigger packages and it's like, it's kind of fun to like move through it together when you have that person that like really believes in you and sees the vision and also sees how much of yourself that you pour into it. So it's, it's really special. I want to ask you about money and happiness because we're talking about money here. And I know that you kind of live a relatively simple life. Like you don't have a huge, you know, million-dollar mansion, fancy house. You know, your husband still works his job even though he could totally quit and like you could quit. Like, but so I think there's a lot of people or a lot of coaches, let's say, that are starting out in the industry that are like, once I get to $5K months, once I get to $10K months, once I get to $100K months, and it's always this energy of once I, once I, once I, then I'll feel happy or then I'll feel fulfilled or then I'll feel like I can slow down. And so I know that you've hit kind of like all of the milestones that there are to hit. So in your experience, like what is the correlation between money and happiness and how has it showed up for you.

Yeah.

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I mean, I have been on that road where I thought just get the next milestone and then it will feel better, right? We get tripped up in that and like, man, it is just, it's not the thing because there's all, it's just, it's, this is what I know is happiness is number one. Happiness is number one because you're gonna hit 20, you're gonna hit 30, you're gonna hit 50, you're gonna hit 100. You're gonna hit multi-millions and you're gonna hit beyond, but how do you want your life to be and how do you want to feel when you hit them? So there's got to be this fine line in my experience of I am not the person who's gonna be happy when, I actually love the journey. So I encourage you to fall in love with the journey and celebrate the milestones. That's the magic piece. I'm in love with the journey and I'm in love with the milestones. I'm not only in love with the journey when I know I'm going to hit a milestone. It's like I'm in love with it no matter what. There was a time where I got tripped up because in this industry, we are validated by external things— social media, notifications, and money. It's very external. So then, I was just like in this cycle of like next thing, next thing, next thing. And then, all of a sudden, that somehow becomes like unsustainable energetically to play there. And so I was like, I felt like almost burnt out of like, okay, I just, this was on the back end of my 2019 year. In January 2020, I was like, I'm tired, like energetically. And I realized it was because I was in this energy of what's the next milestone, when am I going to get there? And that's when I had to have a real conversation with myself and say, Steph, what actually makes you happy? Okay, you love the actual journey and building of this. So if you're going to hit the next milestone, how do you want to, how do you choose to want to get there? How much fun are you going to have? And then that became the conversation. And then that's now how I really look at my business. But if you know, because I feel like we really know when we're chasing happiness, be aware of it, but then it's hard to decide to do it a different way because it's hard to disconnect from, oh, money, duh, you're building a business. Oh, social media notifications, of course you're on social media. So find happiness for you in the journey and/or things outside of your business. I go very, I call it Gary Vee style. I am so in love with this, I would do it no matter what. So my thing outside of business is still pretty much doing business. But I genuinely love it. But if you love it the way that I do, or if you don't, find something outside of business to connect with yourself, to bring you that happiness so that your business isn't the only thing. Giving you that energy and that excitement. So I just know what I don't want is rich, unhappy people in this space. And that's not of service for anyone because then you lose your magic. You're not able to coach, you're not able to teach in the best way that you can if you're actually unhappy. So the money is going to come. The question is, how do you want to feel when it's coming?

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Like, what if we just— what if we just decided that the milestones were coming? That like, we're gonna hit the milestone. It's not a question. It's not a what-if. It's a I just don't know when, but I know that it's on the way. If we decide that the milestones are happening, we can be more joyful in like on our way to them and just kind of be in the space of like enjoying, like you said, the journey. I was like, oh, I loved what you said about, you know, I think there's, there's a different difference between knowing consciously that you're trying, that you're chasing happiness, or that you're, you know, like the next payment or the next client or the next viral post or whatever it is, is like that dopamine hit. And you can feel that you're yearning for that and you're just seeking happiness. It's one thing to know that. And it's a totally different thing to actually do something different, to actually change your programming of how you operate. That so hard. Like, everybody knows this. We can sit here and say, enjoy the journey, but how many of us are actually leaning into that and like changing what we're doing on a daily basis so that we can enjoy the journey?

That's hard. Exactly. It's, you know, it's one thing, like you said, to listen and be like, yes, I get it. But then when you're in it and you know, shit, I'm so attached to the next thing that's coming, and to make some kind of shift is the hardest thing. And so for me, like I still have moments where I'm like, oh, I feel weird, icky energy. So in those moments I just go change what I'm doing. Okay, stop focusing on work right now. Go do something for you. Show yourself you're okay. You don't need to look here and figure all this out. Like, so that's really what you want to do is like, you know, break up the patterning, break up the habit of always being on. Like go show yourself you can disconnect and still be okay. You can disconnect and still be happy. And then you're not feeling life or death energy on the next sale or the milestone.

Yeah. The more fun I have, the more money I make. I repeat that to myself constantly. And I remind myself, get out of the house. Go close the laptop. Go do something because the more fun you have, the more money you make. And I think when we decide that that can be a reality for us, we are able to create it. So I have some, I have some Steph quotes, I'm calling them. I've pulled some fun quotes from Steph's Instagram for you guys and I'm going to choose a few. I'm going to read them out and then Steph is just kind of going to unpack it a little bit for us because I think what people love about a lot of your posts is that they can be triggering, but like in a good way, in an activating way, in a like, oh shit, that is so true. And Fuck, I need to work on that way. So I'm excited to read some of these off to you and just kind of get more context behind what they mean. Okay. You can copy motivational quotes, colors, captions, and tagline, but the reason people still aren't paying you is because you can't copy someone's personality, embodiment, and power.

Yes. Yeah. You're like, that's a good quote. That's a good one. I like that. No, I mean, this is the thing. I'm just gonna riff whenever you say these. I think that's how we're doing this. This is the thing is I've noticed, of course, people replicate similar things to what I even say now and the way that I post on social media. I don't think that I'm necessarily— I've never invented anything completely, completely brand new. Like, we all see things and whatever, but I noticed, oh my God, now more than ever, there's so many things that are similar to mine. What's going on? Because I know that people know consciously if copying, and it's not completely copying, they know that it's not going to equal they get results. But the thing that I was saying with that is if you tapped into your own activation, your own personality, your own excitement, something just as activating is going to come through in your own way. So I think that it's exciting when people find me or someone else and it hits home like, oh, And then you want to create something very similar, but it's not you. The point is create something you, and whatever that is is going to be activating because it's pure. And so I think I'm a bolder energy, like online, but you don't have to be. You could be more subtle or more lean back, and that's just as potent. So I think it's easy to pick out like the bolder energies because maybe they stand out, but it doesn't mean it's the way that works. So it's like, find the way that works for you. Then you're going to create that same activation.

Yeah. It's like if you take someone else's content and you just kind of slap it onto your page or your business, it doesn't mean that your business is now going to be successful. The reason that that person's content really hits for their audience is because it's genuine to who they are and how they speak and how they think and how they write. And people in the audience can feel the energy of it. I so believe that. I think our energy is translated through our content so much. Like, you can feel the difference of when you're forcing a post because you're like, shit, I should post, versus when you were out, like, on a walk or in a workout and you, like, had a download and you're like, oh, that's so juicy. And then you bang it out in your Notes app and you're like, oh, this caption is fire. And then you post it and it's like That's the one that is so well received because your energy was in it.

Totally. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Watching free content isn't going to help you build your own multimillion-dollar biz. And it's naive to think that it will.

Yeah. I mean, this is, this is, this is what I'll say to this. I think that it's, there's so much information on the internet to build a business. But then it comes back to then why aren't we all multimillionaires killing it if we all have access to all the information? And that's what I was getting at with that is it takes another level of commitment. It takes another level of that energy that I was talking about at the beginning of just being so, so, so driven and so in your own lane. So it's like there's always going to be things, but it's like what, what are the energy, what's the energy that you are in when you're participating in those things. I could go read Google today and do nothing, right? Like, so it like, it just, it doesn't land. So that was the one piece of it. And the other piece of it is I am not afraid to speak about if you want to build something big financially, like there needs to be financial investments. Like this is not like, this is common knowledge. Right? And so I think a lot of people are in a scarcity mindset slash don't have the entrepreneurial mindset of investing, and then they stay stuck and then they wonder, why is this not working? Well, free content is only free content. Coaches who do real work are in containers doing real work. They're doing free content to do free content. It's very valuable, but there's a different transformation happening in a paid container. So don't confuse those things. You know, it's, and again, it's a fine line because I believe in free content and I believe my free content and my free trainings are extremely valuable, but there's a different piece if when you're in a paid container.

And I think you can only really know that on a deep level once you've experienced it. Yeah. Because there is so much free information, there is so much free knowledge and you're like, well, I could just, you know, bootstrap and try and figure this out myself. Once you get into one of those spaces where you have a coach or a mentor who really activates you and gives you or provides the space for you to have that kind of transformation. And again, like we talked about earlier, sometimes the investment in and of itself is you meeting that edge. And so you would never get that with free content, but once you experience that, you're like, oh, okay, I get it now. I get it now.

Yeah. And here's the thing is like, Even knowing that that's what could happen could be the motivation to just invest in the one little thing and just like, let me see if this is true, right? Like just do it. And this is where I get bold of like, if you're not willing to do that, then you're just not going to get what you're dreaming of.

Yeah.

Sorry.

That is what it is. That is what it is. Okay. Another one is, there are people making less than you making bigger moves than you. It isn't about money. It's about courage.

So with this one, I've experienced people who have really like big amounts of money, like actually have a lot of money, still suffer, quote unquote suffer with money mindset, because they're afraid to invest. So I've seen people who have been making less money or have less money make bigger investments and take bigger leaps. And I've seen people who have the money not take those leaps because it's a bravery thing, not a money thing. So this is where it's— I made another post that's like, who's going to have more money over time? Like the person who just made $1,000 and invested it back in, or the person who's hoarding their one $40K month they had, right? So it's just like, that's really where it's coming from, from a place of like, let's keep taking brave, courageous action. And that's usually not a money thing. That's a bravery thing. Right? So, but I don't want to confuse it. This is where people get mad or it's like, but you know, I don't have money. I'm not saying like, if you have, if you actually have the money and you're choosing not to do something from fear, that's a different story versus if you actually don't have the money.

Right. Yes. There's like, if you go to Steph's Instagram page, you just need to understand that there's nuance and context.

Context to everything and don't be a keyboard warrior because I think people understand the context when they come to my page, which is good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I know. I always love your like spicy posts because everybody just kind of goes off in the comments like, yes, like this is so good. This hit for me. And I, and I love that kind of like supportive energy of it. It's so much fun. Um, okay. So the last one, which is maybe our spiciest one, I tried to go kind of like in progression. This one is, there's a special place in hell for coaches who tell you you have to take on private clients before you start scaling groups.

So, I mean, it's so funny because everyone knows I'm not saying that someone should go to hell. Like I would never say this. I know. Context. It's funny. It's activating. Okay. We love it. Something bold about how we shouldn't be saying that business models need to be this or just this or just this or just this. Because I don't like that and we shouldn't be doing that. So that's where that comes from and it comes from what I believe too is like I built my business, you know, not doing one-on-one at the beginning or like that wasn't a main focus and so many people are taught that's what you should do and then they get kind of stuck in that and they're not happy. And so for me, it always comes back to happiness. And what I've seen is you can build a business model in many different ways. So you might as well build it in the way that makes you happy. So I don't like when coaches say things like, "You need to do this," because one, I don't believe anything is black and white. And I think like that's such an awful thing to coach your clients, say like, "You must do that." Like I couldn't imagine feeling that, like I would feel so constrained. So that was my spicy post about that one. But no one should go to hell. I don't think— that's just the way I wanted to say it.

We love it. We understand the sense of humor. I think it's so good. And it, yeah, it's really important for people, I think, especially if you're starting out to understand that your business always gets to be a reflection of you and what feels in alignment for you. There's no, there's never one right way. Like, how would that be possible for all of us unique individuals to have one right way to build a business? And so I just love that we can celebrate that there's many ways to do things and there's many different ways to be successful. And I think you will be more successful if you're doing things that excite you instead of doing things that you hate.

And I think the other piece is We need to be aware as consumers scrolling social media that like I'm gonna preach one way that works for me. So like know that the coaches talking about one-on-one, that worked for them. So of course they're gonna say do it this way. Of course I'm gonna say do it this way. But you need to be emotionally intelligent and smart enough as a consumer to know this isn't the only way, right? Like they're just, they're modeling what worked for them. So then go learn from them that one piece. It doesn't mean that you need to completely model it to a T.

Yeah, discernment. Discernment is so important in this industry. I think just, yeah, having your own sense of self, knowing yourself, knowing what you want to learn, what feels good to you, who feels aligned to you, and making decisions from that place instead of just taking everything at face value and assuming that it's fact and that, you know, you must do it in that way. So we have some questions from the audience that I'd love to bring to you for to kind of close. So the first one is, what made the biggest difference in your business or what was the thing that made you quantum leap? So, I mean, I'm sure there's been many, but like maybe if one comes to mind.

Honestly, and I know people don't like this answer, but it's the commitment. The quant— I believe, and I speak about this in my content, is like, I believe quantum leaps happen through the consistency and the commitment of doing sometimes the same things over and over again. I was just batshit, and I still am, consistent and committed, and then like not knowing when or how, it will just skyrocket, and then all of a sudden you're on a new level. So this is where I think most people fall off is you stop being consistent and committed because you're not seeing the results yet. You've got it wrong. You've got to keep going when you don't see the results. Before you know it, it will quantum leap, but you can't, you've got to detach from it as well. Like you can't be, oh, if I'm committed for a month, I'll get results in a month. Like you need to be completely detached from the result.

Yeah. It's like that quote that's about, you know, you could be 2 millimeters from the gold and there's like a little drawing of like the person like digging in the gold mine. Of course you can't see that you're about to strike gold and you're like, oh, I'm so tired. This isn't working. And so you walk away and you give up and it's like, it was right There. That's so what it feels like sometimes. You have to keep pushing through and have that consistency and detaching from the timelines of how long it took somebody else or how long you think that it should, quote unquote, take. That's a really, really important piece, I think. Okay. How to sell higher ticket offers without feeling like you need to over-justify the cost when marketing it?

I think a lot of high ticket offers, you're the ideal person to join a high ticket offer knows why it's a high ticket offer. You know what I mean? Like this is where it's just embodiment. Like it's like, I know that the Beyoncé concert is going to be freaking expensive. It's Beyoncé, but she doesn't need to tell me why. You know what I mean? I think it comes from a space of just ownership of like, If you want to be in this high ticket container, it's just in the container is high ticket. So speak to people like they want to invest, you know, speak to people like they get it. I think what we don't need is trying to overexplain or justify. Own who you are and own the container, own the price, period. More than that, you're going into like a leaky energy. But I really just believe that people see the value in high ticket and they want high ticket because high ticket. They want long-term, big investments because that's the point. They're that type of person who is in it. So I think it's like, think less about the price tag and just think more of who you're speaking to and the actual container. It will land for the right people.

Yeah. I love that. Speak to people like they get it. Speak to people like there's that woman in your audience that is looking for that. She knows what it's about. She understands it. That's That's the kind of container she's looking for, for her uplevel. Talk to them like they get it and they will come. Love that. What do you wish that you would have done sooner, if anything?

Honestly, there's nothing that stands out to me, like in terms of anything I wish I would have done sooner. I, and again, I feel like sometimes people hate my answers to these, but like I really think I learned, there's things that I tried and then I was like, oh, that's too quick. And then we pulled back. So I just believe in the experience and the lessons from everything, but I don't think that there's anything that stands out like, oh, I wish I would have done that sooner. But it's because I had the mindset of just go all in and be supported and figure it, like, go fast. So if anything, I learned lessons from going too fast, but there's nothing that I wish I would have done sooner.

Yeah, going too fast. That's so you.

Oh, I went a little too fast. Let's slow down. But that's— there's the piece of it is like there's times to go fast and then there's times to notice really quickly if you went too fast and fix it before it's a big mess, right? Or like it's just part of the journey. It's the way that I see it now is I learn through every experience, but I'm not— I'm never going to hold myself back.

Yeah. I think in my business, I wish that I would have had the courage to hire help. Sooner. I think that was one of the things for me that I probably teetered on for like a little bit too long. Um, and maybe that's something that people can relate to. It's a whole different level of responsibility and feeling like— and also I think when you get to a point where you're already doing so much in your business, you're like, it feels like an extra task to have to guide somebody else to now help you do the things in your business. So you're like, I don't have time to show someone and teach someone. That's another job that I like don't have space for. And I think that's kind of like the, the point that I was in when I, when I hired. And it would have been nice to have a little bit more spaciousness before I got to that point.

So totally.

What marketing strategies work best when you're shifting from low ticket to high ticket? I think we kind of like already talked about this of really just speaking to your audience.

I think what I would say is if you have a brand and a connection with your audience and you feel like you're embodying everything that you sell, it's easy to sell everything. That's how I see it. So my marketing strategies, like yeah, I teach things and I reverse engineer things, but it always comes from this place of like, If you show up and you're consistent, you build a community, you build a brand, people want to be in everything. So I don't think that there's necessarily a different, very concrete different strategy. They like, people buy everything. Yeah. Because you just—

People buy everything, you guys.

I just want, like, this is it though. If you show up every day, like you've got something good to buy, people are going to buy it because it's you. So yes, there's strategies and launch things and whatever, but like, The foundation gets to be, I've got something good, come buy it. Whether it's a $200 thing, $2,000, $20K thing. Like, it just, it gets to be that. We've got to start showing up, like really owning what we've got. That's why people buy. Oh, like I've got a thing, of course it's $20K, come buy it, come join. Like, if we show up with that, you make more sales. And that's not a strategy, that's just you embodying and loving and standing behind what you have.

Yeah. And you can really feel that come through in the way that you sell because you're really excited about the things that you offer. Like you genuinely, you can tell you're like, oh my gosh, I just created the most amazing thing. Like I have something to say. I don't know all the details yet, but it's going to be fucking amazing. Like here it is. Like come join, just like be there. You're going to want to be there. And people feel that and it is exciting.

Yeah. And I think people lose that spark when they try and sit down. What am I going to market about it? What am I going to say? Like, it's like sell it when you're in that energy instead of sitting at your desk trying to figure out what's my marketing plan. You've lost it. Like go on and tell your people, I've got a new thing. If you want to join, come join. That's when people want to join.

Yeah. Yeah. So good. Like I love how you kind of make it, you make things so simple in, in an industry where I think, you know, there's a lot of like flashy, shiny objects and we want all these things to look a certain way and the fancy sales pages and the fancy marketing tactics and the funnels and the, you know, perfect story slides that tell you about all the details of everything. And you're just kind of like, no, like it's literally a one white landing page. Like this is the offer, put in your details. And then on your stories, it's just very simple. Like here's what it is. I'm so excited about it.

Come join.

And it works. It works, which is the coolest part.

It works because it's pure and it works because it's like, I mean, if you look at it of like, I see a lot of coaches, like I'm going to show up during this launch and sell this way, but then they don't spend time putting out really good content and building community, then you're gonna have to launch in a way that sucks. But I show up in a very genuine way all the time, so I built that trust that I "can." This is why I encourage people to build a community, build a personal brand, so then people will buy that effortless. That's what I would rather do. Just show up every day, love my life, share. When I have an offer, sell it, more people join than have to be in some crazy launch thing then it's like, ew, you know? So this is like what I call like embodied launching is when you just show up and do it and people buy.

Yeah. It's that like know and trust, which you cultivate every single day by being present and sharing value and creating that community in your audience. And it like, it actually reminds me of the difference between how my partner and I study, which is so funny. It's like, this is the way of doing things where you just show up and you go to class every day. And you pay attention and you take a couple of notes. So then by the time the test comes, you're like, oh, this is so easy, I barely even have to study because like I already know everything. Whereas like his approach in university would have been like not paying attention, not, not going to class, maybe sometimes, not all the time. Then when the exam comes, it's like a full month of like, oh shit, now I have to cram. And of course like that sucks. And I feel like that's kind of what this is.

That's a perfect way to describe it. Yeah, totally. I never want to cram, so I'm just gonna show up. Great. And then, so it's kind of like self-awareness. What do you want? And I think most people want to feel like, I call it like an influencer coach. Like your job is to show up and connect and sell, but the selling is in a very lean back way. Like Do you watch Kim Kardashian? I talk a lot about Kim Kardashian on social media with sales. If you watch her on her social media talk about her SKIMS, she's just like, "Hey guys, this is in black if you want to buy it. It's so cute." And it's like, of course, because she's just like every day she lives her life. I love that because it's like, duh, of course that works. Of course people are buying her stuff. It's in that lean back way. She's showing up in all other ways, you know?

Yeah. Such a good example. Yeah, it is. It's like the influencer effect of real people, like real. And I think this is all part of building a personal brand, like you said, is people feeling like they know you, like they're, you know, they have opportunities every single day to kind of be in your energy and be in parts of your life. I guess My last question for you would be, how has your approach to building a personal brand evolved? Like, is that, do you have any boundaries with what you share and what you don't share? Like, are you sharing stuff about Eric or your dog or your routines or your workouts? Or is it now just strictly like, has it always been that? Like, what does that look like?

Yeah. So it has changed. There's, there's definitely more boundaries. Like at the beginning it was like, I want to share everything I'm I want to share what I'm eating and my workout and what I'm doing at night and what we're watching and like everything. And now because of the influx and because of it, it's more of for business. I don't share as much personal things anymore. And that feels good to me. I mean, I still feel like I share a lot so people get a lot of me but not everything. And there's just obviously more boundaries like in the DMs and stuff like that. I need— when I became— when I became, that sounds weird, but when I started to hit a new level of success, I just, I needed certain walls up because I had other priorities of things I needed to take care of. So it's like, you know, you can't just DM me and get a response anymore. It's only if it is a certain type of thing, like you want to buy from me. You know, you can't just DM me and ask for customer support, like, you know, like I won't even respond. There's like, you know where to go for that. Like there's certain things that I just can't come into my world anymore. But in terms of personal brand, I still know that you can have a very strong personal brand without sharing every detail of your life. Remember, your personal brand is for them. So I think, does my audience need to see this? Is this going to be valuable for them? Do they need to see every single thing I'm doing? No. Do they need to see some things? Yes. So I'm just a little bit more intentional.

Hmm. I feel that. I feel that. I think I'm, I'm trying to find that balance myself right now of I'm so used to just like being on stories, like literally all day, every part of my day in my life.

Like everything is a moment.

Everything is content. And when you have so many other things to hold energetically, like in your life and in your business, that sometimes can start to feel like a burden. And it is kind of a tricky line to walk and, and feel kind of like what we were talking about before. You know that you could do it differently, but actually starting to, you know, peel that back and actually doing it differently is scary sometimes. All right, you guys, I know you're obsessed with Steph and you want to learn all the things about her, so go give her a follow on Instagram. She's at itsxo.gingy. You'll know right away when you find her page. Go and hang out with her, be in her energy, experience how she shares everything, how she sells things. You will absolutely be activated and motivated and inspired by her. Thank you so much, Steph, for taking the time to share your wisdom with us today on the show. I'm so grateful, and I will see you in future containers.

Thank you so much for having me.