2322 - A Path to Business Alignment and Personal Fulfillment with Stefanie Carlstedt

0:04Well, hey, Thoughtful Leader. Welcome to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur. On this show, I interview purpose-driven founders, experts, and change makers who are making a real impact in the world. Want to be a guest? Simple. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click podcast. I'd love to promote your story to our audience of over 100 ,000 and across over 2 ,300 daily episodes and counting. Want to get booked on other great shows like this? Simple. Go to podverified.com and get your free guest authority score. Thousands of hosts are looking for high quality guests and Podverified connects you the right way. Now let's dive into today's episode.

0:58With us right now, it's Steph Carlstad. Steph, you are what I think you like to be called a human design business coach. Very cool. Your website is stephcarlstead.com. You are also a podcaster. And so to our friends that are listening right now, just very simple. You can search in your podcast app. You're looking for the Magnetic Business Podcast, the human design edge business that works in 2025 and beyond. It's wonderful to have you, Steph. Thank you for joining us. Yes, thank you for having me. I'm so excited for this conversation. I appreciate it. You are based in Omaha, Nebraska. And Steph, when you are not working, what are you doing for fun?

1:40Or what have you been geeking out on? Anything you've been into lately? Yeah, I have been geeking out on podcasts that have everything to do with spirituality and just understanding the importance of grounding and just taking care of myself internally. it's been really, really fascinating and just has really helped me connect more with myself and the earth, honestly. What are the benefits that, like if someone were to say, well, what are the tangible, like what benefits have you felt yourself getting from that? For those of us, maybe you've kind of dipped our toe in that here and there, but like what keeps you going?

2:17Like what are the rewards that you experienced from that? Yeah. So I have made it a goal of mine to get out on a walk every day and listen to a podcast. And that alone has helped me. Honestly, I have back problems. So it's helped me stay out of pain. It's helped me really connect, remove myself from the daily to do's, right. And, and focus on just listening to something else and not being on my phone scrolling, but just listening to something that's teaching me how to become more connected with myself. Uh, it's just been really cool to whether it's rain or shine, I try to get out there at least 30 minutes a day.

2:54We have a little trail by our house and it's just really helped me sleep better, be less of a, you know, overwhelmed mom at the end of the day. So yeah, it's been really beneficial. You know, I think the default content that is fed to us from a lot of the social media platforms are external things that we don't have a lot of control over. And it can be really easy to worry about these things that we don't have the control over. But it sounds like what you're talking about is, you know, really diving deep into the things that you can control. I love that. I know we each kind of like Mel Robbins, Mel's been talking about that quite a bit, you know, but I would imagine that's kind of part of maybe your journey on this as well.

3:39Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's really shutting out the external noise. And that's what I talk a lot about with my clients because we are just inundated with this fear-based narrative almost constantly. And so just stepping outside of that and learning to shut it off is just really, really helpful. Yeah. Well, talk about how then that relates to your professional work today. Yeah. So like you said, I am a human design business coach. I am certified in human design, and it's been so fascinating to really uncover myself first. I grew a big business in the beginning and I grew it following the trends and the gurus and the, all the things that were taught to me.

4:19And I lost myself in that business. And I really, it was a turning point for me when I lost my dad and human design was placed in my lap. And I really just looked at it and I began to understand myself for the first time, really felt seen, heard, validated. And now with my clients, I help them remove the burnout, the frustration, the overwhelm, the exhaustion of building a business because it's not supposed to be like that. Even though we have created this narrative that this is normal, it's not normal. And so I help them really understand. I say how to come home to themselves before the world told them who to be.

4:56And that is really turning off that noise at first and going within to understand your human design. I love it. I think that, you know, I've talked with enough people and kind of coming to the realization of just how important it is that we maintain our focus and that the foundation, the operating system or how we ground ourselves has just such an enormous impact on other contributions. how I show up in my relationships with my wife, how I show up with my kids, and certainly with my business. You know, if I'm upset about some argument I got in with some no-name person on social media, like that makes me a less valuable CEO.

5:48That is not a good use of my time because I don't exercise a lot of influence or control in the environment. So it does it, you know, and social media is, I don't mean to turn this into a big social media bash fest, But, you know, they've taken the profit. They've chosen profit over, you know, good in the world when I think that they have the potential for so much more. And I just want to say thank you, Stephanie, for, you know, kind of bringing this, you know, this topic to the forefront. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting because my design actually says in my life's purpose that this is my work that I'm meant to do in helping people step into this new era of the individual.

6:26So yeah, it's so important to really cut off that noise and just, again, come home to yourself. And I think that we have just been so conditioned to do certain things in a certain way, build a business in a certain way, live a certain way, have the life trajectory in a certain way. And it's time to just really, really remove that from our narrative because we can no longer survive as a collective in that way. Yeah. Steph, could you maybe share a couple of very practical, tactical things? I feel like I want to share with our friend that's listening to our conversation right now. I want to give them a couple of things that they can maybe apply in their life and get some value out of it.

7:12Maybe just like a taste of like, oh, Steph was right. When they see, when they just exercise this one or two things, that there's some benefit from it. Anything come to mind? Yeah, for sure. So in your human design, you have something that's called your authority, which is your decision-making process. And I always say that if the leaders of the world knew that they were an emotional authority, if they are an emotional authority, the world would be a different place. So for instance, I am a sacral authority. I have this sacral gut response knowing yes or no immediately. If someone comes to me with an idea or a collaboration or just anything, really, I know in my gut, yes or no immediately.

7:51And before, and I had to train myself on this because I had been taught to let my mind take over and ask other people for their opinions and, you know, go outside of myself. But when I have it internal and before my mind picks up, I'm meant to just say yes, no. So that's mine. There is also mental projection, projected authority, which means that You need to say your ideas out loud to someone else, not for feedback, but just so you can hear yourself talk and that's how you are going to make your decisions. There's emotional authority, like I mentioned before, which if you have something come at you, an invitation or whatever it might be, instead of saying yes or no right away, you are meant and designed to wait for the emotional wave to get past.

8:39whether you know sometimes you might be super excited about it and the the term sleep on it is best for those with the emotional authorities because what happens is if you bypass that you end up regretting it later you you might think i don't want to go to that thing that i was invited to even though i said yes that makes sense so we all have there's so many different authorities that is one big one and i help clients make that in relationships in their businesses but it's that we go back to that all the time. The other part, the highest level of your design is your energy type. And some of us have, some of us are energy beings, some of us are not.

9:19So for instance, a projector is not an energy being. So if you go to big gatherings, you might feel almost hung over when you're done because you feel that you can see and feel people better than they see and feel themselves. You have that projection, like that arrow that you have the penetrating aura, and you are meant to take lots of rest. You can only work two to four hours on efficiently on a specific task, and then you burn out. So that's just the projector. Those are just some ideas or thoughts. I'm a manifesting generator where I'm meant to pivot fast. I'm an energy being. I can work endlessly on things that light me up, but that's not all of us.

9:57So it's just really important to understand that. How could I find out what I am? Yeah. You could ask me some questions or. Yeah. Yeah. I have a free chart. Uh, yeah. At my website, you can, you put your birth information in and it's where it's comprised of where you were born, what time you were born and the date you were born. And three months prior to that, it creates this beautiful chart that you have no idea what it means typically. And that's why I created that my free 12 page PDF and audio report with it. So you can kind of start to understand it. Can I can I ask and just, you know, for, you know, advocating for a friend that might be listening, someone might hear that and go, wait a minute, I don't believe in horror scopes.

10:42Why would I believe in this? Yeah, yeah. So that is I kind of thought, first of all, let me talk a little bit about how it's different from things like the Enneagram and StrengthsFinders and Myers Briggs and those types of things because of most people, I help corporate teams as well. And most people go towards that, but human design is different because those are all answered from a conditioned mind. This is answered. And I know it sounds out there, but it's, it's written in the stars for you is what I tell people. And it's really, I always tell people, if you have this hesitation about it, but you're frustrated, you're struggling, you're overwhelmed, you're exhausted, then why not give it a try?

11:20Test it and see how it goes. That's my motto because I've had over 800 people get their chart now and not one has come back and said that this isn't them. They've cried happy tears. They say, you know me better than my friends. It's fascinating. And I believe that this is our gift and it's our gift back to really come home to this and understand our, like, it really does tell you your purpose, your profitability, your passions, like it really brings us so much out. Yeah. And certainly I think, you know, all of us can, I would imagine, you know, we're probably going to hone in on the items that maybe have the greatest alignment.

12:04And if that inspires you to say, yeah, I do like that. I am like that. And then you recognize your gifts. I I mean, all of that's super positive. So I don't think there's any, I don't think anyone would argue that there's anything wrong with that. I mean, I think that's super beneficial. Steph, share with us a little bit about, you know, you mentioned obviously the guide, the resources, and do you mind maybe just mentioning a little bit about your podcast and your website is stephkarlstead.com and we have that linked in the show notes. Where does somebody go from here, from this conversation if they want to dig either into some of the resources that you provide?

12:46Yeah. So I would head to my website or we can post in the show notes as well. But under free resources, that is where you can get your free chart. I have one for business and I have one for life. And really just, I start people there because it's the knowledge that you need to determine if you want to go deeper or not. And most people charge for this. Most people, you get your chart and then you have to pay to get your report. But I actually created that for free because I want people to start seeing how this can change their life because I was skeptical too. I was, I was one of those that I'm like, that sounds airy fairy, but sure.

13:21Let me try it because I am not happy where I am right now. And like I said, I was sitting on the couch and I started to tear up and cry because it was the first time I felt like I, someone saw me and I I always knew how I was made to move through the world, but until you actually see it and have it written to you, it's so fascinating. Again, that's all at stephkarlstad.com. Your podcast? Yeah. Sorry. Gosh. My podcast. I try to release a new one each week. It's really just tips on human design and how it can really transform your business, especially. but I have also talked about other things like relationships.

14:05And I really think it's important to not only know yours, but know everybody else around you. So you can be the best CEO, the best business owner that you can be also. So it's just really all the different ways human design can, can help guide you to your best self. Steph Carlstad, you're a human design business coach. Your website is stephcarlstad.com. Your podcast is the Magnetic Business Podcast. Steph, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

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