May 15, 2025 • 37 mins
Julie's brand new Big Gorgeous Goals: Official Workbook is here! Order your copy today.
Fabienne Fredrickson shares how solo business owners can make powerful impact with their work while creating time for rest, joy, and pleasure. She reveals the framework she used to grow her business by 538% in just three years.
For 20+ years, Fabienne Fredrickson has powerfully mentored thousands of women business owners to grow, then scale their businesses, earning them tens of millions collectively each year while increasing their time off to enjoy lives they love.
Her Leveraged Business methodology is based on her nearly 15 years of experience in generating multiple 7 figures annually with three children at home, while taking 14 weeks of unplugged vacations each year. It is proven to work.
Fabienne’s revolutionary book, The Leveraged Business: How You Can Go From Overwhelmed at 6-Figures to 7 Figures (and Get Your Life Back) is the new definitive roadmap on how she’s done it with heart and how you can too, without sacrificing your life. Click here to get your FREE copy! You can find out more about Fabienne on her website, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
You can connect with Julie on LinkedIn or Instagram.
Find Julie's writing at her blog or by ordering her book Big Gorgeous Goals and the brand new official companion workbook!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie (00:04):
Welcome to Figure 8, where we feature inspiring
stories of women entrepreneurswho have grown their businesses
to seven and eight figuresrevenue.
If you're in the mix of growinga bigger business, these
stories are for you.
Join us as we explore where thetough spots are, how to
overcome them and how to prepareyourself for the next portion
(00:27):
of the climb.
I'm your host, Julie Ellis.
I'm an author, entrepreneur anda growth and leadership coach
who co-founded, grew and exitedan eight-figure business.
This led me to exploring whysome women achieve great things,
and that led to my book BigGorgeous Goals.
(00:47):
Let's explore the systems,processes and people that help
us grow our businesses to newheights.
If you're interested in growingyour business, this podcast
will help.
Now let's get going.
Hello and welcome to thisepisode of Figure 8.
Today, my guest is FabienneFredrickson, and she is a
(01:12):
powerful catalyst for solobusiness owners who want to make
a powerful impact with theirwork.
She is an expert in teachingyou how to leverage all
different parts of your businessso that you free yourself to
live the life that you want anddeserve, and when I met her, I
immediately saw how this fitswith big, gorgeous goals and I
(01:34):
couldn't wait to talk.
So thank you for joining metoday, Fabienne.
Fabienne (01:38):
It's such a pleasure.
Thanks for having me.
Julie (01:40):
Oh, it's so good and I'm so interested in you know the
system that you have and how youcame to.
You know want to take your lifeback from you.
Know the rat race and I thinkin North America we're all used
to.
You know you start your job andyou get two weeks vacation and
you work really hard and thatdoesn't always lead us to the
(02:01):
life that we want to live thatdoesn't always lead us to the
life that we want to live.
Fabienne (02:07):
I think that's a really masculine perspective of
provide provide at all costs.
But the feminine likes beautyand downtime and joy and
pleasure and I really likehaving both.
I believe you can have impactand abundance and you can have
(02:27):
joy, downtime and pleasure atthe same time.
Julie (02:30):
Yeah, and I think we get caught up in that impact and
abundance chase and we forget toor don't think we can balance
the two.
Fabienne (02:44):
Well, I have lots of thoughts on that.
I could just dive right in, butI don't know if you're ready,
I'll just say this the societythat women we women are raised,
(03:11):
reared and bred is a societywhere we value money before
people.
I'm pretty it's a littlecontroversial what I'm saying.
We put hard work above restingand all the values that are
typically masculine.
And I just want to say, for therecord, I love the masculine,
but we are in a masculinebusiness world.
(03:33):
You know, if you look at it, ahundred years ago women didn't
have in in normal situations,women didn't have seven figure
businesses, um, certainly notwith 14 weeks of vacation a year
.
So everything that is masculineis rewarded in our society and
we're just trying to clobber ourway through it and figure out
(03:57):
how we can have both.
Julie (04:00):
Yeah, and I think that that's a really important
distinction for womenentrepreneurs, women who are
starting businesses, because wewear a lot of hats in our lives
we're mothers, we're daughters,we're CEOs, we're all the
different caregiving, we'recaptain of our household, we do
(04:21):
a lot of different things and wekeep a lot of balls up in the
air, and so figuring out how todo that with more ease- yeah,
even if we have a housekeeper, ananny, we are still doing
laundry, we're still growing todo the groceries planning the
meals.
Fabienne (04:41):
Groceries planning the meals, the, the, the clean,
cleaning, shuttling the kids tothis, that and the other.
Julie (04:56):
We have about four full-time jobs that don't
include running a seven figureor eight figure business, yeah,
and now you talked about alreadythe 14 weeks of vacation and
the time, and I mean you live inParis, which sounds fabulous
and wonderful, one of myfavorite cities, but that is a
different life view, I think,living in a country like France
(05:18):
and a city there like Paris.
So one more vacation isexpected to be taken and
expected to be granted, but even14 weeks, I think, would be
generous by those standards.
Fabienne (05:32):
Yeah, and I'll say this while vacation time here in
France is normal to have sevenweeks as a employee, what is not
normal is a woman making sevenfigures.
I don't know, other than thefriends I've made who joined my
program, I don't know any sevenfigure women, because women here
(05:57):
are still taught that money isnot something that you generate.
You let your husband generateit.
Again, I'm being controversial,but I've been.
I was raised in France and I'vebeen back for this is my ninth
year and I was told in nouncertain ways that we don't
(06:17):
talk about money here and if you, as a woman, have your own
business and you make a lot ofmoney, shh
Julie (06:22):
Right.
Don't tell anyone, don't sayanything.
Interesting, interesting.
Fabienne (06:26):
So yeah, those societal norms that still keep
us down.
I really believe in having itall, whatever all means to you.
And I don't mean the having itall meaning like four Italian
sports cars in your garage andyou know all of that.
I mean like what does having itall as a woman in business,
(06:50):
with a family, and you know likewhat does that mean to you.
And when we start to break downwhat that means, I'll say this
I've worked with tens ofthousands of women.
It's never about the Italiansports car, it's about taking
Fridays off, it's about travel,it's about time with your spouse
and the kids and doing reallylovely things more than you know
(07:16):
, I love Chanel, but more thanall the bling, bling, bling real
women like us I'm throwingmyself into that.
I just want a lot of time off toluxuriate.
Julie (07:30):
Yeah, and I think you know you talk about this in your
book.
It's really important for womento have their own financial
independence.
Fabienne (07:39):
So I tell everybody who will listen and I've got one
daughter and two boys and Itell them to make their own
money and lots of it.
But especially for women, thatis when you have a voice and a
choice in your life.
And if you think about friends,you know, or women in tough
(08:30):
places, they are beholden tosomebody else whether it's a
toxic job or living with aparent or you know I have chills
just saying this in an abusivesituation or relationship that
she wouldn't be in if she madeher own money, lots of it, and
felt financial safety andsecurity.
And I'll say one more thing, ifallowed to bring this up In any
situation, in any powersituation, the one with the most
money has the final say andtypically that is not a woman.
So a woman in history usuallydoesn't have the final say
unless she makes her own moneyand lots of it.
(08:51):
We started very philosophicallyin this podcast episode, but
I'm happy to get more tacticalif you want.
Julie (08:59):
Well, and that's exactly where I'd love to go, because
the one thing that struck me.
So I read your book here we are.
Yeah, thank you, and it reallystruck me.
I felt very kindred spirit withyou around.
You think big, lofty things.
You have big, gorgeous goals,practical framework, path and
(09:28):
way for women and other soloentrepreneurs to set up
businesses, to give them theleverage that they want?
Fabienne (09:32):
Yeah, I have.
So I've been in business for 25years.
I've worked with a lot ofmentors, I've gone to my fair
share of masterminds andthree-day events and blah, blah,
blah and read all the books,and the one thing that we women
don't have enough of is time.
So if I'm going to invest inanything, I want you to give it
(09:54):
all to me, like, give me thestrategy, give me the exactly
how-to Lay out the plan for me.
Otherwise, it's not going to bea good use of my time, and that
may sound arrogant, but I'mjust being discerning in that I
will put my time and my moneywhere somebody is going to tell
(10:14):
me how to do something withclarity that makes sense for me
and that is actionable.
So this is how I've beenshowing up for 25 years and I
continue.
This is how I've been showingup for 25 years and I continue.
Julie (10:28):
Yeah, well, and you talk in the book about you want time
for vacations and, from a workperspective, to spend it in your
zone of genius, yes, yes.
And how important that is,because I think we all start
businesses with a hustlementality of you're doing all
the things and somehow then youtie yourself to.
Well, I have to do that.
Fabienne (10:48):
Yes, and you remember I don't have to really spend too
much time talking about thisthat all women are socialized to
overgive, that their value isin what they give and what they
do.
That goes above and beyond.
So we're valuable when we putthe needs of others before our
(11:11):
own.
We're valuable when we show upand all of that.
What I've learned is that whenyou embolden yourself my company
is called Bold Heart right sowhen you embolden yourself to
set boundaries and elegantly andto take back your time
(11:33):
elegantly from those you haveallowed to hijack it, and you
become very discerning about howyou use your time, not only and
I'm happy to describe exactlyI'm not sure I put it in the
book the 80-20 rule, but I'mhappy to describe it here
because it is a key,foundational way that women get
(11:53):
to seven and eight figures withtheir time back.
But when you are using yourtime in a way that is very
strategic, only doing the thingsthat come to you naturally,
that are within your innateabilities, that are aligned with
your passion and your values,that's where you make your most
(12:14):
money.
So I use a unique brilliancefour quadrant worksheet with my
clients and I'll explain it nowif If it's of any use to someone
.
There's the.
There's the unique brilliancequadrant.
I didn't make it up, it'ssomething that I've converted
from what I've read in books.
(12:34):
There's your unique brilliancequadrant, your excellence, your
competence and your incompetence, and I'll share this, Julie, is
most of us spend time in thebottom two quadrants, with a
special focus on the thingswe're competent at.
About 80% of our time is on thebottom two quadrants of
(12:56):
competence and incompetence, butwhere we really make our own
money is in the uniquebrilliance quadrant.
The things we are passionateabout, the things that come to
us naturally, that feed us, thatwe would do for free all day
long and ask if we were to do itagain for free tomorrow.
We'd probably say, oh sure, I'dlove to, because we get fed and
(13:17):
that is where we want to spendour time.
And it requires being boldenough to be discerning and to
set boundaries.
Julie (13:31):
Yeah, and I think it's sometimes is the place where you
feel like nothing on your to-dolist gets done because of those
, but you're strategizing oryou're imagining the next things
and it can be hard to then letgo of and letting other people
(13:53):
do those things right, like youtalk in the book about.
You know, hiring the person youreally need versus sort of
plugging a hole with somebodywhere it's like, oh well, maybe
I could do with one day a week.
Fabienne (14:04):
Yeah, versus sort of plugging a hole with somebody
where it's like, oh well, maybeI could do with one day a week.
Yeah, we've not, as women, beentaught to receive, we've been
taught to give, but there is amartyr I'm just going to say a
(14:27):
martyr mentality that we areoften shaped just globally maybe
not you, maybe not me, butthere is residue of martyr where
we are celebrated for how muchwe give to others, like I
mentioned a moment ago but,conversely, we don't know how to
receive and to ask too muchmakes us a B word or greedy or
not nice, and so we don't chooseto.
But when we allow ourselves tothink bigger and to demand more
(14:53):
of ourselves and therefore sayno more often, hire the person
that will take us where we wantto go, not for where we are now,
to spend more if need be,although we, I've realized a
world-class team costs the exactsame thing as a mediocre team.
(15:14):
It's just we're not taught howto hire world-class people who
are affordable, and I've crackedit for myself using assessments
, using different processes,where, once you realize the kind
of person you need on your team, I talk about it in the book
(15:39):
and you hold boundaries withyourself around hiring that type
of person you feel safe totrust.
And when you feel safe to trust, you delegate more.
And when you delegate more, yougain back your time and you
multiply your productivity andyour results.
Julie (15:57):
Yeah, and that all is really about building that
culture of accountability whereyou know people show up very
invested in delivering includingyou, including you.
Fabienne (16:11):
I believe in and I talk about this in the second
chapter becoming the leader of aprocess-driven company and
having raising your standardsaround what you will allow and
not allow, and when you hire theright people, who are wired for
(16:34):
the job, who are people who buyinto your vision and feel like
they belong to something biggerthan themselves, when they work
with you towards your lifepurpose and the legacy of your
business.
You, you delegate more, and themore you delegate, the more you
(16:57):
can focus on what I call EGAexponential growth activities
and instead of working eighthours a day on stuff that
doesn't move the needle forward,you delegate a lot and you end
up really just using that time,or even a fraction of that time,
(17:18):
to work on things that willexponentially grow your business
exponentially grow yourbusiness.
Julie (17:27):
And it's amazing what happens when you do Well, and
you have some examples about how.
When you began implementingthese things, what kind of
growth you saw in your ownbusiness.
Fabienne (17:36):
Yeah, I was named three years in a row one of
America's fastest growingprivate companies by Inc
Magazine, by implementingexactly what you described in
chapter one and chapter two ofthe book, because I experienced
a 538% increase in my businessin three years.
Julie (18:04):
Which is amazing.
Fabienne (18:07):
Which is a lot.
Julie (18:08):
Yes, and so that's where you know.
So you talk about havingprocess and that's where, once
you have it and you'vedocumented it, the evolution of
it becomes more process.
Really, it becomes ingrained inyou to be looking at those
things.
Because one of the things I seeis, you know, we put processes
(18:30):
into place and we think, oh,thank God, let's work, you know,
and so then you go back to workbut you don't really notice
that the business is outgrowingthe processes that you have.
Fabienne (18:41):
What you typically happens is that somebody who, if
somebody does documentprocesses and procedures, it's
like set it and forget it.
But one of the tricks I don'twant to call it a trick and
minimize it, but one of the bestpractices is you have somebody
(19:02):
on your team that is a processmanager.
We have project managers, butprojects are standalone things.
Julie (19:10):
Yes, and they have a start and an end right.
Fabienne (19:13):
Yes, and a process manager.
You don't necessarily hiresomebody with that title, but an
operations person that you putin charge of the processes.
Part of their day-to-day job isto make sure that everything
gets updated.
So one of the things I'm knownfor on my team which is a
delicious team I always say,like make sure you put that in
(19:35):
the operations manual Is that inthe ops manual.
I know we just changedsomething.
Let's put it in the ops manualand then it's a living,
breathing document thatliterally changes every day.
But you do not.
You are not the one to updateit.
Julie (19:53):
Yes.
Very important right.
It is, those separating of youcan still be thinking about it
and, in fact, you encourageeveryone to think about it when
you're leading in that way.
Yes, but you're not in thedoing.
Fabienne (20:07):
Right, which is why this is not a Fabienne
Fredrickson company.
This is a process-drivencompany, and so it all goes.
If there's a leak, it's thatthere's either no process for
this or the process is broken.
Three things no process, theprocess is broken or the process
(20:30):
is not being followed.
And then, once we understandwhich it is, we make the changes
and we fix the problem.
Julie (20:40):
Yeah Well, and the fact that you it's not a Fabienne
Fredrickson company is whatmakes it enduring, really,
because you may not be willingor able to do this forever, and
so it makes it sellable.
It makes it, you know, thereare many ways that the company
(21:01):
can live without you.
Fabienne (21:02):
Yes, so I talk about this in the business model
chapter, which is chapter four,and it's talking about the fact
that there most of us I don'tknow about you, julie, but when
I started being a business coach, it was you know, and you get
30 minutes a week, and you get30 minutes a week, and you know
(21:37):
when I took time to be able tohave the clients experience
results, even if Fabienne is notthere, and what.
So there are countlesspermutations of how you can have
10 times the number of clientsthat you have now, therefore
making 10 times what you makenow without you being there.
(21:59):
And one of the things and Ihope this is useful to someone
listening everything that Istill do today in my business
and I adore being in my business, but if I had to in one week, I
wouldn't need to be there.
Everything is prerecorded,no-transcript.
(22:37):
But if I needed to or wanted toor wanted to sell the business
for millions, it would be set up.
It would literally it wouldjust take a few weeks to just
hand it over.
Or if something ever happenedto me, the business continue
making multiple seven figures ayear.
Ever happened to me.
The business continue makingmultiple seven figures a year
(22:58):
indefinitely.
Julie (22:59):
Which I think is you know .
I mean people start businessesand at some point you want to
take.
I mean that you know.
My story is that at some pointwe wanted to take money off the
table because everything we hadwas invested in our business.
And so if exit is the path foran entrepreneur, then setting it
up in a way that you can sellit is a really important factor.
Fabienne (23:24):
One of the things that I discovered is that so the
book is called the LeveragedBusiness is that this is
actually either a way to buildyour business to seven figures
or eight figures with your lifeback, or it's a way to set it up
so that you can sell it formillions.
And I'll tell you a story thatone of my clients, who was an
(23:46):
interior designer she wasdescribing this and it actually
broke my heart.
A fellow interior designer cameto her and she was probably in
her late seventies and saidlet's call my client Jane.
Here are, here's everything,here are my, this, my that, my
(24:08):
clients, my swatches, myeverything.
And my client said why are yougiving these to me?
And she's like I'm closing downmy business.
Client said why are you givingthese to me?
And she's like I'm closing downmy business.
And after 35, 40 years of beingan interior designer, julie, she
had nothing to show for it noexit, no retirement money,
(24:29):
nothing.
It wasn't documented enough,there wasn't enough, weren't
enough processes to be able toeven sell it for a hundred
thousand.
And I said to Jane this is whywe create processes, this is why
we don't have the delivery, alldepending on you.
And then we got her to amillion with those same
(24:50):
processes.
Julie (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, I think it is that that interesting piece of
you.
Know you have to the irony ofthe letting go to be able to
level up.
You know, sometimes on thehockey stick kind of way of
growing.
But you know, the more you canlet go and find what you're
(25:12):
truly good at, the more you canlevel up.
Fabienne (25:15):
Yeah, it's interesting because I don't know about you.
Really good at the more you canlevel up.
Yeah, it's, it's interestingbecause I don't know about you.
Most of us women start abusiness for one or two reasons,
usually both at the same time.
We start a business because wewant freedom and we want to make
an impact or make a differencein people's lives.
Yeah, we see a need in the worldSomething that feels meaningful
(25:36):
and fulfilling and using ourgifts.
And what happens once we get tosix figures, and often when we
get to seven figures, is thatthere's no more freedom and
we're not really doing what welove because we're stuck in the
competence, the incompetence,driving the team, doing legal
stuff and we're not doing thething that we love.
(25:57):
And I meet women all the timewho say I think I'm just going
to close down my business.
And I'm like what are youtalking about?
You're in the top 5% ofbusiness owners in the world Top
5%.
You're in six figures.
And they say I overwork, Iunderpay myself, I would never
(26:19):
not take vacations and be calledin the middle of the night and
stuff like that.
And I'm always like just giveme one year, let's get you one
year, that's all it takes.
Julie (26:32):
It's amazing how, yeah, with the right mindset, systems
and you can, just you can changeeverything in a year.
And I do think like if you havea business and and you
implement a lot of things andyou prove to yourself that you
can't pay yourself what youworth at the end of that year,
(26:53):
then you should move on.
You know, because we are alsonot charities, you also not
charities, and not being able tofind that kind of financial
success limits what we can do inthe world.
Fabienne (27:05):
Yeah, I'll say this just to add on to what you're
saying.
I think a lot of women closedown their businesses because
they're not paying themselvesenough and they're overworking,
but, if I can just lovingly add,it's because they don't know
what they don't know aboutscaling.
Julie (27:25):
Which is what you talked about.
Right, I agree with that and Iwrote down your resistance is a
big breakdown before a bigbreakthrough, and I think that
you know resistance points canlast Like.
It's not necessarily a one dayor two day thing.
It can last you for a period oftime while you find the right
advisor to help you, or you findthe right next step, or and and
(27:48):
.
So that can be discouraging,yeah.
Fabienne (27:51):
In fact, right before this, I recorded a podcast
episode on wealth expansion andwhy women don't always
experience great wealth and onemost of them don't have the
strategy for scaling to sevenand eight figures, like you and
I provide um, because we're notin the right rooms.
(28:13):
Uh two, we don't have example.
I'm 54.
I don't know how old you are,you don't need to tell me, but
when I was growing up, I wasn'tsurrounded with seven-figure and
eight-figure women businessowners.
I was surrounded by PTA momsand women who maybe had a Mary
(28:34):
Kay thing, but low-level income.
So we didn't have that as anexample.
So not only do we not have it asan example, it's not in our
nervous system to think thatit's normal to have a seven or
eight figure business.
We don't have access to thethings that we don't know, that
we don't know, and when we do,everything changes.
(28:59):
But the other thing that we'rewe don't understand until we and
so I just recorded a podcastabout nervous system regulation.
Is that, uh, when we feelresistance, when we experience
procrastination, when weundercharge and overgive beyond
(29:21):
scope, or we hire the wrongperson or keep a person who's
not right far too long, itsimply points to a nervous
system dysregulation.
That makes us feel that it isunsafe for us.
That makes us feel that it isunsafe for us again on the
nervous system level, not in themind level to have more money,
(29:43):
to have better team, to pay more, to have the responsibility of
more clients.
When you can go beyond themindset I teach mindset but in
addition to that, the somaticlayer of nervous system
regulation through several toolsyou can calm the anxiety.
(30:05):
You can change the neuralpathways in the brain and then
see yourself as the person whobelongs in that room, who
deserves the high level mentor,community prices, world-class
(30:26):
team.
Julie (30:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's so interesting.
I had an advisor, a mentor andadvisor to our business, and he
always used to talk about likehorses for courses, and you know
that, like, as you level up andchange race courses go to a
higher level, you need adifferent horse to race that
course, and sometimes it's youthat has to level up.
(30:48):
Sometimes it means you needdifferent expertise or people's
experience on your team.
Yeah, um, and, and you know,then it also applies to you and
you know it, it is intimidatingto level up.
And, and you know, then it alsoapplies to you and you know it,
it is intimidating to level up.
And, and you know, join thelike.
I remember when I became anauthor and wrote my book.
And you know, all of a suddenyou're an author, so you're in
these different circles andfeeling like whoo, because you
(31:10):
see some really successfulpeople and and very experienced
people and how you can take thatas an opportunity to learn, as
opposed to like impostersyndrome.
Fabienne (31:20):
Yeah, imposter syndrome, I'll say.
I say this in the very firstpages of the book what got you
here Isn't going to get youthere.
Whatever you're here and you'rethere means to you.
So the, the, the, the marketingthat got you here won't get you
there.
The team that got you herewon't get you there.
(31:41):
The systems, or lack thereof,that got you here won't get you
there.
What you're charging won't getyou there.
Your mentorship, your mindset,your, everything, literally.
You want to get to that nextbig level.
You need to shift I don't wantto say change, because one of
our biggest fears is of change.
So you need to shift, upgrade,elevate and again mindset and
(32:05):
nervous system level first, tothen feel safe with the new
strategy, the new mentor, thenew rooms to be in, et cetera.
Julie (32:13):
Yeah, I really like the shift analogy because I do think
you know people also want tohold on to the essence of who
they are and this isn't aboutchanging that, it's actually
about making it even more knownand more seen.
Fabienne (32:26):
And so I love said earlier about having it all,
whatever all means to you inyour business, in your life
sports car example again, butlike is that really the fullest
expression of you, or is itcreating a charitable foundation
(33:01):
, or is it spending more time atthe PTA or what is what you
know?
Do you want to build morehabitats for humanity?
Then you do that in yourbusiness.
It's not about taking onsomething that you're not.
Julie (33:18):
Yeah, and I think as we shift and shift upward, there's
also the opportunity to be aleader in some of those places
that you want to give back yourtime or make an impact.
Your ability to be a leader indoing that also increases.
Fabienne (33:33):
Yeah for sure, gosh.
I didn't get into my businessthinking I'd ever be a leader.
Right, I was just like if Icould just replace the $65,000 a
year that I made working onSixth Avenue in Manhattan and
having my own freedom, I'll stayat $65,000 a year.
Never thought that I would be aleader of a team.
(33:56):
You know, I think that thatcame.
That required a shift in myidentity.
Julie (34:03):
Yeah Well, and you know, if you had stayed at trying to
grind it out to make that$65,000, your business would
just look so different and you,in terms of what you imagine for
yourself, would be in such adifferent place now.
Fabienne (34:17):
But you know, I realized very early on that I'm
unemployable.
Julie (34:23):
I can relate to that, yeah, when I say that in front
of an audience of women businessowners.
Fabienne (34:28):
It's like everybody laughs.
We don't need to explainanything else other than that
word.
And it was a slow death for meworking for somebody else, but
then at the beginning I hadn'tfigured out how to make more
than 3000 a month, so itrequired, I mean, I think, I
(34:49):
really think thatself-employment is one of the
the biggest how do you say this?
Personal growth and developmentprocesses.
I think probably Olympianstatus and loss and like serious
health concerns are right upthere.
But man, it's a full contactsport unless you have the right
(35:15):
advice and the right mindsethelp contact sport unless you
have the right advice and theright mindset.
Julie (35:21):
Help, yes, and getting out of those early days of full
contact and into somethinglong-term and sustainable.
I mean you know all the studiesabout entrepreneurs and mental
health and all of the things.
I mean those are people who arestuck in the hustle, for sure.
Fabienne (35:33):
It just.
I think they they just haven'tseen or been exposed to a
different way of doing things,and there is maybe this belief
system that says that's not forme or that's not available to me
, but seven and eight figures isavailable to everybody.
It's just like I say um in afilm that's on my website uh is
(35:56):
a verifiable, repeatable processif you just follow the show up
and follow the recipe.
Julie (36:03):
Good Well, thank you so much for sharing your story
today, as well as your greatadvice, and I will link the book
and your website in the shownotes for Boldheart, and I hope
that more people explore yourwork.
Thank you so much for chattingwith me today.
Fabienne (36:21):
Thank you, too.
What a delicious conversation.
Thanks, take care.
Julie (36:26):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Please remember to hitsubscribe on your favorite
podcast platform so you won'tmiss any episodes.
Figure Eight isn't just apodcast.
It's a way of seeing the big,gorgeous goals of women
entrepreneurs coming to life.
If you're interested inlearning more, you can find my
(36:46):
book Big Gorgeous Goals onAmazon, anywhere you might live.
For more about my growth andleadership training programs,
visit www.
julieellis.
ca to see how we might worktogether.
Read my blog or sign up to getyour free diagnostic.
Are you ready for growth?
(37:08):
Once again, that's www.
julieellis.
ca.
When we work together, we allwin.
See you again soon for anotherepisode of Figure 8.
Welcome to Figure 8, where we feature inspiring
stories of women entrepreneurswho have grown their businesses
to seven and eight figuresrevenue.
If you're in the mix of growinga bigger business, these
stories are for you.
Join us as we explore where thetough spots are, how to
overcome them and how to prepareyourself for the next portion
(00:27):
of the climb.
I'm your host, Julie Ellis.
I'm an author, entrepreneur anda growth and leadership coach
who co-founded, grew and exitedan eight-figure business.
This led me to exploring whysome women achieve great things,
and that led to my book BigGorgeous Goals.
(00:47):
Let's explore the systems,processes and people that help
us grow our businesses to newheights.
If you're interested in growingyour business, this podcast
will help.
Now let's get going.
Hello and welcome to thisepisode of Figure 8.
Today, my guest is FabienneFredrickson, and she is a
(01:12):
powerful catalyst for solobusiness owners who want to make
a powerful impact with theirwork.
She is an expert in teachingyou how to leverage all
different parts of your businessso that you free yourself to
live the life that you want anddeserve, and when I met her, I
immediately saw how this fitswith big, gorgeous goals and I
(01:34):
couldn't wait to talk.
So thank you for joining metoday, Fabienne.
Fabienne (01:38):
It's such a pleasure.
Thanks for having me.
Julie (01:40):
Oh, it's so good and I'm so interested in you know the
system that you have and how youcame to.
You know want to take your lifeback from you.
Know the rat race and I thinkin North America we're all used
to.
You know you start your job andyou get two weeks vacation and
you work really hard and thatdoesn't always lead us to the
(02:01):
life that we want to live thatdoesn't always lead us to the
life that we want to live.
Fabienne (02:07):
I think that's a really masculine perspective of
provide provide at all costs.
But the feminine likes beautyand downtime and joy and
pleasure and I really likehaving both.
I believe you can have impactand abundance and you can have
(02:27):
joy, downtime and pleasure atthe same time.
Julie (02:30):
Yeah, and I think we get caught up in that impact and
abundance chase and we forget toor don't think we can balance
the two.
Fabienne (02:44):
Well, I have lots of thoughts on that.
I could just dive right in, butI don't know if you're ready,
I'll just say this the societythat women we women are raised,
(03:11):
reared and bred is a societywhere we value money before
people.
I'm pretty it's a littlecontroversial what I'm saying.
We put hard work above restingand all the values that are
typically masculine.
And I just want to say, for therecord, I love the masculine,
but we are in a masculinebusiness world.
(03:33):
You know, if you look at it, ahundred years ago women didn't
have in in normal situations,women didn't have seven figure
businesses, um, certainly notwith 14 weeks of vacation a year
.
So everything that is masculineis rewarded in our society and
we're just trying to clobber ourway through it and figure out
(03:57):
how we can have both.
Julie (04:00):
Yeah, and I think that that's a really important
distinction for womenentrepreneurs, women who are
starting businesses, because wewear a lot of hats in our lives
we're mothers, we're daughters,we're CEOs, we're all the
different caregiving, we'recaptain of our household, we do
(04:21):
a lot of different things and wekeep a lot of balls up in the
air, and so figuring out how todo that with more ease- yeah,
even if we have a housekeeper, ananny, we are still doing
laundry, we're still growing todo the groceries planning the
meals.
Fabienne (04:41):
Groceries planning the meals, the, the, the clean,
cleaning, shuttling the kids tothis, that and the other.
Julie (04:56):
We have about four full-time jobs that don't
include running a seven figureor eight figure business, yeah,
and now you talked about alreadythe 14 weeks of vacation and
the time, and I mean you live inParis, which sounds fabulous
and wonderful, one of myfavorite cities, but that is a
different life view, I think,living in a country like France
(05:18):
and a city there like Paris.
So one more vacation isexpected to be taken and
expected to be granted, but even14 weeks, I think, would be
generous by those standards.
Fabienne (05:32):
Yeah, and I'll say this while vacation time here in
France is normal to have sevenweeks as a employee, what is not
normal is a woman making sevenfigures.
I don't know, other than thefriends I've made who joined my
program, I don't know any sevenfigure women, because women here
(05:57):
are still taught that money isnot something that you generate.
You let your husband generateit.
Again, I'm being controversial,but I've been.
I was raised in France and I'vebeen back for this is my ninth
year and I was told in nouncertain ways that we don't
(06:17):
talk about money here and if you, as a woman, have your own
business and you make a lot ofmoney, shh
Julie (06:22):
Right.
Don't tell anyone, don't sayanything.
Interesting, interesting.
Fabienne (06:26):
So yeah, those societal norms that still keep
us down.
I really believe in having itall, whatever all means to you.
And I don't mean the having itall meaning like four Italian
sports cars in your garage andyou know all of that.
I mean like what does having itall as a woman in business,
(06:50):
with a family, and you know likewhat does that mean to you.
And when we start to break downwhat that means, I'll say this
I've worked with tens ofthousands of women.
It's never about the Italiansports car, it's about taking
Fridays off, it's about travel,it's about time with your spouse
and the kids and doing reallylovely things more than you know
(07:16):
, I love Chanel, but more thanall the bling, bling, bling real
women like us I'm throwingmyself into that.
I just want a lot of time off toluxuriate.
Julie (07:30):
Yeah, and I think you know you talk about this in your
book.
It's really important for womento have their own financial
independence.
Fabienne (07:39):
So I tell everybody who will listen and I've got one
daughter and two boys and Itell them to make their own
money and lots of it.
But especially for women, thatis when you have a voice and a
choice in your life.
And if you think about friends,you know, or women in tough
(08:30):
places, they are beholden tosomebody else whether it's a
toxic job or living with aparent or you know I have chills
just saying this in an abusivesituation or relationship that
she wouldn't be in if she madeher own money, lots of it, and
felt financial safety andsecurity.
And I'll say one more thing, ifallowed to bring this up In any
situation, in any powersituation, the one with the most
money has the final say andtypically that is not a woman.
So a woman in history usuallydoesn't have the final say
unless she makes her own moneyand lots of it.
(08:51):
We started very philosophicallyin this podcast episode, but
I'm happy to get more tacticalif you want.
Julie (08:59):
Well, and that's exactly where I'd love to go, because
the one thing that struck me.
So I read your book here we are.
Yeah, thank you, and it reallystruck me.
I felt very kindred spirit withyou around.
You think big, lofty things.
You have big, gorgeous goals,practical framework, path and
(09:28):
way for women and other soloentrepreneurs to set up
businesses, to give them theleverage that they want?
Fabienne (09:32):
Yeah, I have.
So I've been in business for 25years.
I've worked with a lot ofmentors, I've gone to my fair
share of masterminds andthree-day events and blah, blah,
blah and read all the books,and the one thing that we women
don't have enough of is time.
So if I'm going to invest inanything, I want you to give it
(09:54):
all to me, like, give me thestrategy, give me the exactly
how-to Lay out the plan for me.
Otherwise, it's not going to bea good use of my time, and that
may sound arrogant, but I'mjust being discerning in that I
will put my time and my moneywhere somebody is going to tell
(10:14):
me how to do something withclarity that makes sense for me
and that is actionable.
So this is how I've beenshowing up for 25 years and I
continue.
This is how I've been showingup for 25 years and I continue.
Julie (10:28):
Yeah, well, and you talk in the book about you want time
for vacations and, from a workperspective, to spend it in your
zone of genius, yes, yes.
And how important that is,because I think we all start
businesses with a hustlementality of you're doing all
the things and somehow then youtie yourself to.
Well, I have to do that.
Fabienne (10:48):
Yes, and you remember I don't have to really spend too
much time talking about thisthat all women are socialized to
overgive, that their value isin what they give and what they
do.
That goes above and beyond.
So we're valuable when we putthe needs of others before our
(11:11):
own.
We're valuable when we show upand all of that.
What I've learned is that whenyou embolden yourself my company
is called Bold Heart right sowhen you embolden yourself to
set boundaries and elegantly andto take back your time
(11:33):
elegantly from those you haveallowed to hijack it, and you
become very discerning about howyou use your time, not only and
I'm happy to describe exactlyI'm not sure I put it in the
book the 80-20 rule, but I'mhappy to describe it here
because it is a key,foundational way that women get
(11:53):
to seven and eight figures withtheir time back.
But when you are using yourtime in a way that is very
strategic, only doing the thingsthat come to you naturally,
that are within your innateabilities, that are aligned with
your passion and your values,that's where you make your most
(12:14):
money.
So I use a unique brilliancefour quadrant worksheet with my
clients and I'll explain it nowif If it's of any use to someone
.
There's the.
There's the unique brilliancequadrant.
I didn't make it up, it'ssomething that I've converted
from what I've read in books.
(12:34):
There's your unique brilliancequadrant, your excellence, your
competence and your incompetence, and I'll share this, Julie, is
most of us spend time in thebottom two quadrants, with a
special focus on the thingswe're competent at.
About 80% of our time is on thebottom two quadrants of
(12:56):
competence and incompetence, butwhere we really make our own
money is in the uniquebrilliance quadrant.
The things we are passionateabout, the things that come to
us naturally, that feed us, thatwe would do for free all day
long and ask if we were to do itagain for free tomorrow.
We'd probably say, oh sure, I'dlove to, because we get fed and
(13:17):
that is where we want to spendour time.
And it requires being boldenough to be discerning and to
set boundaries.
Julie (13:31):
Yeah, and I think it's sometimes is the place where you
feel like nothing on your to-dolist gets done because of those
, but you're strategizing oryou're imagining the next things
and it can be hard to then letgo of and letting other people
(13:53):
do those things right, like youtalk in the book about.
You know, hiring the person youreally need versus sort of
plugging a hole with somebodywhere it's like, oh well, maybe
I could do with one day a week.
Fabienne (14:04):
Yeah, versus sort of plugging a hole with somebody
where it's like, oh well, maybeI could do with one day a week.
Yeah, we've not, as women, beentaught to receive, we've been
taught to give, but there is amartyr I'm just going to say a
(14:27):
martyr mentality that we areoften shaped just globally maybe
not you, maybe not me, butthere is residue of martyr where
we are celebrated for how muchwe give to others, like I
mentioned a moment ago but,conversely, we don't know how to
receive and to ask too muchmakes us a B word or greedy or
not nice, and so we don't chooseto.
But when we allow ourselves tothink bigger and to demand more
(14:53):
of ourselves and therefore sayno more often, hire the person
that will take us where we wantto go, not for where we are now,
to spend more if need be,although we, I've realized a
world-class team costs the exactsame thing as a mediocre team.
(15:14):
It's just we're not taught howto hire world-class people who
are affordable, and I've crackedit for myself using assessments
, using different processes,where, once you realize the kind
of person you need on your team, I talk about it in the book
(15:39):
and you hold boundaries withyourself around hiring that type
of person you feel safe totrust.
And when you feel safe to trust, you delegate more.
And when you delegate more, yougain back your time and you
multiply your productivity andyour results.
Julie (15:57):
Yeah, and that all is really about building that
culture of accountability whereyou know people show up very
invested in delivering includingyou, including you.
Fabienne (16:11):
I believe in and I talk about this in the second
chapter becoming the leader of aprocess-driven company and
having raising your standardsaround what you will allow and
not allow, and when you hire theright people, who are wired for
(16:34):
the job, who are people who buyinto your vision and feel like
they belong to something biggerthan themselves, when they work
with you towards your lifepurpose and the legacy of your
business.
You, you delegate more, and themore you delegate, the more you
(16:57):
can focus on what I call EGAexponential growth activities
and instead of working eighthours a day on stuff that
doesn't move the needle forward,you delegate a lot and you end
up really just using that time,or even a fraction of that time,
(17:18):
to work on things that willexponentially grow your business
exponentially grow yourbusiness.
Julie (17:27):
And it's amazing what happens when you do Well, and
you have some examples about how.
When you began implementingthese things, what kind of
growth you saw in your ownbusiness.
Fabienne (17:36):
Yeah, I was named three years in a row one of
America's fastest growingprivate companies by Inc
Magazine, by implementingexactly what you described in
chapter one and chapter two ofthe book, because I experienced
a 538% increase in my businessin three years.
Julie (18:04):
Which is amazing.
Fabienne (18:07):
Which is a lot.
Julie (18:08):
Yes, and so that's where you know.
So you talk about havingprocess and that's where, once
you have it and you'vedocumented it, the evolution of
it becomes more process.
Really, it becomes ingrained inyou to be looking at those
things.
Because one of the things I seeis, you know, we put processes
(18:30):
into place and we think, oh,thank God, let's work, you know,
and so then you go back to workbut you don't really notice
that the business is outgrowingthe processes that you have.
Fabienne (18:41):
What you typically happens is that somebody who, if
somebody does documentprocesses and procedures, it's
like set it and forget it.
But one of the tricks I don'twant to call it a trick and
minimize it, but one of the bestpractices is you have somebody
(19:02):
on your team that is a processmanager.
We have project managers, butprojects are standalone things.
Julie (19:10):
Yes, and they have a start and an end right.
Fabienne (19:13):
Yes, and a process manager.
You don't necessarily hiresomebody with that title, but an
operations person that you putin charge of the processes.
Part of their day-to-day job isto make sure that everything
gets updated.
So one of the things I'm knownfor on my team which is a
delicious team I always say,like make sure you put that in
(19:35):
the operations manual Is that inthe ops manual.
I know we just changedsomething.
Let's put it in the ops manualand then it's a living,
breathing document thatliterally changes every day.
But you do not.
You are not the one to updateit.
Julie (19:53):
Yes.
Very important right.
It is, those separating of youcan still be thinking about it
and, in fact, you encourageeveryone to think about it when
you're leading in that way.
Yes, but you're not in thedoing.
Fabienne (20:07):
Right, which is why this is not a Fabienne
Fredrickson company.
This is a process-drivencompany, and so it all goes.
If there's a leak, it's thatthere's either no process for
this or the process is broken.
Three things no process, theprocess is broken or the process
(20:30):
is not being followed.
And then, once we understandwhich it is, we make the changes
and we fix the problem.
Julie (20:40):
Yeah Well, and the fact that you it's not a Fabienne
Fredrickson company is whatmakes it enduring, really,
because you may not be willingor able to do this forever, and
so it makes it sellable.
It makes it, you know, thereare many ways that the company
(21:01):
can live without you.
Fabienne (21:02):
Yes, so I talk about this in the business model
chapter, which is chapter four,and it's talking about the fact
that there most of us I don'tknow about you, julie, but when
I started being a business coach, it was you know, and you get
30 minutes a week, and you get30 minutes a week, and you know
(21:37):
when I took time to be able tohave the clients experience
results, even if Fabienne is notthere, and what.
So there are countlesspermutations of how you can have
10 times the number of clientsthat you have now, therefore
making 10 times what you makenow without you being there.
(21:59):
And one of the things and Ihope this is useful to someone
listening everything that Istill do today in my business
and I adore being in my business, but if I had to in one week, I
wouldn't need to be there.
Everything is prerecorded,no-transcript.
(22:37):
But if I needed to or wanted toor wanted to sell the business
for millions, it would be set up.
It would literally it wouldjust take a few weeks to just
hand it over.
Or if something ever happenedto me, the business continue
making multiple seven figures ayear.
Ever happened to me.
The business continue makingmultiple seven figures a year
(22:58):
indefinitely.
Julie (22:59):
Which I think is you know .
I mean people start businessesand at some point you want to
take.
I mean that you know.
My story is that at some pointwe wanted to take money off the
table because everything we hadwas invested in our business.
And so if exit is the path foran entrepreneur, then setting it
up in a way that you can sellit is a really important factor.
Fabienne (23:24):
One of the things that I discovered is that so the
book is called the LeveragedBusiness is that this is
actually either a way to buildyour business to seven figures
or eight figures with your lifeback, or it's a way to set it up
so that you can sell it formillions.
And I'll tell you a story thatone of my clients, who was an
(23:46):
interior designer she wasdescribing this and it actually
broke my heart.
A fellow interior designer cameto her and she was probably in
her late seventies and saidlet's call my client Jane.
Here are, here's everything,here are my, this, my that, my
(24:08):
clients, my swatches, myeverything.
And my client said why are yougiving these to me?
And she's like I'm closing downmy business.
Client said why are you givingthese to me?
And she's like I'm closing downmy business.
And after 35, 40 years of beingan interior designer, julie, she
had nothing to show for it noexit, no retirement money,
(24:29):
nothing.
It wasn't documented enough,there wasn't enough, weren't
enough processes to be able toeven sell it for a hundred
thousand.
And I said to Jane this is whywe create processes, this is why
we don't have the delivery, alldepending on you.
And then we got her to amillion with those same
(24:50):
processes.
Julie (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, I think it is that that interesting piece of
you.
Know you have to the irony ofthe letting go to be able to
level up.
You know, sometimes on thehockey stick kind of way of
growing.
But you know, the more you canlet go and find what you're
(25:12):
truly good at, the more you canlevel up.
Fabienne (25:15):
Yeah, it's interesting because I don't know about you.
Really good at the more you canlevel up.
Yeah, it's, it's interestingbecause I don't know about you.
Most of us women start abusiness for one or two reasons,
usually both at the same time.
We start a business because wewant freedom and we want to make
an impact or make a differencein people's lives.
Yeah, we see a need in the worldSomething that feels meaningful
(25:36):
and fulfilling and using ourgifts.
And what happens once we get tosix figures, and often when we
get to seven figures, is thatthere's no more freedom and
we're not really doing what welove because we're stuck in the
competence, the incompetence,driving the team, doing legal
stuff and we're not doing thething that we love.
(25:57):
And I meet women all the timewho say I think I'm just going
to close down my business.
And I'm like what are youtalking about?
You're in the top 5% ofbusiness owners in the world Top
5%.
You're in six figures.
And they say I overwork, Iunderpay myself, I would never
(26:19):
not take vacations and be calledin the middle of the night and
stuff like that.
And I'm always like just giveme one year, let's get you one
year, that's all it takes.
Julie (26:32):
It's amazing how, yeah, with the right mindset, systems
and you can, just you can changeeverything in a year.
And I do think like if you havea business and and you
implement a lot of things andyou prove to yourself that you
can't pay yourself what youworth at the end of that year,
(26:53):
then you should move on.
You know, because we are alsonot charities, you also not
charities, and not being able tofind that kind of financial
success limits what we can do inthe world.
Fabienne (27:05):
Yeah, I'll say this just to add on to what you're
saying.
I think a lot of women closedown their businesses because
they're not paying themselvesenough and they're overworking,
but, if I can just lovingly add,it's because they don't know
what they don't know aboutscaling.
Julie (27:25):
Which is what you talked about.
Right, I agree with that and Iwrote down your resistance is a
big breakdown before a bigbreakthrough, and I think that
you know resistance points canlast Like.
It's not necessarily a one dayor two day thing.
It can last you for a period oftime while you find the right
advisor to help you, or you findthe right next step, or and and
(27:48):
.
So that can be discouraging,yeah.
Fabienne (27:51):
In fact, right before this, I recorded a podcast
episode on wealth expansion andwhy women don't always
experience great wealth and onemost of them don't have the
strategy for scaling to sevenand eight figures, like you and
I provide um, because we're notin the right rooms.
(28:13):
Uh two, we don't have example.
I'm 54.
I don't know how old you are,you don't need to tell me, but
when I was growing up, I wasn'tsurrounded with seven-figure and
eight-figure women businessowners.
I was surrounded by PTA momsand women who maybe had a Mary
(28:34):
Kay thing, but low-level income.
So we didn't have that as anexample.
So not only do we not have it asan example, it's not in our
nervous system to think thatit's normal to have a seven or
eight figure business.
We don't have access to thethings that we don't know, that
we don't know, and when we do,everything changes.
(28:59):
But the other thing that we'rewe don't understand until we and
so I just recorded a podcastabout nervous system regulation.
Is that, uh, when we feelresistance, when we experience
procrastination, when weundercharge and overgive beyond
(29:21):
scope, or we hire the wrongperson or keep a person who's
not right far too long, itsimply points to a nervous
system dysregulation.
That makes us feel that it isunsafe for us.
That makes us feel that it isunsafe for us again on the
nervous system level, not in themind level to have more money,
(29:43):
to have better team, to pay more, to have the responsibility of
more clients.
When you can go beyond themindset I teach mindset but in
addition to that, the somaticlayer of nervous system
regulation through several toolsyou can calm the anxiety.
(30:05):
You can change the neuralpathways in the brain and then
see yourself as the person whobelongs in that room, who
deserves the high level mentor,community prices, world-class
(30:26):
team.
Julie (30:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's so interesting.
I had an advisor, a mentor andadvisor to our business, and he
always used to talk about likehorses for courses, and you know
that, like, as you level up andchange race courses go to a
higher level, you need adifferent horse to race that
course, and sometimes it's youthat has to level up.
(30:48):
Sometimes it means you needdifferent expertise or people's
experience on your team.
Yeah, um, and, and you know,then it also applies to you and
you know it, it is intimidatingto level up.
And, and you know, then it alsoapplies to you and you know it,
it is intimidating to level up.
And, and you know, join thelike.
I remember when I became anauthor and wrote my book.
And you know, all of a suddenyou're an author, so you're in
these different circles andfeeling like whoo, because you
(31:10):
see some really successfulpeople and and very experienced
people and how you can take thatas an opportunity to learn, as
opposed to like impostersyndrome.
Fabienne (31:20):
Yeah, imposter syndrome, I'll say.
I say this in the very firstpages of the book what got you
here Isn't going to get youthere.
Whatever you're here and you'rethere means to you.
So the, the, the, the marketingthat got you here won't get you
there.
The team that got you herewon't get you there.
(31:41):
The systems, or lack thereof,that got you here won't get you
there.
What you're charging won't getyou there.
Your mentorship, your mindset,your, everything, literally.
You want to get to that nextbig level.
You need to shift I don't wantto say change, because one of
our biggest fears is of change.
So you need to shift, upgrade,elevate and again mindset and
(32:05):
nervous system level first, tothen feel safe with the new
strategy, the new mentor, thenew rooms to be in, et cetera.
Julie (32:13):
Yeah, I really like the shift analogy because I do think
you know people also want tohold on to the essence of who
they are and this isn't aboutchanging that, it's actually
about making it even more knownand more seen.
Fabienne (32:26):
And so I love said earlier about having it all,
whatever all means to you inyour business, in your life
sports car example again, butlike is that really the fullest
expression of you, or is itcreating a charitable foundation
(33:01):
, or is it spending more time atthe PTA or what is what you
know?
Do you want to build morehabitats for humanity?
Then you do that in yourbusiness.
It's not about taking onsomething that you're not.
Julie (33:18):
Yeah, and I think as we shift and shift upward, there's
also the opportunity to be aleader in some of those places
that you want to give back yourtime or make an impact.
Your ability to be a leader indoing that also increases.
Fabienne (33:33):
Yeah for sure, gosh.
I didn't get into my businessthinking I'd ever be a leader.
Right, I was just like if Icould just replace the $65,000 a
year that I made working onSixth Avenue in Manhattan and
having my own freedom, I'll stayat $65,000 a year.
Never thought that I would be aleader of a team.
(33:56):
You know, I think that thatcame.
That required a shift in myidentity.
Julie (34:03):
Yeah Well, and you know, if you had stayed at trying to
grind it out to make that$65,000, your business would
just look so different and you,in terms of what you imagine for
yourself, would be in such adifferent place now.
Fabienne (34:17):
But you know, I realized very early on that I'm
unemployable.
Julie (34:23):
I can relate to that, yeah, when I say that in front
of an audience of women businessowners.
Fabienne (34:28):
It's like everybody laughs.
We don't need to explainanything else other than that
word.
And it was a slow death for meworking for somebody else, but
then at the beginning I hadn'tfigured out how to make more
than 3000 a month, so itrequired, I mean, I think, I
(34:49):
really think thatself-employment is one of the
the biggest how do you say this?
Personal growth and developmentprocesses.
I think probably Olympianstatus and loss and like serious
health concerns are right upthere.
But man, it's a full contactsport unless you have the right
(35:15):
advice and the right mindsethelp contact sport unless you
have the right advice and theright mindset.
Julie (35:21):
Help, yes, and getting out of those early days of full
contact and into somethinglong-term and sustainable.
I mean you know all the studiesabout entrepreneurs and mental
health and all of the things.
I mean those are people who arestuck in the hustle, for sure.
Fabienne (35:33):
It just.
I think they they just haven'tseen or been exposed to a
different way of doing things,and there is maybe this belief
system that says that's not forme or that's not available to me
, but seven and eight figures isavailable to everybody.
It's just like I say um in afilm that's on my website uh is
(35:56):
a verifiable, repeatable processif you just follow the show up
and follow the recipe.
Julie (36:03):
Good Well, thank you so much for sharing your story
today, as well as your greatadvice, and I will link the book
and your website in the shownotes for Boldheart, and I hope
that more people explore yourwork.
Thank you so much for chattingwith me today.
Fabienne (36:21):
Thank you, too.
What a delicious conversation.
Thanks, take care.
Julie (36:26):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Please remember to hitsubscribe on your favorite
podcast platform so you won'tmiss any episodes.
Figure Eight isn't just apodcast.
It's a way of seeing the big,gorgeous goals of women
entrepreneurs coming to life.
If you're interested inlearning more, you can find my
(36:46):
book Big Gorgeous Goals onAmazon, anywhere you might live.
For more about my growth andleadership training programs,
visit www.
julieellis.
ca to see how we might worktogether.
Read my blog or sign up to getyour free diagnostic.
Are you ready for growth?
(37:08):
Once again, that's www.
julieellis.
ca.
When we work together, we allwin.
See you again soon for anotherepisode of Figure 8.
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