Welcome back to Real You Real Money, and happy new year!

A new year means a new phase for so many of us, so I wanted to talk about the reality of working towards our idea of success, and why navigating the ins and outs of this is trickier than it seems.

A lot of us set goals expecting that when we achieve them everything will fall into place. When we think this way, we can end up waiting for the ‘right time’ when really the right time is now. The the reality of achieveing a goal can also be much different than it seems, especially when it comes with a whole bunch of new responsibilities and expectations to sustain.

Tune in for tips on how to stop waiting for the permission of success, and how to make the pace of your business growth more sustainable.

And if you’d like to join me for Sell That Thing, get on the wait list right here: https://ray-dodd-ltd.ck.page/6f92c19f75

QUOTES

“If you want to do bold truth telling content, here is my top tip for doing that.  Start saying bold truths.“

“I see a client pushing… holding on tightly to this goal. And the minute they hit it, they let go of the pen  and their hand is tired and it's shaking and it needs to rest.  And so of course they take their foot off the gas. They find themselves in this cycle and panic comes in and that just makes it harder and harder to actually show up. That's what happens when we treat an event as if it's success.”

“We want to build businesses that let us take breaks during the journey to where we're going, which only stops if we choose to retire.”

My brilliant guest Sarah Clarke is on mission to help talented women unlock their potential and find more happiness at work. Her business Shine Brighter Consulting developed from nearly two decades of work in employee happiness and development, and helps women design their best work lives on their terms.

Sarah and I chat through how creating a you-shaped business is a fundamental part of finding joy in your work – especially if you work for yourself. Tune in for insight on life during and after corporate, how to connect to your true self, and whether monetizing your passion is always a good idea.

You can find out more about Sarah at

www.shinebrighterconsulting.co.uk

www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjclarke

@thehappystartupcoach

QUOTES

“If you have a purpose aligned business, you can make more money and be happier. Your purpose will be attached to your lived experience. It’s determined by so many different parts of who you are. It's as you unique as you are.”

“I have a valuable bloody gift. I have a talent that is going to help someone in their life. And if they're willing to exchange money for that support, then you have a business. If they aren't willing to exchange money for that support, then you have a charity.”

"Starting from the ground up has to be what I refer to as kind of resetting. What is a yes for you? What is a no for you?  How does that play out in terms of the intuition you're going to apply to running your business?"

My guest today is the brilliant Ruthie Zerai! Ruthie a professional life and business coach who empowers people looking to become a better version of themselves everyday. 

We chat about the idea of having a purpose, and the practical ways that you can find and follow yours. It’s easy to feel like you have to do it all, especially in some areas of the coaching space. Ruthie brings us examples from her own journey and experience that show us just how valuable it is to follow what you want instead of what you think you should want.

You can find more about Ruthie at

https://www.ruthiezerai.com/

@ruthiezerai

REFERENCES

Set Boundaries Find Peace, Nedra Glover Tawwab

The Joy of Saying No, Natalie Lue

QUOTES

“My understanding of purpose is: how can you set yourself on a path that feels meaningful to you. And that's how you break down this whole big convoluted kind of topic around purpose into something that is digestible.”

“How does this fit with the greater context of my life?  I’m not saying that if it doesn't feel good, I don't do it. Because sometimes some things that are good for me might not always feel good. I'm more like ‘feel good’ in terms of like, does this feel true? Or am I doing it because I'm trying to be like somebody else?”

In this episode, I’m bringing you a big confession. Last year, I set out to double my income in 2023… and it didn’t happen.

Not meeting a goal brings up a lot of questions for all of us – should I feel shame? Should I feel like I did something wrong? Did I do something wrong?

I can tell you from experience, the answer to all three of those questions is a big resounding no. I may not have hit the numbers I set out to, but this year has taught me exactly what I needed to know.

I’m entering 2024 with something that will serve me even more than a doubled income - I’m making more space for myself and my goals, making big plans and giving them the big time they need, and accepting that the ups and downs of running a business are a reality… and not a shameful one!

Listen in and let’s normalise embracing the unique timing of your business.

QUOTE

“When we decide that we want to hit a goal… we do not know what we do not know. We don't know what it's going to take, what we're going to need to go through to get to where we're going.”

“Some of you are so focused on your business only being legit once you're making money, that that's the only problem you try and solve. The reason you're not making the money you want to make is because you're not showing up as the embodied version of yourself.”

“Deal with each issue at a time. Make that boring plan.”

If you’ve ever found yourself freezing up, not getting traction, or longing for momentum that seems just out of reach, then this episode is for you.

When recording this episode, I was feeling stuck myself… no matter when you’re listening, there’s a decent chance I may be again! The peaks and valleys of running a business (and of life in general) are something we all face.

That is why I’m sharing the 5 techniques that I use to get unstuck! Tune in for how to meet yourself with compassion, from simpler motivational actions all the way to tackling the bigger challenges like burnout, dealing with change, and questioning the conditioning that stands in your way. 

QUOTES

“If you can start the day with something you actually want to do, it will absolutely transform things. That's one of the best ways that you can get yourself unstuck.”

“My stuckness is almost like my past-self holding on to where I've been, because it senses things are going to change.  It senses I'm at the end of something, something new is beginning, and if I say stay stuck, I get to stay in this place that has been really uncomfortable in many ways, but is familiar.”

"One of the ways you can tell if you're in that space is you're jumping from task to task. You're probably feeling overwhelmed and like you've got to do everything, but actually end up doing very little."

If you’ve ever struggled to balance your own needs alongside your business and the kids (or any caregiving), this episode is especially for you. My guest is the brilliant Doctor Jemma, an Empowerment Coach who helps mums bring to life their ambitions in a way that works in beautiful harmony with their life as a parent.

Tune in for insight on finding fulfilment for yourself while caring for others, and meeting yourself with compassion during the ebbs and flows of it all.

You can find more about Jemma at

https://drjemma.co.uk/

on Instagram @ _dr.jemma

QUOTES

"Failure is just part of the journey. Sometimes you do things that either go right, that either go wrong. That's just the flip of the coin."

"Can mums really have it all? I don't think anyone can... I think you can have what you desire, but I don't think it looks necessarily like 'having it all' in that way."

"For me, balance is such a triggering word. It conveys that everything has to be of equal amounts at all times. The word that I relate to more is harmony.  It allows that sense of flow, fluidity. Sometimes I need to be more with my kids as opposed to my business. Sometimes I'm working more on my business than time with my kids and that's okay."

My guest today is the brilliant Lucy Sheridan! 

Lucy is the one and only Comparison Coach, and helps people all over the world go from compare and despair to comparison free in their life and business. 

Lucy lends us her huge range of experience and economic mind to dissect the ups and downs of running an online business, especially from a pre to post pandemic market. Tune in for juicy insight on how to handle income dips, ways to confront the vulnerability of running a business, and why stability can be sexy.

You can find Lucy on Instagram @lucysheridan

And if you're listening on 19 October 2023, today is the final day to sign up for Plenty! Follow this link for all of the info: https://www.raydodd.co.uk/plenty

This week, I’m sharing my workshop for online business owners who are ready to drop the drama and up their income!

Tune in to learn about the ways that your conditioning is running the show and keeping money from feeling anything but calm, joyful and plentiful. And then of course, the 4 things that you can actively start doing to free yourself from that very money drama WITHOUT emotional bypassing!

This workshop is meant to give you a little preview of Plenty, which is currently open for you to join! Click this link for all the info: https://www.raydodd.co.uk/plenty

QUOTES

“If your brain is used to you feeling stressed and anxious around money, it will actually try and keep you there”

“Our inner turmoil fears what we will lose if we choose what we need over what we believe others need. It actually doesn't consider what your clients and customers need. It considers how to be perceived as kind.”

“Money talk has been so hidden from us that an open money themed community is incredibly disruptive, in a good way, to our conditioning. It's a brain rewriting tool all on its own.”

This week, I’m chatting with the brilliant Freya Powell!

Freya is a Subconscious Transformation Coach specialising in helping people to make changes in their careers or businesses by harnessing the subconscious mind. Freya is also in Plenty, where we regularly find ourselves nerding out about neuroscience and the control we actually have over our brains (which is much more than we think!).

In the personal development world, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of fighting against our subconscious; in this episode, Freya and I look at how we can walk alongside our subconscious instead. Tune in for talk on just how reprogrammable your thoughts are, from using techniques like EFT to the everyday ways we access our subconscious, and how we can shift things when it comes to our views of success and money.

You can find more about Freya at:

https://www.freyapowell.co/

@iamfreyapowell

You can get your FREE transformative 5 stage guide to creating a YOU-shaped career or business here: events.freyapowell.co/future-focus-signup Learn the basics of EFT and how you can use it on your own + 30 minute practice session with Freya - get 30% discount with RAY30: events.freyapowell.co/EFT

And don’t forget that Five Days of Plenty is happening right now! Sign up through this link to join us for the rest of the week and receive all the replays: https://www.raydodd.co.uk/5-days-of-plenty

Plenty is opening its doors in the next few days! Get on the waitlist right here: https://www.raydodd.co.uk/plenty

QUOTES

“It's all about brain state. So just before we go to bed where our subconscious is open, we can ask it questions because it's agnostic. The support isn't anything other than really a computer. If we start seeing it like a computer, we can go, okay, right. How do we program? How do we work with this computer as a tool?”

“Beliefs are generally created through an experience in our lives. Something happens and you make a belief about yourself and the world that day to protect you for the future.”

“Our subconscious works unbelievably faster than our conscious brain. If we can get the subconscious working for us, change can happen really quickly.”

I little while back, I released an episode talking about my decision to stop using the word ‘mindset’. There were a lot of (really valid) conversations happening at the time, about how ‘mindset’ implied that our thoughts are the primary factor in what we can – or can’t –achieve.

‘Mindset’ felt like it side-lined all of the big, circumstantial things that are totally out of our control. It made things like patriarchy, racism, homophobia, and really any form of oppression a YOU problem, and not a SOCIETY problem. I just wasn’t having that.

What I was missing was the link between ‘mindset’ and the ways we need to challenge internalised oppression in order to change our own perceived limitations. While our mindset won’t be the only thing to change society, it is certainly part of what will allow us to claim our space in the face of the systems standing in our way.

Tune in for more on the nuance of mindset, and the importance of looking for the meaning behind the buzzwords!