730: Invest in THIS in 2024... Not THAT

25:27And if things went wrong, which oftentimes they would, we would then have to go to the hairstylist, pay double the money to have her fix it. And I would be miserable and I would ruin my hair in the process. And it reminds do that with online courses where a lot of times we try to do things on our own. We end up wasting time, money. We start getting frustration. We start getting stuck when we could invest upfront in an online course and save ourself from all that grief. And so just think about that. Now, one thing that I love to think about when it comes to online courses is that they give you this opportunity to learn something once, and then you get to take that knowledge that you paid for one time and compound your results over and over and over again.

26:11I don't think people understand how powerful that is. Like you could pay$1 a day to learn something that could earn you$10 tomorrow and$10 a day after and$10 a day after that and$10 a day after that. And then maybe you even get better and then it's a hundred and then it's a hundred. And so when you start to understand the power of a compounding investment and you understand the fact that you're paying to learn something once that you can apply over and over and over again to continuously generate results, it makes investing in things like online courses, not as scary. It was so funny. Um, I had sent something over to my girl, Amy Porterfield and her and I were talking and she's like, I think I'm going to buy this course.

26:50And I said to her, I said, even if you walked away with one thing that you could take and earn money from that is equal to the investment, it would be worth it. And so if you're looking at taking an online course, what I want for you to weigh out is to look at the level of investment, ask yourself, am I willing to do the work? Because yes, you're going to get all the tools, tactics, and strategies, but you have to also do the work. Am I willing to do the work that it takes to find success in this? And look at what you need to do to generate a result that is equivalent to or greater than the cost of the program.

27:24So if I were to buy a course that's$5 ,000, I'd ask myself, okay, how many sales do I need to make today to earn that amount of money. If it's 10 sales, and I believe that the content that I'm going to learn and consume inside of that course can help me make 10 sales, then it's absolutely worth it because not only can I make 10 sales tomorrow or next week or next month, but I can do that over and over and over again. So cost it out, walk in with your eyes wide open, be ready to do the work. And one final pro tip here is once you gain access to a program, sit down with your calendar and map out how you are going to move through it.

28:00So if the modules are an hour long, make an hour long appointment in your calendar so that you can actually work through the content. The more that you can literally get it onto your calendar, the more likely you are to follow through, which is the more likely you are to be successful. And then finally, one note is that most online programs have money back guarantees. They're anywhere from seven days to 30 days. do the work, show up, dig in, do the work. And if it's not working for you, ask for your money back across the board with my online courses. We have less than 1 % refund rate across the board with thousands of students.

28:38We have really generous money back guarantees. And so do the work, but also understand like, Hey, if I dive in and I commit to this and it doesn't move the needle for me, then I can get my money back. And that's in most case scenarios. So after online courses, which is probably what I recommend the most is what I found value in the most is peer to peer mentorship, or even looking at trade. So this has actually been really huge for me in reflecting in the last few years, one of the biggest things that has allowed me to continue to grow my business, to find peace in their pursuit, and to really stay aligned with what I want in my life and in my business is peer-to-peer relationships.

29:23So having those types of relationships, like the one I have with Amy Porterfield, or the group of girls that I travel with, or the business relationships that I have. And so if you are someone who feels very isolated in this entrepreneurship journey, I want to encourage you to start to create connections. we've all heard that quote of like, it's not what you know, it's who you know. And I think that that's not totally true, but there is a lot of truth within that. And it's so important to start to build your community, to build your peer group. Now, when I first started out, I had a massive scarcity mindset.

30:00Like I built my business on this little isolated Island. I didn't talk to anyone in my industry. I didn't share ideas. I didn't share frameworks. And it was so stinking lonely. and even just smiling, thinking today, like I have already talked to probably four different people within my industry today, talking business, talking life, talking recipes for the weekend. And so my life is so enriched because of the relationships I have and they're reciprocated relationships. So right now, as I'm recording this podcast, one of my friends is reviewing one of my recent webinars to give me feedback. And then in turn, I'm going to do the same for him.

30:37And so you want to find relationships where you both have something to offer. And I want to just kind of caution this to make sure that as you're going into these relationships, it's eyes wide open. Is it going to be personal? Is it going to be a business? If you're going to mix the two, what are the boundaries around that? What does that look like? And how is it something that feels good for everyone? So like with Amy Porterfield, we literally talk every single day. We talk about marriage. We talk about life. We talk about exercise. We talk about business. and we know the boundaries of what that looks like.

31:10We protect each other in those conversations. We can span 18 different topics in a voice memo. Now I am not like that with every single one of my friends. Some of my friends, we only talk business. Some of my friends, we only talk life or motherhood. And so you want to walk in with your eyes wide open and really kind of set expectations or boundaries around what that's going to look like. In my early days, I did things like I would trade photo shoots to get my hair cut. So every time I'd go in and get my haircut, and then I would shoot new headshots for my hairstylist where I shot photos of her baby.

31:41And so I was trying to figure out different ways that like, I have value to add, you have value to add, let's do a trade. And so when you're thinking about either peer-to-peer mentorship or creating a trade, you want to approach it not with what's in it for you, but what is in it for them. You don't want it to be this one-sided thing. So whether you have almost like a formal agreement or contract of like, once a month, we're going to hop onto Zoom. We're going to talk about what's working, what's not working. We're going to share the tricks of the trade. Or if it's something that's a little bit more informal of like, let's just do a weekly check-in via voice memo, set those boundaries so that this is an enriched relationship that is going to stand the test of times.

32:21But that can be a huge win and not a huge expense for you. And it can be a really amazing way to grow. The next one after that would be hiring a business coach. So I've had different levels of business mentors throughout my entire career through different stages of business. Now, what's really interesting is, is I'm finding myself kind of in a different area. So right now, as I'm recording this episode, I have two different coaches in my life. And this is kind of new to me. I've never really had like a formal coach or agreement with people. I've definitely had mentors. I've definitely learned from a ton of people.

32:57But this year I started therapy for the first time in my life. And my therapist works with a lot of people that are kind of at my level of entrepreneurship and in the public space. And so I feel like while it is mostly personal, it is also almost like business coaching, right? Because I'm taking a lot of the things that I'm learning in therapy and I'm applying them to my business and to my life. The second thing that I recently hired is an alignment coach. So alignment and intuition are two things that are really huge for me, especially moving into the next year. And while I love having coaches that tell me, you know, you can do more, you can add this, you can try this, you can sell this.

33:38I really want to meet with someone monthly who really helps me stay in alignment, who helps me get very clear on here's what my values are. Here's what success looks like for me in this season. Here's what's resonating. Here's what I want to let go of. And so I'm working with these two women over the next year on a consistent basis to just really kind of stay the course and stay on the path. And I think there are some amazing coaches out there. And I also think there are some really lousy underqualified ones. And so what I would say to you is if you're thinking about hiring a business coach or someone's approaching you and selling their coaching expertise is I would really look at first off, what sort of success have they found?

34:20So have they found success in the thing that they're willing to teach you or have they gotten other people's success in that thing? What does that look like? Is the path to get to that level of success in alignment with you, your goals, your value, your definition of success? Does that person's lifestyle match the sort of lifestyle you envision for your life? Because a lot of times these coaches have amazing tactics, tools, and strategies, but the way that they're getting to the places they're getting, if that's not in alignment with what you want, then the journey is going to suck. And that's not what we want.

34:53And does their teaching style resonate with you? Like, is the way that they're asking you to show up resonating with you and feeling like it's actually getting you closer to the goal? You can have accountability coaches. You can have business coaches. You can have life coaches. You can have career coaches. There are a million coaches out there. And so really look at that person and ask yourself, do they share the same values? Is their definition of success in alignment with mine? Is what they're teaching, what that end result that they're talking about, is that what I truly want? And is their method of getting there in alignment with what I want to do or how I see myself moving towards that dream?

35:33Don't be afraid to ask questions of what is included in the coaching. What is this going to look like? What is your availability for me? What do you expect from me? What is my level of commitment? And ask a lot of questions so that you have a ton of clarity around what the deliverables are and what the end result will look like. I think that coaching can be amazing. Again, I'm kind of doing it in a more offbeat way and not necessarily focusing so much on the business side of things, but more so on the personal side of things. And that's really resonating with me at this stage of my life. If you know me, you know that while my daughters are young, I am kind of in this place where I really want to hit the brake pedal and trust and know that when I'm ready, if I'm ready, I'll hit the gas pedal again.

36:15And so that's why I'm focusing more on the personal side of things, which is feeling really good for me right now. When we were young, we dreamed of castles and fairy tales. And as we grow up, those dreams might shift into building something real, like starting a business. You need a website, payment systems, a logo, and a way to reach customers. It can all be overwhelming and confusing, but thankfully that's where today's sponsor Shopify comes in. Shopify powers millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all U.S. e-commerce from big brands to folks just getting started. They offer beautiful ready-to-go website templates so you don't need design skills to look professional.

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37:30Can you believe that we're already wrapping up 2025? This year was packed with travel and so many new memories. One of my favorite moments was our team retreat in Arizona with the incredible women who helped me keep this business running. I also recently took the kids to Nashville during fall break and somewhere in between I squeezed in a trip to Puerto Rico with friends. We booked some of our most memorable stays this year on Airbnb. There's something special about finding a place that doesn't just look great in the photos, but actually feels welcoming the moment you walk in. That this feels right kind of feeling.

38:03If you've got trips coming up, whether it's a family vacation, a retreat, or a work trip, your house will probably be sitting empty while you're gone. Have you considered hosting your home on Airbnb and letting it work for you? It's a simple way to earn some extra income that can be put towards a future trip or home improvement projects. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com forward slash host. The next thing that you can do as a form of investment and something you might want to save your pennies for right now is going to a conference. So if relationships, and when I was talking about peer-to-peer relationships or my ability to drop in a text to a group chat with amazing women, if that was making you think, wow, I do not have anything like that, then maybe going to a conference is the best way that you can spend your money.

38:54Now, conferences are kind of a twofold investment. Not only are you spending on the cost of the conference itself and getting there, but you're also spending on the time that is pulling you out of your own life or business. And so they can be an expensive investment. And so if you are considering going to a conference, you want to look at what is the content covered? Who's going to be there? And do I trust the person who's facilitating this conference to get the right people in the room, the type of people that I want to be around? I want to know, I want to learn from in that room. Now, it's so interesting because this year I spoke at just a few conferences.

39:28I don't do a lot of speaking because my definition of success these days is being here to put my babies to bed and being here when they wake up. And so I say no a lot more than I say yes. But even the conferences that I spoke at this year, there is just this energy in the room when people have all made this investment to be there. And not only can you learn from the amazing speakers and you can leave feeling so inspired, but you also have this ability to network with other people, to feel less alone, to understand that like your struggles are maybe not as unique as you thought they were. And I, in my early days would go to a couple different conferences and I made lifelong friendships and also business relationships that absolutely changed the trajectory of my entire business and life.

40:15Like a lot of the things that I look at today and I'm like, holy cow, how did this even happen? Came from me investing in things like doing a conference. And so if this is something that you want to work on, I highly recommend it. I want to give you a few tips. If you are going to go to your first conference or you're going to save your pennies and sign up for a conference this year. So first put yourself out there. Do not be afraid to show up. A lot of times I would show up to conferences alone. Like I have no problem with that. In fact, like my dream day is being in a hotel room by myself, ordering room service, sitting in a robe, watching Real Housewives, like in the off time.

40:51So I love to put myself out there. I love to show up in spaces where I don't know everyone. And maybe I know or somewhat know one or two people. So don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Take space for yourself if you are an introvert. So again, me watching Real Housewives and ordering room service might be a time where I recharge the batteries, the social batteries, because let's be honest, I'm not used to being around people other than my children and my husband. And so being in those spaces where there's a lot of energy can sometimes feel overwhelming. So if you need to step away, know yourself enough to take time to recharge.

41:25At the end of every night, have a journal and write down the top three things that you're still thinking about. So a lot of times at conferences, you can sit in that front row and feverishly take page after page of notes. But what I have learned is that you're not going to apply all those things you're taking notes on. And so instead at the end of the night, before you go to bed, ask yourself what three things really stood out for me today, or what felt in alignment or what excited me or motivated me or inspired me write those three things down so that when you leave the conference, you have a list no longer than 10 things that you really want to implement instead of having pages upon pages of notes that you might never look at again.

42:02And then lastly, leave some integration time following the conference. So a lot of times we're out of the office, we're maybe away from our families, we're at the conference, we're inspired, we're on fire, we're excited. We get back home and all of a sudden we're like, crap, the inbox is exploding. My team needs me. My kids miss me, all these things. And so if you can save some integration time, whether you book one extra day after the conference or you figure out a way to have some downtime following the conference, then you will be far more likely to actually implement the things you're learning instead of being thrust back into the busyness and never getting around to the things that you intended to do.

42:41So those are my tips when it comes to conferences. Now, sometimes there are conferences that are held annually. That can be an amazing way to connect and reconnect with people in your industry that you want to see and kind of create that community that you might be craving. And so really just think about, okay, what type of conference do I want to go to? What do I want to get out of it? And who do I trust to get the right people in the room? If you can answer those three questions with confidence, then it's probably a great investment. I've got two final ways that you can invest in yourself. Are you still with me?

43:12Come on back if you're drifting away. The second to last one is joining a mastermind. So it's kind of funny. I love the term mastermind, but for so long, it felt like this secret network that no one would tell you how to get in or be a part of. So back in 2017, I joined my first mastermind and this was a massive investment for me. It was a very pivotal time in my life and in my career. I had suffered my first pregnancy loss. I was really in this stage of dominating as a wedding photographer, but figuring out, do I want to do this for the next five years, 10 years? What does this look like? And my friend, Lewis house, who actually was texting with this morning, announced that he was doing a mastermind and I was on his email list and I got so excited because I'd heard all about these things, but I would never see them advertised.

43:59Like I didn't know, how do people actually get into these things? And so the second he announced it, I filled out the form and within like a day or two, I was writing a very large check to send in the mail to him to join this mastermind. And I can look back and one, making that big of an investment on myself at that stage of my career really made me make sure that I got the value out of it that I needed to, which I a hundred percent did. But two, it put me in rooms where people were talking in ways that like, I didn't even know existed. Like people were talking about like million dollar launches.

44:34And I was like over here thinking like, can I get paid$5 ,000 to shoot a wedding in Wisconsin? And so it really exposed me to an entirely different world. It opened up my mind to understand that there is so much more possibility. It changed my life. And what's so interesting about that mastermind is two things. One, when I joined that mastermind, I thought I'm joining this for my business. It's going to grow my business. I can't wait to grow my business. And I ended up meeting a fertility doctor in Lewis's mastermind. And while I was in that mastermind, I suffered from my second miscarriage and that fertility doctor had written me a note that I had held on to.

45:09And I truly believe that being in that room with her, getting to meet her through the mastermind and then getting to work with her is one of the reasons why I was successfully able to maintain a pregnancy and sustain a pregnancy and have cocoa. So here I joined this mastermind thinking, oh my gosh, I'm going to grow and explode my business. And really it changed my entire life. The second thing is, is that it exposed me to other people who were doing the work. Like I am still friends and in touch with people that I met back in 2017, still connected to, still talking to, still cheering on and championing these people.

45:46And we've gone on to do different business deals, collaborations. We've worked together, we've gone on trips together. And so it really exposed me to like this next level. Now it is not for everyone. And if you're just in the beginning stages, it's probably not the right fit for you, but maybe it's something that you kind of put on your vision board for three years from now, two years from now, whenever that is. Now, what's really interesting is in the last five years, I haven't really done much in terms of joining a formal mastermind because I have kids. I don't have the ability to, you know, escape for multiple days on end for these retreats.

46:18And I love them. and I find so much value in them. But I also have kind of been protective of my brain and the ideas that get put into it in this season of life where I am specifically trying to just kind of slow down and maintain. And so over the last few years, I haven't been a part of formal masterminds, but you might've seen me in rooms like when we go to Napa and we hang out with people like Brendon Burchard and Dean Graziosi and Russell Brunson and Mel Robbins and all of these people. And these are informal. These are like peer to peer gatherings. We're all getting together. we're all paying our own way.

46:49It's not really facilitated. Brendan usually hosts it because he loves hosting things, but those are not necessarily like formal obligations. Now, one thing that I ended up doing this year that has been really, really wonderful and beneficial is one of my good friends, Natalie Ellis launched her own mastermind called CEO Mama. And I was really drawn to it because these were powerful business owners, powerful female entrepreneurs who are also moms who also had young children. And so Natalie asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. And I was like, heck yes, this is amazing. And so every other week we do a phone call, like a zoom call.

47:24And a lot of times I'm just listening in. I just love hearing what other women are going through, what they're struggling with, what they're working on, what's working for them. And I haven't done any of the in-person retreats though. I hope to in the new year, but it's just been really nice to again, have like a curated support group with a consistent meeting schedule to really talk through things like business and also motherhood. And so I've loved being a part of that. Finally, the last way that you can invest is pursuing an MBA or another advanced degree or certification. Now you can always invest in furthering your education and walking away with a more traditional certificate, right?

48:00There was a stage in my life where I was considering getting my MBA and I really had to weigh it out. Like with the amount of time and money that would go into the MBA? Could I take that time and money and learn in other modalities that would support where I wanted to go? And what would that degree really get me in the space that I wanted to go in? This is no slam on people that get their masters or their MBAs or their doctorates or their PhDs. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. It's incredible. And it's definitely a way you should consider investing in your growth. It is not the traditional way that I went, but it is something that I encourage.

48:31If that's the right fit for you, holy cow, go for it. There are so many beautiful things that can come out of opening yourself up to these opportunities through that furthered education in a more formal setting. So just consider what is the best method for you? What is the right track for you? And the questions that I often ask myself are, is this in alignment with where I want to go? Am I willing to do the work that it's going to take? What kind of skin am I going to put into the game so that I ensure that I follow through? And is the end result in alignment with what success looks like for me?

49:07If I can answer those questions with confidence, then it is a worthy investment. And lastly, I want to remind you before we sign off, don't ever forget that knowledge gives you this ability to compound results. So whether you are still ingesting every free resource that you can get your hands on, or you're making those big, sizable, heart-clenching investments, you have to be willing to do the work. But understand, and smart investors will get this, that knowledge compounds results. So the more knowledge you can get in this new year, the more skills, strategies, tools, tactics that you can understand and harness the power of, the better and bigger the results you will get.

49:49Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. I hope you love today's show. I would love to hear how you're planning to invest in the new year. And of course, until next time, gold diggers keep on digging your biggest goals. I'm over here giving you a virtual high five because you just finished another episode of the gold digger podcast. Did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more head over to gold digger podcast.com for show notes and all the discount codes from today's sponsors. And if you're looking for a new crew of movers and shakers like you to bounce ideas and ask questions, be sure to join my exclusive community for gold diggers on Facebook.

50:27The link's waiting for you at golddiggerpodcast.com.