Plan Simple with Mia Moran

“Your clothes can empower what you're gonna do for the day.” 

–Stefanie Johnson

Let’s feel great about all the clothes in our closets!!! On this episode of the PlanSimple Podcast, I’m really excited to talk with Stefanie Johnson, the founder of SwapIt. SwapIt is a clothes swapping business that helps women and people who wear women’s clothing create a wardrobe that doesn't force you to choose between what you love, your budget or your values. 

The SwapIt store is organized differently. You can’t just go and find your size, because sizing is irrelevant. While this might sound difficult and like it would take more time, when you aren’t tied to a size that, let’s face it, might not fit, you can focus on what the clothing looks and feels like—is it you? Could you see yourself wearing it? My daughter, who is tiny, walked out with a sweater in XL that she loves. In a regular store, we probably would have missed it. 

Stefanie also talks about shopping your own clothes in a different way. Instead of looking at the clothes in your closet every day to decide what to wear, Stefanie suggests making a Look Book. Take pictures of yourself in your clothes. Put all the pictures together. Then when you are choosing clothes, look through your pictures. We talk more about the benefits of a LookBook and how to create it. 

We also talk about: 

• How we feel in our clothes and the mindset of clothes that don’t fit
• Our need for white space — in our calendars and our closets
• Time blocking and giving all the parts of our lives the attention they deserve
• How you can outfit plan, just like you meal plan
• The pain of laundry and how to deal with it
• How to find your style and work with the clothes you have (or want to swap)

BIO

Stefanie Johnson has always been a big thinker and problem solver. Upon completing her BA in finance from University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Johnson moved to New York City to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector.  During her time at the non-profit she participated in a greening fellowship. Throughout the Fellowship, Johnson learned how to incorporate sustainable practices into a nonprofit’s decision process. But she wanted to do more.  Johnson believes that being green isn’t about having less, it’s about doing things differently.  So in 2015 she founded SwapIt - a new take on thrifting that includes swapping clothes and personal styling. Beyond her entrepreneurship she is a wife and mom of three young kids. 

LINKS

• www.swapit.cool
• FB @aswappinggoodtime
• Insta @aswappinggoodtime

Doable Changes from this episode:

• CREATE YOUR LOOK BOOK. Start trying on your clothes. Mix and match things you don’t normally put together. If you find an outfit you love, take a picture for your Look Book. If in this process you find something you just don’t like on yourself, let it go (donate or swap it!).
• TRY A CLOTHING SWAP. If you are in the Boston area, check out the shop! If not, you can organize clothing swaps with people you know. It’s a great way to add new pieces and clear stuff out of your closet you won’t wear.
• IMPROVE THE LAUNDRY EXPERIENCE. We talk about a bunch of tips for making laundry a better experience: you could send it out, get a partner or kid to take over the task, try pre-sorting to simplify the process, or pair it with something you enjoy (like listening to a podcast or fun music. If you happen to love laundry, try one of these tips for another household chore you don’t love.

Every single business owner has the perfect way for them to make a difference in a way that they naturally connect with other humans. 

–Christina Frei

This episode is part of a series for the entrepreneurs in the Plan Simple Community about making the touch points in your business feel easier and more purposeful. I’m super excited to talk to Christina Frei about marketing. 

Marketing is something a lot of us don’t love (often because of our preconceived notions). Christina says that marketing is really an opportunity for business owners to make a difference in people's lives, so that they make the decision to move forward and work with you. It’s a transformative transaction.

It starts with the “inner game” of marketing. Are you ready to go out and change lives? Do you feel unstoppable? Do you know your magnetic way of helping others? And from there you find your innate marketing genius. 

We talk about: 

• Having a contribution mindset and a generosity practice
• Remembering that fun is part of the equation
• Showing up as a compelling leader or expert (wherever you feel good showing up) and how that inspires people and makes them want to work with you
• Avoiding marketing resignation
• Understanding your own innate marketing archetype and using it to your advantage
• What generosity really means (a reminder a lot of women, especially moms, need)

BIO

Christina Frei is a marketing consultant, author, and creator of the Generosity Practice mindset work and the Innate Marketing Genius tools and method. She helps brilliant, mission-based entrepreneurs look smart and get hired. In between, she chases her dog around with a stuffed animal snake, meditates on a pink couch, and obsesses over the perfect cup of green tea, all in a seaside town north of Boston.

LINKS

• https://www.innatemarketinggenius.com/
• The Generosity Practice

Doable Changes from this episode:

• GET GENEROUS. Think about a time when you loved giving something to someone and they loved receiving. Think about the energy that flowed out of that experience. What would you feel great giving right now?
• GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY. Start noticing how you feel when you send an email or do any other kind of marketing. Are you feeling resigned? Like somebody is going to see your message or respond? How can you change that attitude? Remember major change takes time, but you can assess and switch up your mindset before you hit send.
• FIGURE OUT OUR MARKETING ARCHETYPE. Christina identifies five marketing archetypes: nurturers, adventure guides, door openers, steady presences, and celebrators. Listen to her descriptions in the podcast or take the quiz on her website. What’s your type? How can you work with your type instead of with what marketing gurus tell you that you should be doing?

You are loved. You are cared for. You are worthy. Always. You always have support and all your desires can and will be met. If you do one thing, let go and receive. That is what creates space for magic. 

–Patty Lennon

On this episode of the PlanSimple Podcast, I’m really excited to talk with Patty Lennon, who helps women learn to receive and create magic. She teaches from experience and continues to learn herself. I’m so excited about her new book Make Space for Magic that dives into this topic. 

I watch so many people stack their schedules so full that there is no space to receive and create magic. And I learned how much room there can be for magic, if we are open. 

The past year was one of the hardest years of my life personally, and there was more magic that I would have ever experienced or known. In the moment it was incredibly hard, but I’m so grateful for all of it. 

We talk about: 

• Why we need to let go to receive and what the work of letting go looks like
• How different giving up and letting go are 
• Seeing signs from our spirit guides telling us we are enough, we are loved
• How the way we make space can create an energy of resistance
• The Five Rules of Receiving and the 100% rule
• Facing terror and sabotaging ourselves

BIO

Patty Lennon is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, certified coach, and founder of The Receiving School®.  She is a former type-A corporate banker who discovered there was more to life than making money. Patty holds a masters in psychology and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and Daily Worth.She blends brain science and metaphysics to help her fellow humans manifest their dreams into reality.

LINKS

• https://www.pattylennon.com/
• Make Space for Magic book
• Make Space for Magic podcast
• Trust Your Calendar with Patty Lennon

Doable Changes from this episode:

• ACCEPT YOU ARE ENOUGH. Patty says that whenever spirit guides come, some of the first things they say are “You are loved” and “We’re proud of you.” What if we believed that? What if we believed we were loved and enough. Tell yourself that every day. Start the day saying it into your mirror. Leave yourself “I love you” or “I’m proud of you” notes. Keep repeating this message.
• STOP RESISTING CLAIMS ON YOUR TIME. Creating space for magic doesn’t just happen, but creating too much resistance energy doesn’t help either. Patty recommends getting to a point of letting claims on your time wash through you instead of holding them off. One first step to doing this is using a time framework, where you block off time for yourself.
• SIT WITH THE FEAR. The brain can only hold fear for 1– 2 minutes. When you feel the terror that you won’t succeed and want to leave the work you are doing to grab a cookie, you are trying to get out of that discomfort. Instead, set time for 90 seconds or 2 minutes. Sit and breathe through the fear without switching what you are doing. When it passes, continue with your task at hand.

“Tell the image makers and magazine sellers and the plastic surgeons that you are not afraid. That what you fear the most is the death of imagination and originality and metaphor and passion. Then be bold and LOVE YOUR BODY. STOP FIXING IT. It was never broken.”

– Marion Woodman

Dear amazing women,

Today I find myself wanting to write you a letter, something a bit more personal than usual…

I am about to go on a journey, and I want to invite you for the ride.

But I cannot authentically do that until I tell you a story — the one that starts when I landed in a Weight Watchers program at age 11, continued onto disordered eating in high school, zig zagged through every diet created into my 30s, and ends with me in a “healed” body 12 years ago — or so I thought.

Here’s the deal. I am all about learning and passing what I learn back out to you. Sometimes I do that very literally. Sometimes I learn things that get passed back through expanded capacity in my coaching and teaching. 

I always make sure I am only talking about things that I have resolved, and that’s going to make today’s message different. I am a bit more in the messy middle with one of my 2022 intentions,  but every bone in my body is encouraging me to share with you now…

Here’s the story.

2021 was both the hardest year of my life and the best year of my life. 

In November of 2020, I admitted that my then 14-year old daughter was not OK. She needed help, and I decided that I was the one to help her. This was me following my intuition. (I was told by people I trust that she needed more institutional help.)

I quickly realized a big piece of me being able to help my daughter was me healing myself. At a very high-level that looked like… I looked at all the hard moments in my childhood and re-felt them to heal them. I cried a lot. I wrote a lot. I rewrote a lot of my past. I talked it through with a coach, a healer, and a select group of friends frequently. I did this at strategic times, so I could be with clients and my kids during the day as a functioning human.

I practiced staying in the present moment as much as possible. This helped me operate from intuition and love, and have a chance of doing all the right things for my girl and community.

By July 2021, I had my girl back. Not only was she back, she had become a new version of herself — as had I.

In October I felt really good about the experience and led a 6-week class with my mentor and coach, Sil Reynolds, called Easeful Motherhood, where we had the honor of supporting an amazing group of moms as they navigated their tricky corners.

All was great, except as my family needed less support, I realized that in holding the space for a kid to heal — while also navigating parenting 2 other kids, nurturing a marriage, serving beautiful clients, growing a business, and living in a pandemic — I literally ignored my body. 

So that brings us to the past few months….

I embarked on a journey to take impeccable care of myself — my body, mind, and soul.

I’ve made a few agreements with myself.

#1. I decided that all action to take care of myself will come from love. If there is an action that is feeling like “I’m supposed to be doing this” or “I should be doing that,” I will slow down and get back into alignment with myself before “doing” anything.

#2. I decided that there is no end destination. This meant not starting with food — until I am as sure (as I can be) that I am doing it out of love for myself vs. shame that I gained weight in the last year — as body-image seems to be the most complicated conditioning from my past. In fact, I do not want food changes to come from any motivation other than a desire to take good care of my body. I also don’t want to send anything but ungraded messages to my girls (and you) about food and body. This has been the hardest agreement with myself. Quick fixes are appealing.

#3. I decided it’s really important I share the journey with you. I’m not usually so behind the scenes and in real time, but it is feeling super important right now.

So I started with things like weekly acupuncture to tend to some perimenopausal symptoms and walking to keep things moving. I went to hot yoga for a full month before Covid kicked up again.

I have not been ready to take on food — until now.

You’ve heard me talk about Tess Masters before.

Her 60-day food reset, literally changed my life a year and a half ago.

It was the food changes that I needed to respond to my 46-year-old body, as the lessons from my 30s were no longer working.

While working with Tess, I literally rid myself of awful cramps and headaches, got my energy back, and was a really happy version of myself (my whole family noticed).

But my intentions were so misaligned. 

Everytime I made a choice to eat, I cared less about what my body felt like, and way more about what I thought it should look like — and the truth is that at the time I did not even see it!

I have known that Tess has a Reset coming up in January for a while.

I have known that I only want to do it from a place of self love.

I have known that I only want to share it with you, if I am in a place where I can share everything above.

So I have been sitting with it for weeks, doing the mind and soul work, and wondering if I will feel aligned to spend 60-days deeply nurturing my body through nutrition, hydration, movement and sleep with Tess.

Two weeks ago I was not sure.

Today I am.

I am ready.

I may have to catch old thoughts. 

I may have to slow down.

I know the food, mind and soul parts will each have their obstacles.

And I am super excited to take them on!

I’m going to be a student of Tess and give myself the gift of fully being in that role. I will be active in her Facebook group, and I will share my journey as I go on a personal Instagram feed I am creating.

I would love for you to join me if it speaks to you.

And if you are in FLOW365 or thinking of joining us, we will have lots of food support in place this season that will work well with Tess's program.

Taking care of ourselves is not always straightforward, but I believe it can be simple and easeful if we take action from within.

Listen to your gut on this one.

And then take your first step, imperfectly.

Listen in above because at the end I talk more about the actual program!

This is how you sign up for the 60-day reset »»

Please respond if you have any questions.

xoxo,

Mia

The diet industry makes a lot of money at this time of year. There is a part of me that wants to rebel and not take part in a food related program… especially now… maybe, especially one with “Skinny” in the title.. But, how my body feels right now does not feel like me. And I fully trust Tess and what she has created. I am making a move that feels very aligned.. And anything you do, should feel really right to you! Sign-up for Tess’s 60-Day reset here »» Enrollment is open through Sunday.

Please please please, only join from a place of love and respect for you and your body. My friend Nina is doing a class on Body Peace this Saturday. If you are unsure where you stand, it may be a great place to start. 

We will be planning our best year ever on Sunday or Tuesday. Want to plan yours? Make sure you sign up for the FREE two-hour workshop.

We are giving away 12 days of gifts. The idea is that we create a bridge from the Winter Solstice to the New Year! We chose 12 tools, ideas, and strategies that are all about ending this year and planning next year.

Each day, we will release an episode, and many of the days will have fun (and very useful) printables!

DAY 12 – Possibilities in 2022

Before I get to a goal from my vision, I allow myself to become aware of ALL the possibilities. I have found that as women, we very quickly get to, “I don’t know if I’m doing this right” mode when we start writing down goals. And from that place we look around us for the answers, rather than within. We want to have our 2022 Goals come from within. One of the most impactful ways I know to do this is to get excited about possibilities…

We are giving away 12 days of gifts. The idea is that we create a bridge from the Winter Solstice to the New Year! We chose 12 tools, ideas, and strategies that are all about ending this year and planning next year.

Each day, we will release an episode, and many of the days will have fun (and very useful) printables!

DAY 11 – Your 2022 Oracle 

One of my favorite New Year rituals is drawing a card for each month of the year. This year my friend @lainielovedalby made a beautiful deck that I will be using. If you don’t have a deck, no worries! You can download an oracle app. You could flip to the page of an inspirational book. You could find a deck and do this one in a few days!

We will share some of our favorites over on Instagram!

We are giving away 12 days of gifts. The idea is that we create a bridge from the Winter Solstice to the New Year! We chose 12 tools, ideas, and strategies that are all about ending this year and planning next year.

Each day, we will release an episode, and many of the days will have fun (and very useful) printables!

DAY 10 – Cravings

Cravings might be one of the reasons it's hardest for us to say yes to upgrades in what we feed ourselves. I know goals around weightloss and better health will be filling FLOW Planners in 2022, so I would love us all to have an understanding of what else plays into cravings. This is important work, and will help you make time for the things that will actually help you stick to your healthy ways.

AND it comes with some great planning pages… of course!

We are giving away 12 days of gifts. The idea is that we create a bridge from the Winter Solstice to the New Year! We chose 12 tools, ideas, and strategies that are all about ending this year and planning next year.

Each day, we will release an episode, and many of the days will have fun (and very useful) printables!

DAY 9 – 5 Dates to take that will change how you think about money

So often I hear from women who are not moving towards their dreams because of money. So often I hear from entrepreneurs at this time of year who are super stressed about biz numbers that are different from what they thought, or are starting to stress about taxes. Each year in FLOW365, taxes, and the dread that comes with that task for many takes over and becomes an obstacle in moving towards goals. 

So this year, I want everyone to have a plan to make the system of money easier!!!! Here is the thing… women who have money will change the world!!! Our partner and friend Megan Flatt from Lets Collective reminded FLOW entrepreneurs of this last week when we were planning what we want to earn in 2022.

I think one of the most actionable talks I have ever hosted on money and entrepreneurship is with LuSundra Everett, EA @homebiztaxlady at camp this summer. 

YOU WILL FINISH WITH SOME IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR!!!

We are giving away 12 days of gifts. The idea is that we create a bridge from the Winter Solstice to the New Year! We chose 12 tools, ideas, and strategies that are all about ending this year and planning next year.

Each day, we will release an episode, and many of the days will have fun (and very useful) printables!

DAY 8 – Your Year on Your Wall

We go through the process of putting our year on the wall, each year in FLOW365. I LEARNED A LOT when we did it this year about what resonates in such uncertain times. Today’s gift sums those steps up, and gives you the pages for YOUR YEAR ON A WALL!!!

Get on the gift list at https://plansimple.com/12gifts to get printouts for the year!

We are giving away 12 days of gifts. The idea is that we create a bridge from the Winter Solstice to the New Year! We chose 12 tools, ideas, and strategies that are all about ending this year and planning next year.

Each day, we will release an episode, and many of the days will have fun (and very useful) printables!

DAY 7 – 2022 Astrology

Today’s gift is about taking in what the stars are telling us about 2022. At our 3 day event early in 2022, we had the amazing Mallory Mason give us a glimpse into 2022. Our attendees LOVED it, so we’ve decided to gift it to our whole community. Take it in anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to go to the page on our site with all these presents!!!! We have a visual download to help you see what Mallory is saying.