Hey mama!
I have to tell you about today's episode on the show. I focus on having 2 types of guests on for YOU: The first are people just like you, in the beginning to middle stages of entrepreneurship. That might be a step or two behind where I am in this journey. So you can hear coaching and mentorship that will directly resonate with YOU. The second is people who are farther along in this journey than me. That can show us what it looks like to be farther along in this crazy ride. Who can mentor ME and give us a guide to growing together. Today, April Beach is blessing us with her knowledge. She is the second type of guest and is where I am striving to go, personally. She has created passive income, non-profits, TRUE lifestyle income that allows her and her family to travel the world for months at a time while creating a ripple effect across the world. April is goals. Come join me as we learn from her and find out which stage of entrepreneurship we are actually in, how to navigate each stage and continue growing through each one until we reach our goals. Love and light, Stef P.S. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to share a screenshot in your IG stories! I will shout you out on my stories! Yeahhh!!!!!
Full transcription available at the bottom of this blog post.
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I am also a MOMPRENEUR SUCCESS COACH. I help women figure out their calling, niche, and focus. Then monetize using courses or coaching! If you are interested in podcasting, keep reading! A podcast is such an amazing way to grow your audience and build a brand. It helps you share your voice, pour into your niche, and build trust. Did you know audio consumption is growing by over 30% each year? People are craving audio like never before and this is YOUR opportunity to secure your spot in a massive emerging market... podcasting. But... maybe you're thinking... what equipment do I need? Which software do I use? How do I record and edit? Where can I save money vs. outsourcing? Should I do interviews and how do I find guests? And, can my podcast make me money? (Insert a huge YES!!!!) I'm here to help you answer all of those questions, and so much more. I put together a page FULL OF FREE PODCAST TRAINING for you. Completely free. No registration nessessary. I mean, who else is tired of webinars?! Haha! I have a full training video there on how to start a podcast in 10 steps and lots of LIVE podcast training and Q&A from my students. I even share EXACTLY HOW I hit #54 in the Entrepreneurship Category and over 60K downloads in the first 12 months without ONE DOLLAR of paid traffic. I've also included 10 tactical steps to starting a podcast that will scale so you can walk away from this training with implementation. (And, P.S. all of this is 100% FREEEEEE)!!!!! 
I launched my podcast in 2018 after searching for a way to scale my coaching business and grow my following in a faster, more authentic way. I decided on podcasting because I have kids (aka. video isn't my jam), and because audio is growing insanely fast and I saw an emerging trend. Last, because committing to a podcast was my way of showing up consistently and dedicating myself to my mission.
What has podcasting done for my business? Well, my podcast grew my revenue by over 98%! My community has grown by thousands and it has allowed me to touch more people than I ever could have imagined. I have now helped MANY other women (just like YOU) launch top rated podcasts. Many of them have ranked in the top #30 because of my effective launch strategy! If you want to have a show that STANDS out and grows your business, brand, and mission here on Earth - come check out my proven program.
?WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?!
#WithGodSheRises Daily Journal is launching WEDNESDAY!!!! ?? BUT FOR YOU, MY SISTER-HOOD, I'VE OPENED UP THE PRE-ORDER LINK AND YOU CAN SNAG A COPY, RIGHT MEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?? http://bit.ly/withgodsherises Have you been searching for a morning and evening routine that combines BOTH spiritual faith WITH your business and personal goals, gratitude, and intentions? Meet the keepsake journal you've been praying for. ‘With God She Rises’ daily journal is a complete, life-planning tool that takes you step-by-step from overwhelmed, reactive, and unfocused to intentional, clear, and relentlessly chasing the life, goals, and vision God placed in your heart. I created With God She Rises because my daily intention practice of scripture, prayer, gratitude and focused daily goals were LIFE-CHANGING. However, I was doing this in 3 different journals??♀️?. I wanted ONE all-encompassing journal. 
In this beautiful, paperback keepsake journal you will find:
- Inspiring scripture and encouraging prayers - Miracles & holy spirit moments tracker - Creating balance worksheet - 5-year vision statement - 1-year vision statement - 12-month goal mapping - Monthly goal mapping - Weekly goal mapping - 180 days of morning & evening intentions including; spaces for prayer, gratitude, business and personal goals, favorite daily memory - Open notes pages for ideas and inspiration Love and light, Stef P.S. When you get your advanced journal, please be sure to share a screenshot in your IG stories! #WithGodSheRises and I will shout you out on my stories! Yeahhh!!!!!
Show Notes:
Wanna do a coaching session with me?! From power-hour calls to monthly and annual packages, there's an option for you. Email us for the coaching menu at support@stefaniegass.com Launch your podcast with ease. Follow the PROVEN system for scaling to success! Join the dozens of women who have launched TOP 30 RANKED shows using my exact system inside of Podcast Pro University. JOIN now and you'll get FREE, life-time access to the membership community, too! Hurry, this offer expires soon. Thinking about podcasting? Learn EVERYTHING you need to know at my free Start a Podcast Training Page (https://startapodcast.gr8.com)! Or, Snag my launch strategy + checklist at podcastchecklist.gr8.com Confused about what to do FIRST in your business? Download my Mompreneur Biz Blueprint and find out the exact order of operations to build your business. What to do, when: bizblueprint.gr8.com All of my recommended programs & software can be found at stefaniegass.com/resources FB Community: bit.ly/successsupportgroup Instagram: @stefaniegass FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION: Hey boss. Welcome to episode number 82. Today, we are talking with the amazingly incredible entrepreneur, April beach, and she's going to take us through the five stages of lifestyle, entrepreneurship, and girlfriend. This is like the true entrepreneurship definition. This is where you're building a 20 to 30 hour workweek around your kids and travel. You're really making true big passive income. April beach has had years and years of experience in this. So I can't wait for her to teach us all about it. Before we dig into this interview, I want to read you the review of the week. This is a five-star review left by lover of pictures. It's titled new to this world. Five stars. Thank you for helping me to be an entrepreneur and understand the mistakes they're made the first couple of years on the job. I am taking it slow, which is one thing I normally never do, but you've reinforced this in your podcast. I'm so grateful because normally I jump in guns, blazing, ready to shut it down, whatever I need to do. But this time I took my time and absorbed all the information that is needed to get better and grow faster. And your podcast did exactly that. Thank you. Well, thank you. I'm so grateful for that review and yes, it does take time. Actually, today in this episode, we talk about that how much time it takes to build and scale a truly passive big successful brand that can truly shift your lifestyle. It does take time. You guys, and really one of the biggest messages that I took away from this interview with April. So without further ado, let's jump in. You're going to love it. What's up mama boss. Welcome back to the mompreneur mastermind show. I'm Stephanie gas, success strategist, and passive income queen creator. If you're ready to step into your God, led potential, create profit from your passions and capture the success that is already yours. This podcast was made for you as always. You can find out more and connect with me over@stephaniegas.com. So grab that cup of coffee or fill up that glass of wine and let's dig in to today's show. I can barely believe it, sister, you're going to barely believe it. And we're not going to believe this together, because guess what? With God she rises daily journal. My journal like one that I created for you is officially out in the world. I created this journal because I have been using this system for over six years, gratitude, journaling, intention, prayer daily goal setting, and it's completely changed the productivity. The focus of my life. I've been able to stay balanced, mindful, keep God at the forefront of every single decision that I make every moment of my day is predetermined based on what I need and want to spend time on to further the mission that God planted in my heart with God, she rises is an all encompassing. Absolutely gorgeous. Gorgeous. If I do say so myself keepsake journal with over 180 days worth of daily intention for the morning and evening, along with life planning, like your five-year vision statement, your one-year vision statement, goal mapping, and everything in between. There are notes, pages, inspiration pages, and I know you are going to love it. Get your copy right now, and then take a screenshot when you receive it, post it up in your stories and hashtag with God she rises so that we can empower other mamas to grow forward with God, go to with God she rises.com and check it out. April beach is hosted Of the iTunes top rated podcast, sweet life entrepreneur podcast, and business development consultant for adventurous female entrepreneurs who are determined to defy the status quo, control their life and build a socially conscious company while raising awesome kids. April has been featured by today, MSNBC, Patagonia and other media for her role in Maverick, like first business design, she's a mom of three and a lifelong lifestyle entrepreneur. Let's meet April. All right, mamas. I'm so excited. I'm sitting across from the beautiful April beach and she's amazing. I'm just so pumped to talk about her topic today because it's something I have never really considered. And that's figuring out kind of where you are in your entrepreneurial business, and she's going to help us understand all these different steps that gosh, I hadn't even thought of before, but I think it's so important to dig into because you just need to understand this so that you can grow in scale in the right way for long-term sustainability. Right? So welcome April to the show. Thank you so much for inviting me on. I'm so happy to be here. We are two. So start with, we have to hear about you. Like how did you get started and become this entrepreneur activist? Tell us all the things about April. Sure. So I'm going to make a really like lifelong story as short as possible, but I know there's a lot of mamas on here and I think that a lot of people were resonate at least to some parts of this. So I actually grew up a lifestyle entrepreneur. My parents were the first wave of lifestyle entrepreneurs. So I grew up in California and Hawaii, but what it looked like was like, my mom was the one picking me up when it was like a great beach day and pulling me out of school. And so we had surf shops in California and Hawaii and everything and multiple other businesses. And every single thing that my parents did was to deliver lifestyle and location freedom. So like at one point in time, even before the surf shops, when they wanted to travel up and down the coast of California, they would build Oak beach chairs and we'd sell them at arts and craft shows. So we could go to Tahoe on the weekend. And another point in time, my stepdad was a beach volleyball player. And so he wanted to play beach volleyball and have each volleyball close. And so he, he opened up the first beach volleyball retail store in Santa Barbara. And so we were always, I always, I learned really, really young, you know, that we were always building a business for the primary purpose. It was never about the money. It was always about the lifestyle freedom. So I was very blessed to be able to be taught that at a super duper young age and then like life totally turned upside down and my mom left. And so I actually moved out on my own when I was 13. And by the time I had been to that point, like the good thing about being a good thing about being on your own when you're 13, is that you have like this huge ego or at least I did that. Nothing could stop me. Right? So it was actually like the best point in my life to probably hit rock bottom. If you asked me what was rock bottom, it was sitting by myself in the studio apartment on Christmas Eve when I was 14 years old with a little plastic Christmas tree. And I remember thinking to myself, I am never, I loved my life. I knew what an amazing life that I had. I was very grateful, but then all of a sudden, you know, it was gone. And I remember thinking to myself, I will never obviously number one, do this to my own children, but number two, I will never allow anybody else to be able to take away or control my livelihood ever again. And, and so from that point forward, I ended up graduating in high school with my diploma early and I started doing jobs and I started, you know, working with friends. I always had older friends, so it was a very old soul from a young age, older friends that were starting to launch businesses. And I ended up graduating high school, early doing odd jobs, helping other people with their companies. And I ended up traveling for a period of two years with a backpack and a surf board. So I was still, I immediately, as soon as I could legally get old enough to leave the country, you know, myself, I was going and I was already designing my life. And then I was married by the time I was 21 because I mean, I was over it. I was ready to be married, had my first baby at 25. So my husband I remarried for about four years, had my first baby at 25. At that point in time, I had already been doing business consulting and strategy. So I'm a business coach. I still remember when I first got into that because I didn't really realize that my experience was valuable. Other people would want it cause I'd never, I didn't go get my MBA. You know, and I still remember I was 21 years old in, I, I had it a random, this is like total God moment conversation with this woman where she ended up asking me to come and consult her to develop an entirely new business model for her integrative medicine like national chain. Right. I had no idea what I was doing at 21 years old. And all of a sudden I realized that I had something to offer. And so I really started getting into business coaching. And by the time I was 25, I had been doing freelancing business strategy consulting for a few years. By the time I was 25, I saw a new niche for a new industry that needed to be started. And so I'm actually one of the founders of the baby planning and parent coaching industry. So I created the whole parent coaching, baby planning industry and establish the scope of practice for that industry and immediately started. So I own two companies. One of them is called baby planner, inc. And that is where I specifically consult like doulas and midwives and lactation consultants to start and watch and grow their business. And I've owned that company. Gosh, since 2006. And then my other business development strategy company is for lifestyle entrepreneurs that are more action, adventure, sports like me and that are for women. And in all other genres, if you like. So that's a really long story short I've been in. I've been in entrepreneurship my whole life. I've never worked for anybody else. I think I would be an absolutely atrocious employee, but I own two companies. And I'm also a nonprofit founder and host of the Sweetlife entrepreneur podcast. And I have three boys, three really awesome boys now. Yay. Oh my God. That's an amazing story April my gosh. I can't imagine being on my own at that age. Like, first of all, that's crazy. But like you said, you hit that moment so early, you were able to just grow from it. It's such an early age. I feel like I didn't hit that until I was in my twenties that like really dark season. And so you have to do all this discovery later. So I mean, blessings, I guess, hidden in everything. Right. And my mom and I actually have an amazing relationship now. So I actually did a podcast on her like two years ago for mother's day. Like the 10 things I learned from my entrepreneurial mother. She's an amazing entrepreneur. So it is true. Like God's hand works in everything. I think it's actually, I was a nightmare actually at the age of 13, I was at nightmare 13 year old, that was partying, you know, doing things that I should not have been doing. So I have to say that I was not the easiest kid to parents and not that that's a reason to leave. And I know I wasn't the reason that was only other reasons I know now that my mom and I have a great relationship, but I'll just say that, that there's, you know, everything, you know, Lord is really healed everything in that. But look at all the lives of now have been able to be changed because of this road. Exactly. That I walked and I'm like, that's so awesome to be able to see that. So. Great. Well, how do you handle all of these things? You're doing two companies. You've got, you know, your fund, you've got all of these things. Like how do you, do you believe in balance is my first question. And then secondly, how do you create some type of blend that fuels you? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Great questions. Okay. So first of all, systems, which we're going to talk about today, systems totally saved me with that. I have to create systems with things because I think I have undiagnosed adult ADHD, kids and all these things going on. And so if I don't have systems, what happens is moms is we have very little, even if we try hard and we have very little consistent work hours. So I'm like a big advocate for block, calendar scheduling and those things. So what happens, especially when my kids were little. So my first company, one of my first companies, I launched my three babies who were under the age of four and I had no childcare because my youngest has special medical needs. And he had really severe food allergies when he was younger. And literally like, I couldn't leave him at all. And so I would stop. Right. We get interrupted. Somebody has to like somebody who's potty training or, you know, somebody wakes up from a nap. Like, so my mind was constantly starting to stopping and starting and stopping sometimes like every 15 minutes. And so if I didn't have like a structure in place of remembering exactly what I was coming back to, or exactly what I was working on, it could take me an entire three hours to remember what I was doing into like, get my mind in the same place as where I was in that 15 minute work zone. Gosh, that's like me for getting my coffees in the microwave, like all day long. I'm like, where did that go? And one time I lost a glass of wine in the closet. So like the struggle is real here with the little ones still. So I'm literally feeling that pain right now. Right. I know, I know you are. I know 17, 14 and 12. Now you guys, okay. Here's like a funny story. I used to look at moms with older kids like teenagers and be like, that's so sad And her babies are older, you know? And I'm like, Like hold my baby to my chest. And it'd be like, so sad. Her son's taller than she is now. It is so rad. I have the best with three boys, right? I feel so grateful because the relationship is different. But the interesting thing for me is I thought like, as they would get older, I would have more time to work on my business. And that actually wasn't the case actually, as my kids have become older, it's less my husband and I did a podcast together on this and people were asking us about this. So he said it best. He said, it's less of the physical care that we have to give them, you know, they can feed and go to the bathroom by themselves, put themselves to bed if they need to. It's much more emotionally deep, which does interestingly full circle ring. True. When I think of like, I have 12 and a 14 year old, a 17 year old, when I think of me being on my own at that age. And I look at my kid, I'm like, Oh no, they would never survive. I'm like, I'm not exactly sure how I did that. Like, it was full-blown massive guardian and warring angels around me, otherwise. I mean, because I look at my, and I'm like, Oh Jacob, my son, I mean, he like puts food wrappers in his bathroom. There's some issues, you know? So they don't need you as much physically, but they need like even much more mentorship than they did. I'm grateful that you said that because I've been going through that hard mama moment where you look at my five and a half year old, you know, and I can see this little human man that's emerging from my baby. And like, I literally want to cry every day. So I'm really grateful that you were like, it's just awesome. Having every stage is beautiful, right. Mamas revel in the moment, but know that each phase is going to be beautiful. Okay. Let's shift gears into what we are going to learn about today, which I'm really excited about first and foremost, explain to us what is lifestyle entrepreneurship? What does that mean? Thank you so much for asking. Okay. So I just recorded a podcast on this actually lifestyle entrepreneurship. Ladies, if you hashtag search that on Instagram, you are going to find a bunch of pictures of like Ferrari's and huge mansions. And so just as like a mission as a group of women, as a sisterhood, will you please start tagging lifestyle entrepreneurship in your pictures? So we can fix that if you resonate with what I say today, because that is not it at all. So lifestyle entrepreneurship as defined by business dictionary.com is truly building a purpose, building a business for the sole purpose of the lifestyle, freedom that you want before money. It doesn't mean money as an important cause obviously if the lifestyle you really want is a multi-million dollar lifestyle, well, that's fine. But the reality is, is most lifestyle entrepreneurs build a business around something they're passionate about because they're building a business around something they're passionate about. It does automatically make more money more easily because they're passionate about it. But lifestyle entrepreneurship is strictly modeling. So choosing your business model, that's how you start clients and how you're going to charge them and how you're going to make money. So it's building a business model strategically around time, freedom, location, freedom and family freedom. And so that's everything that my companies are built around and it's everything that I teach. It's all about the life and the purpose of what you're doing well before the profits. So it's purpose before profits. I'm so obsessed with that idea, but I think, and I'm sure you see people have it backwards because they're struggling for money or they have the full-time job. So the only way they get out of the job to do the passion project is figure out how to make money fast. And so do you see that people have this backwards? And what do you say to that? Yeah. I mean, I'll be super honest and you asked me a question earlier. I didn't answer about balance. So I'll answer that in a minute. But obviously we're honest, like the women that I coach, some of them come to me in this super desperate state and they're like, look, here's the deal. I need to watch my business. I need to make money fast. And I'm not a very popular business coach because I will be honest with them and tell them that in most cases, that doesn't happen. You know? So if you know, if you're quitting your job to launch a business, to replace your full-time income, it's going to take awhile to get there. As a matter of fact, my business launch membership program is a 12 month program. It used to be a three month just online course. People could take, we don't do that anymore because I would actually be lying to people. If I said, Hey, join my course. And you're going to learn how to launch in three months and you're going to be awesome. The truth of the matter is, is after that point in time, there's a period of testing and traction and testing and traction, and it does take awhile to get traction. So I, you know, the people that follow me kind of like my girls are, are just really, they're like me kind of bleeding hearts. We understand that profit is important and we are really dead set on making sure that all of our clients have a six-figure plus business. For sure. Cause I mean, to be honest, like you can't have any lifestyle here in the United States without that, any grade. So, I mean, that's that used to be like this, Oh, build a six-figure business. No, that's like a minimum. Right? And you can do that in only, you know, 10, 15, 20 hours a week. But I know I'm going to share with you the system on how to get there, here in today's show, but I don't have a lot of people that follow me. I think they know because through the podcast, like if somebody wants to say, Hey, I want to launch a coaching business and I want to make a half a million dollars this year, April beach is not the coach for you. I'm just really, you know, honestly, Like if you do find a coach, that's going to promise that you should probably run, right? There's no, like there's literally no such thing. I say this all the time as overnight success. There's nothing, there's literally no such thing. You have to hustle and grind and show up consistently and do all the stuff that isn't sexy and glamorous in order to have success and the lifestyle business that you really want. It's going to take time. It does. It takes time and I'm a big advocate for failure. I love it. When my clients fail, sometimes You learn faster. That's so good. You know, get it out there, failing Well, so we can move on. You know, and then just to the question you asked before about balance, I actually am not an advocate for balance. I build companies for harmony. So I really feel like if you're building a company that has to be balanced, like half life, half business, then at one point in time, one of those things is going to fall and I am not willing to let family fall. And I'm also, I'm alright, I'm a dead set diehard entrepreneur, right? I am definitely not willing to let business fall. So I don't believe in balance. And I will say there are some times where I go on binges where I'll be like, we're working on a big project. I'm going to work 80 hours this week and I'm going to be up until 11 o'clock at night. You know, family watch out, you know, and everybody like, we're all we, we do entrepreneurship together kind of as a family. So like the kids know, and my husband knows and he owns two companies. So plans his stuff. I mean, it really is very cyclical. Now we always have to have this consistent block calendar schedule systems, but there are times when I'm like, I am all into this, like right now I'm binge recording podcast episodes for the summer because we travel four months a year with the kids three months in the summertime. I'm not recording podcasts when I'm traveling. So I'm literally killing myself to record podcast episodes to get them all done. That is not a 20 hour work week. Yeah. Well, and I love that. And I think that's where people get confused when they think balance has to be 50, 50, 50. But like you said, it's, it's really the harmony or the blend and it's going to go in waves. So obviously April right now is focused on business, but the summer it's going to be family doesn't mean it has to be 50, 50 every day. It just means you have to find what fuels you and then be dedicated in that time and space. Like I think that's a beautiful example of that. So let's go into your training, which is this thing you've coined as the sweet life system, which first of all, that name is awesome. So tell us about this. Like, what is it? And then what are the five steps that are within your Sweetlife system? So the Sweetlife system is a step-by-step process to design launch and grow a business around time location and family freedom. And the reason for this is because there are too many things that are thrown at new entrepreneurs. So we have to stay focused on where we are in that system. Like what phase they're called phases in the system in order to know what to do. If we're in one phase and we're doing things that are down the road, then it's going to take you longer to find success. So the Sweetlife system, actually I can share this on the show. It's so rare to actually be on a show that is Christianity and business. Yeah. There's so much new age in online business space. So it's such a tree. So thank you so much. So I was actually, it was like 2011, no 12. And and I was reading think and grow rich, which Napoleon Hill's fascinating, but a really weird guy, but fascinating. And before his time and entrepreneurship and I was going through it and I was studying there sprain, and literally, I feel like the Lord like drop this screen down in front of me and he's like, this is it. This is a roadmap because I'm like, how am I going to show? By that point in time, I had already coached thousands of women to launch their business. And at that point in time, I had already founded my own nonprofit organization. So I had built my own company that gave time and location freedom so that I could work in social entrepreneurship and my clients wanted to do the same thing. And I'm like, wait, but it just doesn't happen like that. Like there has to be something. So anyway, this picture was dropped down in front of me and it was like this roadmap. And I really feel like the Lord is like saying, you need to share this roadmap with women when they know where they are, then they're going to get where I've called them to be faster. And so our whole podcast, like if you listened to the, Sweetlife almost every single episode, I will be like, okay, if you're in phase two or three, this shows for you, if not turn it off because I don't want to be a distraction. And so I'm really big on making sure people know where they are in the roadmap, because otherwise it just takes longer. So anyway, the suite life system is broken up into five different phases and you work based on the phase that you were in. Once you've mastered that phase, then you get to move to the next phase in this system. I don't know if your listeners are like really into this shiny object syndrome. Like if you follow this roadmap, you will never fall like victim to shiny object syndrome. And so what happens is you work within that phase. So phase one is something that's skipped often, but being mamas, we know how important it is. Phase one is all about planning to launch. It's a full phase. So it's about planning to launch your business. And we talk a lot about preparing your family, talking to your kids, even if they're at a young age about, you know, okay, this is what we're going to do. This is, you know what it might look like. Here's some ways you can help me, even if it's playing quietly with Legos on the floor, like full on family systems. That also phase one is a time where for those people that are working a full-time job would transition to figure out, you know, like what do I believe my calling or my first step is what do I believe my purpose is? And the whole goal of phase one is figuring out your why, because we don't have our why down even before you start any work, it's going to be very difficult to be successful. And so it's a super cool, beautiful face, but it's often skipped over because it's not like business strategy, right? But if you miss that, you're going to run into problems. And then phase two is actually launch. This is when you're like, okay, I'm going to actually start actively working in this. And some of my clients actually stay in this launch phase for 18 months. Launch can last a while. And the only purpose of launch is to actually do just that. It's not writing a book and it's not, you know, launching a podcast and it's not launching online courses. This is like, it's broke actually break up the launch phase into three sub phases, which is something that we could talk about another time in depth. But it's basically like, who's your ideal client? You know, who are you serving? What is your niche? What is your business model? Which has to be decided, especially if you're building a company around lifestyle freedom, you don't just want to, you know, do something cause everybody else is doing. It has to be really mindful. And then it's all about tackling the technology that we all hate and building your first funnels and building your first lead magnet and really getting off the ground, creating your messaging, building your first audience, growing your list and those things after you do that, you, in my experience and what I do with my clients is it's not going to be perfect. And so therefore you need that time. And that's what my launch program is about. And again, like I mentioned, it's like 12 months to get it right. It's testing attraction. I have a question on there. Sure. Yeah. So during launch, they are actually actively building this brand, right. They're showing up on social, they're putting a message into the world. They are potentially blogging or podcasting to start building the following. Is that Yes. That is the primary goal of that. So Are they selling anything at all? Yes. Yes. So the whole purpose of launch is to sell, improve your minimum viable product. Okay. So it's establishing your first offer, your first package, your first retreat, your first gig, you know, whatever that is that you are delivering or selling in it's proving that is in fact successful. You're becoming more of an expert in your niche, right? Because you have to practice It's practice. It's getting feedback for some people it's beta launch. But yes, by the end of the first year, you know, our launch system is that if you go through the process and you're mindfully knowing what you're building and, and working with clients and making money by the end of the first year, you've proven your business to be viable and successful. And you're definitely making a good deal of money. And that's what that whole entire launch process is about. It's really testing and traction. So it could be, you know, I don't know who most of your listeners are, but if they're coaches or service providers, you know, it could be, say like a birth doula, for example, it's selling your birth doula services. That could be your, you know, your thing. If it's a health coach, it could be, you know, creating your first program or whatever, you know, whatever that may be or working with people. One-On-One sure It's like your signature thing. Like the one thing you can start with that, you know, you are an expert in yes. Or that you want to become the expert in, right? Yeah. And you know, we have a program called your signature offer and there's two kinds of offers. There's a foundational offer. And then there's an influencer offer. Like think the school or Amy Porterfield influencer offer, right. Everybody has to start out with this foundational offer and that's how you become known. So the phase two is all about establishing your message testing and making sure you've found your niche and making sure your foundational signature offer is killing it. I mean, it's doing great. And you're connecting with the right people on social media. Your number one goal in phase two is making money off that signature offer. Now what's not popular for people to hear is that sometimes they'll launch something and it doesn't work. That's why it takes a year because you have to be willing to know that entrepreneurship is like a hypothesis. It's a full-blown educated guess and as much research as we do, you got to get it out and you have to test your scientific theory to see if people love it. As much as you hoped that they would, you know, hard to hear them. Now, I was going to say, it's hard to hear that they don't, but it time to test that. And the interesting that you say that, because I know I went through that process and it was almost, yes, I had failed things like I did a group coaching and like four people joined and then I'm like, okay, is it that, is that the course? No, it was actually that I was focused on the wrong avatar. Right. I was focused on only network marketers, but if I hadn't gotten out there and started meeting with people, I wouldn't know. Well, which type of people do I vibe with. And then if I hadn't put out courses and done, I did a group coaching one time on funnels and I'm like, I will never do it again. Like I can never do this again. It didn't light me up. I hated it. But if I hadn't done it and you're right, it was about 18 months of trial and error. So it's so cool that you say that. I think people are so afraid to try something if they think, but that's not going to be my end goal. What if, you know, and I didn't know that wasn't my end goal and nobody cared. Nobody's even looking at me. Right. Like I'm in my own lane. So I love that. You're saying this like confirmation that I didn't just said that. Yeah, no, that happens all the time. Like as a matter of fact, a lot of times I see women build an amazing foundational offer, but it is the wrong ICA. But the only way you would know that is if you give yourself an opportunity to test and grow during that time too. Cause like who we think we really want to serve, you know, might not actually be, who's totally drawn to us. And that's always an interesting thing when that happens. So here we are talking about growing a platform and building a community and creating rapport and trust in your community. And I wanted you to know that the best way to do that, in my opinion is starting a podcast. I've been pouring into my podcast and I have never seen growth. This impactful, this specific to my ideal avatar and the direct correlation between the growth in my email list, my community and my bank account and my profits. Because when you start to pour into your niche, using a podcast, using audio, which is the preferred method of learning almost every single time, you are consistently showing up. And there's no way that you are not going to have growth in your business, which is phase two, assist a friend, head on over and check out my absolutely free webinar, 10 steps to podcasting. It's at Bitly B I T dot L Y slash 10, the number 10 steps to podcasting Bitly slash 10 steps to podcasting and see if it might be right for you. Okay. Love that step. And I think that's interesting that people are skipping that step because they're going to step three, which you read mentioned earlier. So let's talk about that. Yeah. So step three is growth and scaling. And so in step three, and by the way, I have a full map for you guys that will give us. So if you're like driving your car, cooking dinner and you can't really pay attention, but we'll give you a map to this. You don't forget. But step three is all about growth and scaling and it is all about taking what you've done. Well, your proven minimum viable product, and actually now increasing your revenue streams, launching online courses, launching membership sites, doing group coaching. So whether you have solely an online business or an in-person business or a hybrid, let's say you meet with some people one-on-one face-to-face and you have an online course, whatever that is. Step three is a time for you to don't forget, look at your life. If you want to be the last entrepreneur, you don't launch a course just because everybody else is doing it, don't even launch a podcast cause everybody else is doing it. It really needs to be mindfully understood of how it's going to affect your life. And one of the cautions I will say, is it most influencers that are teaching, like the end all be all on how to launch a course or how to do these things, don't have kids. And so just be really, really careful to hold that up against your business life and what that would look like. And so step three is all about making wise choices on how you're going to scale. So again, with a lot of my clients, it's, it is courses and membership sites. It could be retreats or events, even virtual summits. So if you want to host a virtual summit and it's just about figuring out what additional streams of income you can start bringing into your business, it's about growing your brand, growing your list and growing your team. That is the point in time, which you cannot grow to the way that probably most of you guys have a vision to, until you start delegating and building a team of like minded people with you. And so step three, and usually my clients are in for a period of around three years. So somebody, you can stay there forever and you, you stay and you stay in that particular stage until you've reached the financial benchmarks that you need to, to achieve that lifestyle, freedom that you want it to. So really that's the stage in which you hit that, That, that lifestyle is three, because two you're, you're still really figuring yourself out as an entrepreneur you're testing. And I think most of the people listening to this show to my show, they're in step stage two. And so they're looking at stage three with dreamy eyes, you know, like, Oh, I just really want to get there. Well, and so the problem is what they do is they're like, Oh my gosh, all those people are launching a course. I'm going to get there faster. Cause I launch a course, but they don't have an audience or, you know, it's, it's very, very difficult. So in the, in that's why we have this system, because there are some, some sequential things that really can actually grow your business faster than jumping ahead when you're ready. But yes, I mean, I do feel like we have a lifestyle because that's default. Like my lifestyle would never sacrifice no matter what phase I was in, but we do have to understand that if that lifestyle happens to be only 20 hours a week, that is given in step two, it is going to take longer to get to step three. And that's just the reality of it. But there's a lot of us like me, that's where I was in the very beginning that I wouldn't sacrifice that nor could I, even if I wanted to for any. Yeah. So yeah. So phase three is all about scaling and again, you can stay there forever. And then phase four is now going back and building a set 20 hour work week business model. And that is like the true, I don't know if anybody has ever read present over perfect Shannon Nyquist book. She talks about this burnout and burnout and burnout and her company was growing and she was speaking. She was in phase three for way too long in the book is written from her point. She's a mama. The book is written from her perspective in phase four. And she's like, I realized I needed to make this shift because when you're making money and your brand is growing and you know, you're becoming an influencer in your space, it's kind of hard to actually be like, okay, I'm out. You know, so, and you're not totally out, but phase four is mindfully doing more, more business modeling. Your company is still working on autopilot. You have passive income products and courses and membership sites and whatever, but you have a team that's in place to help for your time. So you can live your life with no regrets and really be with your kids more. And then phase five is not for everybody. Like I mentioned, the beginning, I'm an environmental nonprofit founder phase five is for those people that are really interested in social entrepreneurship, like missions work or giving. And so phase five is where it doesn't even have to have anything to do with your business whatsoever, but whatever you're passionate about, it could be connected, but whatever you're passionate about in addition to your company, you have built a company and model the business around a purpose driven life so that you can go into that other type of work. And usually what happens in the full cycle is that I have clients that will kind of go down, they'll go through one, two, three, four, and then they have a new idea because we're entrepreneurs who always, and then they just start the whole cycle again with a new brand. So you could actually be in two separate places in the Sweetlife system with two separate brands or companies. That's so cool. And I just love that you are so realistic about it and it's taking people half a decade to get through all of those stages. And that's that's reality, right? Such a cool thing. Well, Oh my gosh. I've loved that. Thank you so much. I think I learned so much from kind of all of the entrepreneurship stuff that you've talked about, but for me, most importantly, it's understanding these stages and then taking a look at yourself and saying, where am I making no apologies for it? And then digging into spending enough time in that stage before you skip to the next thing, because it's so tempting. I know it's like, I want to pray. And I, and I did, I created a product first. It had nothing, you know, and what happened three years in I'm going, Oh, whoops. Now I have to build the community and the following. So if you do it in the right way, when you do launch it explodes when you launch the actual stuff. Right. Cool. Yeah. It's very, and, and I catch myself in this because I, I own, you know, multiple companies and, and I just really, I think that once we have clarity and focus and peace and where we are and understanding, and you know, that it actually makes you go a lot faster. Most people think they're in phase three, like of course, a hundred percent. Like if so many people go through and they're like, okay, well that's me on phase three. Right? And then they go through and they take the assessment and they're, they're thinking, Oh, okay, I miss these really foundational steps. And it will always come back and nip them if they don't go back and fix it. And they won't be able to grow the way they wanted to. Well, this has been amazing. So how do people dig more into this system April? How do they find you? And then tell us, you have a podcast with all kinds of amazing content Share with us, all the things. Thanks. So I'll just direct everybody back to the podcast. It's probably the best place. First of all, if you are wondering where you guys are in the Sweetlife system, or if you want the steps within the phase that you are then cruise over to sweet life podcast.com forward slash quiz, and you can just take the self-assessment, it's like six quick questions and you can take the assessment and you'll find out exactly where you are. You'll get the whole system roadmap. But besides that, the podcast is business trainings based on the phases. And they're for moms like us. I love it. Yeah. And it's sweet life entrepreneur podcast, Sweet life entrepreneur podcast. I love it. All right, my friend. Well, thank you for sharing this time with us. It's been a blessing. It's been so fun getting to know you. Thanks. Thanks for having me on the show. Wow. I learned So much. And again, the takeaway for me is that when you are launching a business, there's a time associated with that. When you are scaling a business and testing things and creating your first signature offer, whatever that means for you, that takes time pouring into building a platform could take 18 months. And I'm a Testament to that, right, ladies. So it's taking the time and really focusing on the stage that you're in within building that big lifestyle dream that you have. So I'm going to leave you with an abundance prayer. And I just want to pray over you that you recognize that God is here, cheering for you, that the call in your heart is there on purpose. And that you have the consistency, the dedication, and the patience to see his call through that. You take the steps necessary to grow and scale your business. Over time. I pray that you don't sacrifice your morals. You don't sacrifice anything when it comes to creating the business of your dreams and that you enjoy every moment, every failure, every loss in the process, because ultimately it's going to lead you to greatest success story, because I tell you what my friend, God qualifies the called and you are the called I'm cheering for you. Love and light Steph, If you like moms saw, Hey mama, real quick, before you go, if you found value in today's podcast and you learn something new, take a screenshot for me, post it up in your Instagram stories and be sure to tag me because together we can empower, educate and shift the way that mom is looking at life. Because sister, friend, we actually can have it all let's claim it.
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Stefanie GassLots of fancy unused education. Podcast Coach, Clarity Coach, & Top #25 Ranked Podcast Host for Christian Entrepreneurs.  Archives
February 2021
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