Ep155 Fired up and ready for 2022

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Show Transcription: 

Hi Friend and welcome back to her Empire Builder Podcast for 2022!

I am so excited to have you here. Hopefully that high pitch in my voice, they didn't blow your headphones out. I am so excited to be back. For regular podcast listeners you might have been able to hear. Towards the end of the year, I was having a tough time, like a lot of people. There was so much rise in anxiety and everything, just feeling so much harder than what it actually was.

And sometimes we just need a really great break to be able to reset, get perspective and get recharged ready to hit it again. And that is exactly what I did. And so today for our first episode back, I want to talk to you about you know what was going on last year, what I've got planned for this year, and how I've got my mojo back. Let's do it. 

Hi Friend, I'm Tina Tower, business strategist and digital online Empire Builder. I've been in business since I was 20 years old and have since built and sold for businesses. I started in the world of online courses in 2017 and grew to a seven figure annual turnover in just under two years. To say I love the game of business is an understatement. I'm a world traveller, a mama, a wife, a best selling author and I love the freedom that we have to create the business and life that we want to live. It takes courage to break the rules and shake things up and do it your way. Through Her Empire Builder, I share my experience and bring you lessons from some of the world's best to help you dream big plan well and take massive action. It is absolutely possible to run a thriving, growing business, positively impacts the world and have a beautiful personal life without hustling and working yourself into exhaustion. I want that for you. Let's enjoy the journey my friend. 

Hello, and welcome. So you may have noticed there is a new intro happening. So this year, we've got a new intro, we've got a new cover to kind of reflect the the changes and the new vibe that we have going on at Tower Co. So I think, you know, this is my 18th year in business. So it's been a while. And one thing that I know for sure, is that it always changes. It's a constant experiment, nothing stays the same. There's always different seasons of the business with different team members coming and going different products and services that we're doubling down on different stages of my kids lives that have kind of dictated what I do with business. And this year. I'm really, my whole theme for the year is fun and ease. So if you've picked a word for the year, which I know a lot of people do that, I also do that. And I've gone with a really simple one this year, last year was grounded, which oh my gosh, we ended up being a little bit more grounded, be careful for what you wish for right. But the reason it was grounded was we moved into our new home in November 2020. And we had moved 11 times in 18 years, and just finished a year of world travel. And we really wanted to make a base, we really wanted to be more grounded, be more calm

and have that that whole sense of life there. And we kind of got more grounded than what we wanted to. Thanks, pandemic.

But, this year it is all about fun. Fun is the word and I have a secondary word of ease. Because I've always had you know, if I was ever going to get a tattoo it would be what if it was easy, or this too shall pass. I don't know which one but one of those two. Not that I am ever going to but that's what I would if I was like a tattoo person the end so I'm really trying to embrace the the ease this year and and not letting things build up to the point that they did last year. And this is the thing that I think so many people and you're probably the same I know it was very true for me is with everything going on in the world and the collective weight of the world things when you're that busy and that clouded. Everything just gets that little bit harder. Right so you know what it's like when you have problems. One problem in isolation you can roll with you can deal with but when you've got problem on top of problem on top of problem that exacerbates it and it feels like everything is so much harder than it actually is. And while we have had a spectacular year in the business and in family and everything went really well. Like, if you look at the kind of Cliff Notes of it, it was difficult. And at the end, I was exhausted. I have never spent so much time inside four walls, and I am a traveller, I’m an explorer. You know, I could Vagabond around the world forever if if I had the chance. I love freedom, I love flexibility, it is two of my highest values. And it was really hard to stay in the in the four walls and to just be tied to Zoom all day, every day. And I don't think I was alone in that feeling. And I'm very well aware that, you know, we're privileged AF. But it doesn't take it away that, you know, we're all having this human experience. We've all got, we've all got our own problems to deal with. 

So, as the year finished, all I needed was a break, I needed to be able to breathe, I needed to be able to reset. And so I took that, and sometimes I'm reluctant to take that break. But the whole theme of this year is if it's not fun, I'm not doing it. And that I know a lot of people say things like that, you can read memes on an Instagram Tile. And it's like, if it's not a hell yes, then it's a no. That is, you know, all well and good. But, in the first couple of years of a business, and when money is tight, you have to say yes, you actually can't afford to say no, because you don't know, the biggest things that are bringing in the biggest results. And you don't know where your skillset lies, you don't have that reliability on knowing what levers to pull that are going to give the best results for the least amount of time and effort and what ones you can leave that actually won't make a difference to the bottom line and to the customer experience long term. I spent a long time in that stage of business. And so for me, when I started this business, it was it was very much going you know what, I'll just say yes to everything. And I’ll see what lands and what I enjoy, and this whole new thing. And I've only this is my fourth year in online business. And so for me, it's still feels relatively new, it's still a really big experimentation. And I like to work hard, I like to do so many different things. And I really like taking every opportunity. For me, it feels very, very strange. If you make a list of all the things that you can do to build your business, improve your business, I enhance the customer experience, improve customer results, there are so many things. And when I look at those lists, my whole temptation is to go okay, I will do all of it.

I'm 100% all in. But what I have learned is I am but one woman, I work fast, I work efficiently. I work productively, but I am but one woman. And so we look at going you can either expand your team really, really big, and keep expanding the business or keep it small. And this is where I'm at at the moment. I spoke a bit about this last year because I knew, you know, that's that's where I'm heading. And that's what I'm doing. And you know, it's a very conscious decision for me to keep it contained and go, You know what, I could build a $10 million business, I have no doubt whatsoever. If I went, I want to build a $10 million business in a few years. That's exactly what I would have. But at what cost. And so as I said earlier, my biggest values is that freedom and flexibility and having fun, I very much believe that we have one life, we are here for such a short amount of time and our life is supposed to be impactful and purpose driven, but also joyful and fun. And I don't want to get to the end of every day with my brain exhausted and not having the energy to go and move my body because I am that depleted and not having the energy to hang out with my kids because I'm so tired. And I noticed multiple times last year going in and my kids wanting to tell me about their day and different things and I was listening but I also wasn't 100% there and I was kind of just like, ‘You know what, guys, I'm just really tired. I'm just gonna go to my room.’ And that is not the life I want to live it that is not the mom I want to be and so we have to make these conscious decisions and that's what I love about having a break is it gives massive perspective. And one of the one of the quotes that I really really gets my goal he says two quotes that I hate right Money doesn't buy happiness. He's one of them because oh my gosh, not having it makes it really hard and makes you sad. And second one is design a life you don't need a break from. Now the reason that gets my ghoulies is because it makes you feel like, if you need a break, and you want to break that somehow you're doing life wrong. And I love having a break, I have a fabulous life. And I think it's only enhanced by having a break. And you look at, you know, all of the best high performing people in the world, they all need recovery time, they all need a break, they all need that rejuvenation. And it doesn't mean that life isn't great, and you're designing it wrong, it just means that we need a break. Totally okay. 

So I love having a break because it gives perspective. And for me over the break, you know, I just got back from two weeks in Fiji. And having the sun back on my skin and swimming and different food and different smells. Different language like all of the beautiful, beautiful things that we get from travel, I've got to tell you guys, oh my gosh. So I'll segue a little bit on to Fiji. So like everybody in the world, so many hopes and dreams broken over the last couple of years in terms of travel and vacations and all of the different life events that we had planned and celebrations. And it was a part of me that didn't believe we were going to be able to go it's our first overseas trip in two years. And you know, I thought the pandemic would get in the way we've just had a big resurgence again as a new strain. And we got to the airport two days before we were due to leave, there was a cyclone that that went through Fiji and then the day before we were supposed to leave, there was an underwater volcano erupted in Tonga, which then put ash all through the sky, like and so it goes.

How many things can get in the way. And so we got to the airport, checked in went through security and everything and then half an hour before boarding got escorted back out and the flight cancelled for 24 hours. And so I was going you know, we may still be able to go, but maybe it's still off the cards. Anyway, we finally got there and walking down the aero bridge, I cried my eyes out, we got onto the plane, they handed me the champagne and I cried like crazy person. And they're looking at me like are you okay, and then when we got to Fiji, and you get off the boat on the island, and they sing and it's just the most beautiful thing ever. And the warm air is just like a big hug for your soul. And I'm there like everyone's like smiling, and I'm there just snot crying like just like total snot crying, it was such a release from the last couple of years to just know, you know what, we can relax, we're safe, we're okay, you can just relax. And that my friend is why I love having a break is it's really nice to be in a totally different environment and kind of check out and check back in to something brand new. And imagine all of the parts of your life that you want to maintain what you want to say yes to in the future, what you want to keep doing, but also what you want to stop doing what you want to say no to. And sometimes we can get caught in these patterns in life where we just keep saying yes to everything. Because we think we have to. And having that space and having that perspective allows you to go actually, this is no longer serving me with the stage of life that I'm at. And so that's where I was looking at was going, You know what, I've been doing this for a few years now. We've been at a million dollars a year for a couple of years, where do I want to go next? What is most important to me. 

So both of my kids have started high school this year, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. But it's a new stage of life for us. You know, they’re really grounded back to that word. They're really grounded. They want to stay put, I want to travel a lot. So you know, I'm lucky my husband doesn't love travel as much as I do. But he's perfectly happy for me to go and do that. And so I've got five weeks away in March where I'm going travelling with with a girlfriend for her 40th birthday. And then I'm going across for our Retreat in Palm Springs for our members if you want to get on that herempirebuilder.com And then going across to Miami and visiting some friends there and having a book party book launch party for million dollar micro business. Then I'm going down to Costa Rica for a business retreat, then back into the US and I'm going to run my launch from the US and then I'm going straight from there to meet the family back in Fiji to speak. And so it's going to be a fun start to the year and a part of me was going there's no way we're going to pull this off. But after just travelling overseas I'm now so hopeful and going I think we can I think this

is like I think life is coming back. And I feel alive again and hopeful again, and I am so here for that. So this year, I'm definitely focused on customer success. 

So I have, you know, so much of my work revolves around my Her Empire Builder programme. And we've got, I reckon about 10 to 12 ladies that are very close to hitting the million dollar mark this year. And I think that they will surpass that this year. And we've got a lot of people that are doing their first launches that are, you know, we just had one person that, you know, her best launch was $20,000 that she'd done. And then she joined the programme did all the things that she put in a massive, massive effort, I can't take all the credit, she did the work that she finished at $91,000, for her launch week, which is just amazing. And so we're seeing all of these results. And I really want to put all the effort into the customer experience and success of that. But I don't really have the, you know, the hustle of it. So I'm very much this year and going, I love my work, I love my life. For me, I want to get back into the fun and the ease and the lightness of it again, and have recovery from the last couple of years of discovering this new industry of working my little tushy off, of having the pandemic. And so actually, if the business does not grow, like if my revenue doesn't grow, I'm okay with that. In saying that every other year that I've said, You know what, I'm just gonna focus on quality and not growth, and we grow.

So it's a strange, strange thing. But more than that, I've got priorities that are above revenue growth. And for me, it's getting that enjoyment back into it. And I'm okay with things taking time. So, you know, I've got the plans to put three new short courses on our front end in small offers to help people. But they might not be done. Like my goal was to have them all done by February, but they might not be done until August, September, and I'm okay with that. Even saying that kind of makes my head Twitch a little bit like, yes, it's safe to slow down, it's okay. You don't have to do everything right now. And I'm saying that message for you. But I'm equally saying that message for me.

Because I don't want to hustle anymore. I've done my time, like the experiments and the foundation are done. I have my base of business. And so I don't need to be doing that anymore. And neither do you probably if you're in the first year or two of business, then yes, yes, you do. You need to, you know, you do need to work your tushie off, but then it's recognising that, hey, you've got your foundation, you know what levers to pull, let's pull more of the ones that are going to give us the biggest results. And let's be comfortable to say no to the things that are no longer serving us. And it's very easy to say that it's very easy to want that it's actually very hard to do that. Because most of us are people pleasers and we don't want to let people down and we don't want to disappoint people. But our time and energy is finite. So focus on the things that are most important and forget the rest, and we will be okay. So yeah, my biggest unlearning that I wrote down from the break was, if you're not working hard, you're not worthy. And that belief for me is what has driven a lot of the overwork that I have experienced is my worthiness is tied to the hard work. And if I feel like I'm not giving 100% And I'm not like going above the speed limit, and I'm not just like really putting everything I've got into it, that somehow I'm not deserving of it. And so I'm trying to look more in the service and the impact as the deserve ability and not the hours work because hours worked is arbitrary. I mean, you can spend a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing.

And so sometimes, we have to really take notice of the the beliefs that we're holding on to and ask ourselves, Is that helpful? Is it the most helpful thing that we can believe right now. And one of the biggest things that travelled taught me is how different different cultures beliefs are, and that we actually have the power to change our beliefs at any time. We can decide what we want to believe and what life we want to lead. It's a brave courageous thing to do, but it's your life and you only get to live at once. And one of the most beautiful privileges that we have is being able to have the freedom and the opportunity to design a life and a business that we love. And if you've got that freedom and opportunity, it's your responsibility to do it and show other people that they can do the same.

So that's what I'm trying to do. And I'm trying to work a little bit less this year, because I know that all my business is about customers getting results. That's it. And so if I can make that more streamlined and efficient and help my customers get better results, that's really what my business exists for. And so you know, I just want to have a very successful, profitable business that makes a huge impact and delivers so much value, like that's easy. Simple, right, like super successful, profitable business that makes a massive impact and delivers so much value. That's it. 

So have the courage to break the rules and shake things up and do it your way. It's absolutely possible to run a thriving business, and change the world and enjoy your life without exhaustion.

And I want that for you. So that is my thoughts on the start of this year, I have a lot of amazing things in store for you, we'll be doing a lot more educational content on social media.

So that I can help you grow in those beginning stages. And then we'll have some some short courses that, you know, I'll create when I can, when I'm not travelling, hopefully. And then her Empire Builder is where it's at. So if you're not part of Her Empire Builder, we have two different levels. So we've got The Club, which you know, doesn't have our live events and doesn't have small group accountability calls, which means it's much more affordable. It's also easier for you to dip in and out of, but as a course creator, I actually think every single course creator should be part of Her Empire Builder, because the templates, the processes, the systems, the automation, the teaching in there is so incredibly valuable. But then if you want that next level, if you want to be part of the community, and have that interaction and have that access to me and have accountability calls and live events, then you can apply for the mastermind level of that as well. So check that out at herempirebuilder.com. I'd love to help you grow this year, because that's really that's really what I'm focusing on. So create the business of your dreams. Let's enjoy the journey. I'll see you soon.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Her Empire Builder. If you loved it, please share it on Instagram for your friends and be sure to tag me at @tina_tower so I can say thank you. And if you really want to deliver me smiles, you can pop a review on Apple podcasts. I would love to hear from you. So if you have any questions at all, email me at [email protected]. And if you would like to work with me further, all of the free resources and my courses can be found at tinatower.com. Now I truly hope this podcast gives you so much value and you can use it to dream big plan well and take massive action in building your very own empire. That's just for you. Have the greatest day.