May 12, 2025 • 48 mins
Helping Ordinary Women Build Extraordinary Businesses, Brands, and Lives They Love While Unpacking Their Inner SHEEO with Episodes Enriching Your Mindset, Wealth, and Faith Factor
VISIT: RachelMedina.com or SHEEOX.com
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PLUS: Listen to founders and experts share their entrepreneurial journey on bonus episodes featuring awe inspiring guests
Rachel Medina is an Entrepreneur, TEDx Speaker, Christianpreneur, Mommypreneur and an ordinary woman who ditched the C-suite for the SHE-suite by tapping into the new and exciting laptop lifestyle in the SHEconemy, and who built multiple businesses from home, after divorce, as a single mother over 40!
The Rachel Unpacked Podcast is here to help you avoid common mistakes by learning the lessons she learned along the way! Whether you're a corporate baddie wanting to ditch the grind or a single momma ready to learn a new money making skillset from home, the Rachel Unpacked podcast is for you.
Access resources mentioned on this show here www.rachelmedina.com or at SHEEOX.com
As seen on: TEDx , Wharton School of Business, The Christian Channel, LATV's Get It Girl, Rompiendo El Silencio, David Meltzer's Playbook IG-LIVE, StartEmpire Wire Podcast, Jackie Hernandez Live, Canvas Rebel Magazine, SDvoyager Magazine, Keynote Women's Leadership Conference, to name a few
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to another episode of the Rachel Unpacked podcast.
I am your host Rachel Medina andin every episode we talk about
mindset, wealth, building and faith for every girlie who is
looking to change and level up her life.
If you want to follow me on social media, you can do so at
Rachel Medina 101 or visit my website rachelmedina.com.
But if you are ready to build a business in a life that you
(00:23):
love, head on over to our new she eox.com site again, she EO
dot com where you are going to find a tribe of like minded
business building dream aspiringgirl.
He's just like you, connecting, learning and growing together.
And a new CEO X partnership program means we attract the
(00:43):
talented, experienced and successful women who are ready
to teach you how they did it so that you can succeed too.
Let's go. Hello everyone, welcome back to
the Rachel Unpack podcast. I am your host Rachel Medina.
In this episode, I have an amazing guest named Stephanie.
Yes, and we are going to unpack all of the things that make her
(01:05):
magical and brilliant in her niche and in her space and pull
up a chair and get a notebook and get ready to be inspired.
Welcome, Stephanie. Hi, Rachel.
Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on.
It's been, we've been like, you know, anxiously anticipating the
interview. We've had some really brilliant
(01:26):
women on. And so we're just very, very
glad to to have you on. So tell us what you do and who
you do it for. Absolutely.
So I help Christian women build businesses from their calling
work using podcasting. Nice.
You know what's great about thatis that the audience is very
(01:49):
familiar with this, but if but CEO audience may not be as much
because that's was kind of two audiences going on here.
My life changed when I started podcasting.
I started podcasting in 2019, turning my pain into purpose.
The audience knows this. I'm a Christian woman and I was
like, all right, let's go. Thanks to Deneen on my team who
(02:10):
you've interacted with. She was like, we do these
meetings at our company and she's like, that's a podcast
episode that you just did. And I'm like, what?
So it's, it's, it's life changing.
So like, I look forward to hearing how you got into
podcasting. Yeah, so it changed my life as
well. I can really say that with full
(02:30):
heart and honesty. I had been an entrepreneur
before my podcast for about a decade, ended up getting laid
off of corporate America. I had gone into network
marketing, had all the success in network marketing that
there's to be had walk the stages, have the checks and the
cars and the trips. And it was really fun until it
wasn't because I was working endless hours.
(02:52):
I had, you know, a 2 year old and a newborn and I'm just
working. I'm having anxiety attacks
because of the level of work andeffort it's taking to maintain
this level of success. And within about a year, Rachel,
that company or my particular organization that I had built,
it kind of crumbled because all the new fancy shiny companies
(03:15):
were coming out with the leggings and the lipstick And
they were like, I want to have the success you've had.
Well, I learned a hard lesson inthat season, which was I had
built a, a business that was notmine.
I had all my eggs in someone else's basket and I had idolized
success instead of the God who provides and the God who could
(03:37):
really redirect me and what thisbusiness was I was supposed to
be doing. So I found myself in this really
dark kind of rediscovery phase of my life.
This was 2017 ish and I was struggling.
I was struggling to find purposeagain.
I wasn't making any money, whichfor me I'd been a big piece of
identity, right? Like I'm successful at all these
(03:59):
things and I'm a leader and I'd really found myself in this
place of nowhere really to go but God.
And so I went through this really deep dive into my faith.
I started praying more intentionally.
I started opening the Bible really for some of like
basically the first time in my life with seriousness fumbling
my way around trying to figure out what does this look like?
(04:21):
And, and God, do you speak to meand can I have you help me in
this area, not just this area. Stop compartmentalizing him and
I kept praying. What am I supposed to do?
I don't understand. I know I'm called the business,
but I don't understand how October of 2018 I had a dream.
It was very prophetic. It felt I could feel the spirit
of the Lord when I woke up that that morning and I heard start a
(04:43):
podcast and I saw it and it was clear just a beautiful vision
from the Lord and I went a podcast got like I didn't get
it. How does it work?
It makes money like I don't understand, but you know what,
I'll be obedient in this. Plugged in a microphone, started
speaking. This was six years ago.
I was messy, I was scrappy. I did everything wrong.
(05:04):
But God because his plans are bigger than mine.
The podcast ended up reaching, you know, hundreds and thousands
of people in the first few years.
It was how I was able to grow a six figure and then multi 6
figure coaching business from the show.
The podcast today is a top 20 podcast.
It's been the vessel for a 7 figure company.
(05:25):
I've got 15 people on the team at any given time.
Like it's so crazy, Rachel, because none of that was a goal
that I had. It's too big.
And so for it to be so big, I know that it had to have been
God. So that's really the podcast was
so, so much of course, in alignment with God's will for
the for the podcast, really thisbreaking like jumping point for
(05:51):
what he had for the women that Iserved today.
I find it really interesting because hearing you because one
of the things in doing podcasting for me, as I don't do
deep dives necessarily into the person that I'm going to
interview, which is really sort of contradictory.
I think a lot of people really like dive deep into their
(06:12):
subject because I want to explore it from very sort of
naive eyes like very just a clean slate and and think to
myself gosh what to be curious like the audience would be be
right meeting you for the first time.
I'm hearing your story and I andI see me We talked a little bit
about this a bit ago, but it yeah breaking up with corporate
(06:35):
over the age of 40. That's my story.
I was in the magazine media industry 20 something years,
built A7 figure business after that because my simple question
was God, for 20 years I've been making these people very, very
wealthy. How can I do that for myself and
for my family? I know I got it.
But on our team we say sometimesit's easier to do for others
(06:57):
what we don't know how to do forourselves.
And so there I was 40 years old.I had recently ended up
divorced. Then I was like unemployed in
some weird fluke of events. And there I was with teenage
sons praying to God, also in a in a knee dropping moment of
what do I do here? Being in corporate, you know,
(07:20):
and I was I was a magazine publisher.
So like sort of tippity top. It's easy to have all the
answers when you're getting thishuge salary.
But when you're just on your ownand you feel like you just took
a leap and you don't know that that net's going to appear.
I was like, I'm going to look up.
I can't look to the left, I can't look to the right.
(07:40):
I have to look up. And in doing so it it was just
I'm here, you're going to be OK.Like you know how to do this.
But like you said, built A7 figure business with my very
small team, did it from home. That kind of became my claim to
fame. What made people curious about
what I was doing, but I was miserable, absolutely working
(08:03):
crazy hours and had no time freedom.
And so anyways, I'm sharing all that with you because I'm just
meeting you now to say I I hear you, I see you and I am like we
are one in this because the passion to help women understand
that they could do it too is is there.
I love that so much. And I think God's really on the
(08:24):
move in those of us that are called in this space right now.
And so it's funny because as I meet more and more people, I
realize our stories are almost all the same.
We almost all have some type of of idol or trauma or, you know,
traumatic situation that we walked through or hardship that
we had to come out of. And all of it is it's, it's
(08:49):
allowable because it's now for apurpose.
Like you said in the beginning, your pain into purpose.
It's that and the story is really the same, but with a
different label for each and every one of us that are called
to this business space. Let's get into the seven figure
thing because I, I think and maybe like you kind of touched
on, a lot of people are like scrolling through social media,
(09:12):
they're seeing the laptop lifestyle.
They're seeing, oh, you know, she's at Mykonos.
This person's flying private like the fast car is like the
the dream closets. And so people begin to idolize
the outcomes, right, of entrepreneurship where they
begin to idolize like the money and the the lifestyle that it
can bring. There's also a lot of
comparisons, right? And so let's talk about when you
(09:33):
made your first six figures, 7 figures.
When you cross that line, let's let them know what that's really
like, because there's this illusion that it's life
changing, that somehow it bringsall this joy.
And let's unpack that for them. Really good.
So I've made six figures multiple different ways in my in
(09:58):
my lifetime, and then I've made seven figures after this
podcasting business was started.So when we really look back at
the six figure benchmarks, the first time I did it was in
corporate. And that's because that was my
salary. And I also worked really
stinking hard, lots of hours, didn't have kids yet was like
newly engaged. So for me, I just leaned into
that and I went, oh, success, cool.
(10:19):
Like I'm going to wear that as ajacket because success actually
feels really good. So I got my first taste of that,
ended up getting laid off from that job and went into the
network marketing thing. And to that one, I built 6
figures. Like on the back of hustle.
It was constant Facebook groups,DM ING calls at 5:00 in the
(10:41):
morning, calls at six because I was the one good at sales.
So I was the one doing all of those hard things.
I was at networking events two 3-4 nights a week, hosting
parties, all of these things andI hit the six figures relatively
quickly in network marketing. But what happened was it wasn't
enough. None of it was ever enough.
(11:02):
It was like, OK, what's next? What's I never felt this moment
of like, oh, it's, it's this life changing amount of money
where like now it makes sense. It was feeding the beast, so to
speak, within me of like, oh, more, more, more like now I
would look with envy upon the seven figure earners in my
company and want to be on the stage.
And then I got on the stage and went, what's next?
(11:22):
And like, it almost started the addiction towards success,
started feeding other addictive behaviors in my life.
You know, at the time, I was drinking a lot.
I had food issues. I had.
I like anything I could do to more, more like this hunger that
I couldn't fill in my heart. And yeah, like, we went on nice
trips. I remember celebrating my 30th
(11:44):
birthday in Vegas. We went to this pool party and
we had a table in the bottle service and I just remember
thinking like this is it? And then coming home to the
sobering reality of emptiness and going now what?
There was this pivotal moment for me, Rachel, where I got on
on the stage with that company in front of 20,000 people and
(12:05):
you get a $60,000 bonus check and it's the top of the top.
And you go and you share your little story.
And I was like, This is why I did it all.
This is what makes sense. This is it like ever this like
the adrenaline was just like pouring out of me.
And I walk up to the mic, my heart is beating out of my chest
and I say the thing I'm supposedto say and I walk off the stage
(12:28):
and I felt the same. And I went, I thought that was
it, like, and I realized that was the moment I realized like,
this is not the thing that can fulfill me.
The money doesn't matter. I feel literally more empty than
I did before. And so I think as we as
Christians start to really recognize like the only thing
(12:50):
that can fulfill us is the love,faithfulness and fullness of
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we start to be convicted
in these areas of our lives thatwe are coveting and we are
idolizing. And for me, it was that success.
It was that all the band aids, the alcohol and the this and the
and the fame on social media. And slowly as I started to pray,
(13:10):
God help me with this feeling. I'm so full of anxiety.
I would have anxiety attacks anytime I would drink alcohol.
God kept convicting me. And I finally, finally said
like, Lord stripped me of these things, 'cause I'm so I, I, I'm
sick of feeling like I need something so deeply and I can't
find it. And as soon as that prayer left
my lips, things started to dissipate.
(13:31):
And then I was kind of left withthat, that stripping, if you
will, and left with this, only myself and only the things that
mattered were left. My family, thank God, was still
here and my health, thank God, was still here.
But I was left with this other void.
And so I started to fill it withhim.
And as I did that, I just was hungry for the Lord.
(13:52):
I was opening the word of God. I was praying.
I failed, you know, I'd fail andI'd start something new, like,
oh, let me try to make money making Amazon T-shirts like I
would, you know, Yeah, chasing the raw.
And then God would redirect me. And over the course of that,
those few years of that really deep searching, you know, what I
found was the end of myself. And so as I started praying,
(14:15):
like God, I'm ready to start a business again, but I want to do
it with you this time. I was afraid.
I was afraid of success, Rachel.I was afraid of falling back
into who I used to be. At this point, I'm kind of, I
was flirting with sobriety at that point, like kind of like,
oh, I should stop drinking and I'm going to try to treat my
body like a temple. And I'm going through a lot in
my personal life at the same time as feeling this like rising
(14:37):
my spirit to launch a business again.
And So what I did is I just keptmy dependence on him and I said,
tell me what to talk about today.
If I go live, tell me what to do.
Should I say yes to this coaching client?
I was like, so surrendered and sold out to how God wanted me to
build that as I was building this next level, this new thing
with God, it was so different. It was like I would feel
(14:59):
someone, someone would come intothe inbox and like my spirit
would leap and they'd they'd say, do you do a coaching call?
And I'd be like, God, did we do coaching calls?
And he's like, yeah. And I'm like, I do.
And we'd get on a zoom and like the Holy Spirit would show up,
Rachel. And it was like they'd cry and
say, like, Oh my gosh, you've been praying.
What what was my business or what is?
And like, you've been a, a, a blessing.
(15:19):
You've been an answer to my prayer.
And I knew it was God. He was making these connections.
He was opening these doors and as I passed that six figures,
like, yes, of course, like the driver in me, like the leader in
me was like, this is cool. But it was so cool because I was
celebrating with God and I said,what are we gonna do with the
money now? And it was neat because I was
able to start paying off debt and we started tithing and
(15:42):
opportunities came for us to give it bigger capacity.
And as we gave and served and I just really open handed with the
money and you know, I was hiringpeople to get more help.
I wasn't like, this is all mine and I have to build it myself.
I was like, Lord, who do you have to help me grow?
And I was so much more open handed with it.
Pretty soon it was half a million and then it was a, it
was $1,000,000 company. And I went this point like, God,
(16:06):
this has got to be you because Idon't know what to do.
Like I don't know how to shepherd this stuff.
And he would provide me with, here's the accounting team you
need need, and here's the legal pieces we need in place.
And I continue to just pray and say, if you, you know, much is
given, much is expected. Lord help me to continue to
shepherd and steward this money.So all the while the money's so
fun. Like, let me be honest, I'm able
(16:28):
to build a team and do cool stuff and like play in the
online marketing space and like,I love being able to do really
incredible things for his Kingdom.
But what's cooler than that is that he's been able to show me
how to grow a business that's highly profitable and glorifying
to him. And I work 20 hours a week now.
I don't work 60. I'm not striving.
(16:49):
I'm not drinking my problems. I don't have panic attacks
anymore. Like I'm free.
I'm free to walk in this glorious business that he's
provided to me. And the money is fruitfulness on
that obedience that he asked of me six years ago.
What's amazing about that is that my son recently, because
(17:11):
I'm still in the pattern of hustle and I am doing my
absolute best to break up with it.
I tell everybody to break up with it.
I talked the talk, but I'm I'm, I'm walking very slowly on that
walk. And not too long ago my son
said, why are you working? Like God's not in it?
And the irony of it is that I openly say that when I made God
(17:37):
my silent business partner in this leg of my life, everything
changed. The 1st 7 figure business that I
built with my team, he wasn't init like that.
It was like, Oh my God, it's amazing.
It was all me. It was like, I have 20 years
experience, how can I do this for myself, right?
Self built it amazing. Now I'm literally serving that
(17:59):
God because, like you said, feeding the beast.
I I felt the entire time if I don't work immensely hard and
also guilt of like I have to work harder than the people I
employ was a was a weird thing. The airplane's gonna fall out of
the sky. That's all self right.
And so then I tragedy stuck struck my life.
(18:21):
I lost my son. He was 25.
And then right after COVID hit, it was this 1-2 punch.
I recently spoke at Ted X about this.
And life will wake you all the way up and and realign you and
your perspective and give you such a reality check.
(18:41):
And again, once again, there I was going.
I have nowhere to look but up. Because losing my son obviously
rocked my life and my world and made me look around at
everything from handbags that I had and like the car and like
the numbers and, and all of these things and instantly
(19:03):
nothing had value. Like instantly I looked around
those few days after and was like, this is besides the
memories of like traveling to Europe and doing all these
amazing things, you know, with my boys that thank God, you
know, we got to do. But other than that, nothing,
when I tell you nothing had value.
I do not own a designer anythingright now.
(19:26):
And I just cannot, I can't judgepeople that have it.
I just don't see any value. And then and then all of a
sudden COVID hit shut down. And then that made me no choice
once again. But to go all right.
It's a surrender. It's like I thought money, now
nothing has value, but I still have to figure out this
business. And then God said, boom,
(19:47):
pandemic means hang it up and just be, be still.
Because I was running from that pain and that mourning process
and I was like, I gotta get backto work.
Like we buried him and I was like, we got we gotta, I gotta
OK, OK meetings, OK clients, OK.Cuz again, if I'm not the one
selling, cuz I'm the one that has all that ability, right?
(20:07):
Supposedly then it falls out of the sky.
And then and then the pandemic said Nope.
And in being able to go fine. Clearly I am not the captain of
the ship, like clearly I have 0 control.
As much as I believe, I made myself believe that I did.
I surrender. I fully surrender it all because
(20:30):
nothing matters and let's do this thing your way.
And it's almost as though in themoment of being able and I had
done some public speaking a little bit here and there and
there was some opportunities andI said, OK, I'm going to fully
surrender. I'm going to start a podcast.
I'm going to hit record. I don't know what I'm doing.
The audio is trash. Like, forget camera.
(20:53):
I was like, I am not going to record myself.
That's so weird. I, you know, showing up on
social media, it's so braggy. I can't do it.
Like the whole thing was cringe.But in my spirit, I was like,
somebody somewhere is in the storm and doesn't know how
they're going to get out. And so I want them to know, hi,
I'm in the storm too. And like, let's hold hands and
(21:16):
like, let's pray and let's look up.
And so then when I was able to start this new business and CEOI
said, this is you. So I say God is my PR manager,
He's my marketing director, He'smy creative, you know, whatever.
Like he's my accountant, he's the he's my advisor.
(21:37):
And so I say, I built this with him and he's my silent business
partner. But I still, even myself knowing
all that, I still struggle with that guilt of I have to work
really hard. And so I'm I'm trying to be a
good steward of the blessings, but at the same time realize
it's not me anyways. Like it's not gonna fall apart.
(22:00):
It's not gonna fall apart. Yeah, it's funny that you bring.
First of all, I'm sorry about your son.
Thank you. Can't imagine.
I have two boys, so you know, that's near and dear to my
heart. It's funny that you bring this
up because last week I was in the word in Matthew and I saw
the verse that talks about, you know, you that seek wisdom, ask
(22:23):
and you shall receive. But then it says a little bit
farther down it says, but those of you that have divided
attention should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
And I had been really struggling.
I kept waking up with this feeling of dread in the mornings
and I we're going through this season of like, what schools are
the kids going to go to? And then of course, like, you
(22:43):
know, the climate of the world right now and all of that.
And I kept waking up with dread.And I kept waking up with dread.
And so I'd go to YouTube Shorts and I'd watch all the shorts
with all the political commentary and all the stuff and
all the noise. And I realized like, OK, it's so
easy for us to shift the noise from OK, I'm going to hustle.
So OK, now I'm just going to obsessively worry about the next
(23:06):
thing. Or I'm going to replace it with
busyness or cleaning, or I'm going to replace it with
mindless scrolling. I'm going to replace it with
shopping. Like whatever the noise is that
we've decided to fixate on in our life right now.
The enemy ain't dumb and he knows that.
And he, he puts a speaker on it.He amplifies the noise, right?
(23:26):
And so our job as these Kingdom entrepreneurs is to notice
where's the noise, right? And so Rachel, you just said,
like, I keep falling into hustle.
That's the noise. So we're going to focus on this
noise and then we're going to take it and we're going to
release it at the feet of Jesus.We're going to pray on it.
And one thing that I'm forcing myself to do, if this blesses
anybody, I have to sit in it. So I want to tend to get back to
(23:50):
work, right? Like you, like, I want to get
busy and probably have some dishes to do.
Got to do something. And it's like, no, you're going
to sit in this moment of distress in your spirit, the
wrestling that's going on between the enemy's amplified
noise and God's peace. You're going to sit in God's
peace and you're going to let the enemy fight and struggle
with you for a second and then you're going to freaking win.
(24:11):
And so I've been sitting like every day something will creep
up. I'm like, I'm like, oh, even if
it's 30 seconds, it might be 60 seconds.
Guess what happens? I feel this release of all this
pressure. I feel this lifting.
I'll get a revelation. I think of somebody.
I'm supposed to text. I get a word from the Lord.
And I'm like, it's these little pockets of stillness that we
(24:32):
resist, that enemy's amplified noise that we are going to
receive the big wins. They're micro.
And you guys have to be paying attention to that because if He
can keep us distracted, he can keep us from showing up in the
purpose work that we truly have to do, which is all gods anyway.
Like you said, I don't need to worry about where the money's
coming from. I don't need to worry about the
(24:53):
opportunity. I don't need to worry about the
conversations. I just have to show up and do
good works for the Kingdom each day.
And that also includes doing less.
It also includes listening well and being really present and
sitting in the stillness. It's not all hustle, work and
strive. It's actually less of those
pieces. It's, you know, holding space
for God to do his thing and not,not that we can block him in any
(25:15):
way, but you know what I mean? It's like, I think mentally I
tried to tell myself like you'vedone what you can do today, like
like allow that space, let let, let all of that work out.
You touched on something earlierregarding money and about
holding on, you know, clinging on to it versus like letting it
go, letting it flow, so to speak.
(25:37):
And that's another thing that I had to contend with with my
first 7 figure business was everything was reinvested in the
business. But to a degree of I felt again,
the guilt of and by the way, this could be cultural.
I am, I am a Latina, you know, aMexican.
(25:57):
There's like this guilt of if the people that you know, love,
trust around you are not entrepreneurs are not prospering
in this way. And then you're over here just,
you know, you don't even have anyone to talk to about it.
So for me personally, I was in astate of like, don't buy
(26:18):
anything, like no new cars, no new.
It was this weird. Like I don't want to look like
I'm bragging. There was also, though, this
sense of I don't want to lose itall.
So there was a lot of saving, which is smart.
It got us through some pretty difficult times.
But there was this, OK, I paid them this much.
I don't want to pay myself too much.
(26:39):
I really struggled with the money part of it.
On that side. There was guilt in a weird way
that I didn't realize it was guilt in the time I could
hindsight's 2020, I could look at it and go, OK, It's because I
felt I don't want to make this person feel bad that they don't
make money. And I didn't want to appear to
be bragging and step into my wowthis is awesome era.
And also for the people that work so hard on the team and,
(26:59):
and we're getting paid a certainamount.
I'm trying to be humble with that as well and be a good
steward of, of the fact that they're even dedicating their
time to this. But the, the money part, when I
recently again, that I'm, I'm, I'm walking in it every day.
I figured out, oh, with this business, right?
Because this business is different.
(27:20):
It's not the recurring revenue model necessarily.
It's it's getting there, but notwhat the other one was.
And so there's this tendency again to go, oh, here came, you
know, $10,000 here, let's put this over here in a jar.
And it's like, no, hire the guy that can do the thing just
(27:41):
'cause you know, Canva really well does the you need to spend
5 hours in Canva, you know, likepay the guy, you have the guy,
his name's Denny. Pay the guy like.
Pay the. Guy pay the guy you guys like
they would like what a blessing.And So what ended up, I do this
thing called coffee with God every morning and I sit down
(28:02):
with my cup of coffee and I justsit on a step outside of my
house in the sun. And then I just have coffee with
him. And sometimes I have nothing to
say and sometimes I have a lot of random weird things to say.
But ultimately I have that coffee with God.
And I said, God, I don't want torepeat those patterns.
I want to learn from the mistakes and also help me to be
(28:25):
a good steward of this money. And what instantly came to me
was everything living has a pulse and a circulation.
Everything living flows, has an ebb and flow.
And so when it pours into you and the vision, that sort of
kind of the idea that kind of came to me over coffee was that
there's like a scene in the Bible where there's bread and
(28:47):
then he breaks the bread and it like feeds 5000 people.
So when the blessing comes to you financially, let's just say
it is meant to bless many. And it's not just here's 50
bucks, here's 100. No, no, no.
It's like there's a guy in my neighborhood that details cars.
I know that that's more expensive than just going to the
(29:08):
do it yourself thing, but the blessing isn't.
I have the financial means. He's dedicated his, his himself,
himself to doing that work for others.
Bless him. Bless him with that 175 bucks or
whatever it is like, and learning that if you go to a
restaurant, you're helping to pay the rent for that restaurant
tier the C roll. Like you leave a tip.
(29:30):
Like there's all these things. So in spending the money, which
is like hard to get for some people, that's all they do.
But like for me, it was a struggle.
There's so many blessings in that.
Yeah, and that verse blessed thegiver, right?
We think about that verse. I want to highlight something
you said for those listening. I think, Rachel, it's important
that we hear you made the time to sit with God, then you were
(29:56):
willing to be humble enough to ask for his help.
And the third thing was you did receive the answer.
I think so often when we're sitting in, we sit in struggle.
We either avoid it, we lean intoit because it's actually a
coping mechanism that we have instead of going oh wow, this
(30:16):
behavior that I keep getting theconviction of the Lord.
I call it discernment alarms. You will feel when something
that you are doing is off, you will feel it.
Don't stuff that away. Get that coffee cup.
Go on that stoop. I have a prayer couch.
I do a similar thing in the mornings, looking outside and
sitting with God, and I have to get in my humility.
You know, God, I was prideful yesterday.
(30:37):
Or I'm feeling jealous of my friend or like whatever
ridiculous things that we face as humans because we are all
human and we ask and you receivethe answer.
And I think what's interesting about the answer is, like you
guys, it's not about what Racheldoes with her money or about
what I do with my money. It's about how God asks you and
convicts you to shepherd and steward the money that he gifts
(30:57):
you. And he's going to, so he's going
to give you as much as you can handle.
So I want you to be OK with the blessing and provision that you
have today. Become responsible shepherd of
the money he gives you because as you do what he asks you with
(31:18):
that money. And God's been very gracious to
me like you, you know, we've been able to buy things and do
beautiful things to the home andgo on some vacations.
But I'm also giving it a high capacity worth saving really.
Well, I've been careful to really be prayerful about what
he's asking of me. And what's funny is when we do
something that God asks, he typically does something
(31:38):
beautiful in return with either like, oh man, somebody was so
blessed by that thing, or oh, this opportunity to go on a
family vacation came up. Like he is such a good and
loving and kind God. He's not going to take all your
money and leave you right? Like it's just not his nature.
He has a a giving God, beautifulnature doesn't mean we don't
have financial struggles, right,everyone.
(31:59):
We also live in a fallen place. But but what I'm saying is we
have to turn to him in every area of our life, including the
financial, financial stewardshipand look to Scripture for how to
handle that. Pray and bring it to him.
And I think as you find yourselves, we find ourselves in
weakness or in failure sometimes.
Like, oh, I heard a word from the Lord.
(32:20):
I know that he's asking me to whatever it might be, tithe or
something. And then we get freaked out.
Oh, I had a tight month, probably not the month I'm going
to tithe. And then you don't tithe.
And then the next month you realize all that money came back
in again and you went oops. Like, guess what?
God, he gets us, He loves us, Heforgives us.
(32:40):
His grace and mercies are new every morning.
Just get that coffee, head back outside and say, man, I screwed
up. God, can you help realign my
focus and my intentions in this thing I'm struggling in?
He's not a God of confusion. He has a way for you.
And I think too, in recognizing God as the sort of Co founder of
(33:01):
your business, silent business partner, your partners get their
cut, you guys. So when you're making money, you
wouldn't have a a, a human business partner and not give
them their cut. You know, when you make money,
they make money. So so I think there's that
little if if that's the little inch step you take forward into
wrapping your head around what that looks like, then that's
(33:22):
then that's a beautiful step. I think the other thing that I
would add to what you're saying is I think the in the
preparation comes sort of the build up of abundance.
So, and what I mean by that is if you are praying for something
bigger or you're saying, you know what, I just saw this
individual get $100 million for their podcast and you're like, I
(33:44):
want to get into podcasting. The Lord is telling me to do it.
I feel called to do it. Well, then you need to probably
start preparing your buckets andgo, OK, so if I got offered 50
million or 100 million, am I ready to receive that?
So often we're looking over the fence and going, I want what
they have, but you're not even ready to receive it.
Like you're not even taking careof what you we already have.
(34:07):
And, and so it's preparing the buckets.
Like for myself, I'm working on something that's behind the
scenes and I haven't announced it.
It's a really big deal. And then I'm like, am I?
But before that even came in, you guys, I was like, I would
love the opportunity one day to be able to do that.
But currently today, am I prepared to receive that
blessing? And it's like, let me look at my
(34:27):
buckets. Do I know an entertainment
attorney? Do I know like where would I put
the money if I'm if another million came in?
Like answer those questions for yourself in a workbook, a
notebook to start to like, look into it as if it is on the way.
Because if he put it in you, it's already done.
And I feel that everyday I'm like, oh, he put this in me,
(34:48):
it's already done. And I get so excited.
And then there's it's a journey of like, oh gosh, this is really
hard. You know it is.
That's great advice. And the only other thing, the
other thing that I'll add beforewe start to kind of give you the
stage here towards the end is the latest thing that sort of
has come to me that may help youladies, is that we often say,
(35:10):
Jesus, take the wheel, right? We come into the desert, we come
into a tough spot. Maybe we're getting everything
we want. And we're like, oh, my God, it's
so scary. Success could be scary.
Yeah. And you say, Jesus, take the
wheel. This is what many of us are
guilty of. You hand him the keys.
He's sitting in the driver's seat.
(35:30):
You're like, yay, he's here. And then you're saying to
yourself, why are we going this way?
My friend went that way. Like last time I came this way,
it was so easy. Isn't that a shortcut over
there? Look, everyone's going, you
know, to Utah that way. They're not going all the way
around this way. And, and, and we take this
control. We're passenger drivers.
(35:52):
Oh my gosh, watch out for that. Oh, no, let's go, you know, and
also, can we bring so and so? Oh, but so and so really wants
to come with us. And it's like, no, when we're
sitting here giving full controlto God.
I have now learned that my only job is to know the destination.
(36:14):
Like enter it into the GPSI would really love to be a public
speaker. That's it.
Like, do you know the thing? And then the journey there, you
guys, oh man, like if you're going to hit potholes, you're
going to veer off the road into the desert.
It's going to be the long way. Like, but once you get there,
(36:35):
you're able to go, oh, I get it.You're going to be able to say,
I get why he took me this way. Yes, the preparation.
It's the refining by the fire, right?
So, OK, so tell us, tell the ladies that might be stuck right
now. Give them a message of they're
(36:55):
stuck. There's two different types of
ladies that listen to listen to this podcast and that join the
CEO online community. They either know they want
something bigger for their lives, but they don't know how
to take that leap and and they feel held.
They feel blocked, right? They feel stuck.
And then there's the ladies thatalready took the leap and
they're just like, oh Lord, they're in the middle of the
desert and they're just questioning their entire
(37:16):
existence and their decision about this.
Let's go ahead and have you talkto those ladies.
Sure. So lady number one, the one who
is just stuck. You know, I think so often we
want to have this visual of thisbig audacious outcome.
And we wanted to be so clear so that we can map out back to your
(37:41):
story, right? The destination, the way we're
going to get there. But the reality is, as much as
you may have an inkling of what God wants for you to do, like
maybe I want to start a podcast,or maybe I want to start an
online business or write the book or start the ministry, The
actual outcome of what that might look like, that's not
going to come in. OK.
(38:01):
That's just a visual. And So what we do is wrap it up
in our fears and in our projections about all the things
that can go wrong when we stay safe, because that's how we are
coded. We're hard coded to stay safe.
So what I want you guys to do isinstead of focusing on this big
outcome and all the things that could go wrong, you're going to
ask yourself one question. What is the next right step?
(38:26):
You're going to sit with God. You're going to come up with the
next step, the next thing you'redoing, whether it's today,
whether it's tomorrow, maybe it's this week.
I'm doing this to move a little bit closer to the thing I think
God is asking of me. And then you do it.
You just do it. I don't care if it's messy and
scrappy. I don't care if you fail
forward. You just do it.
(38:47):
Then you stop yourself from spiraling yet again and you go
now what is the next right step?As I did this over the past six
years, there were things I can'tcame up against that I was right
of public speaking being won. But I asked the question instead
of looking at that big thing because that actually terrified
(39:07):
me. I said, what's the next right
step? And I said, well, it's to tell
myself that I'd be willing to take a speaking engagement to
write down all the things that could go right did that the next
thing was OK to be available if a speaking engagement might come
up. The next week, I got a phone
call you. I would, I want you to come
(39:28):
speak at this thing. It was like the perfect safe
place to explore it. I wanted to say no.
Everything inside of me was screaming no, no, no, no.
And I went, you know what? I did the work.
I I talked about what can go right.
I could. I knew that I could make this
happen This summer. I've put it out to some friends
that I'm thinking about it. If I'm saying yes, that was the
next right step, then it was pick your outfit, then it was
(39:50):
get your lodging, then it was show up, then it was and then I
did it and then it was over withand I was like, I did the thing
that God's asked me to do. And now I've relabeled my fear
around this thing as excited anticipation because it was
actually amazing. So those are my I'm stuck the
ladies in the middle in the messof it all.
Often for you, you're overcomplicating it.
(40:13):
You're doing way too much. So for those of you in that
place, what I want you to do is I want you to sit with God.
And I call this a business meeting with God.
They're going to do some prep work and you're going to write
down all the things you're doingright now.
You know, I'm trying to write a best selling book and I started
a blog and I have 13 offers and I'm also coaching.
But yet I'm struggling, right. And all these different areas of
(40:35):
my life. Well, yeah, because you're doing
everything. And if we're doing everything,
we're probably doing it for the wrong reason.
Yeah. So we bring all that credit to
the meeting with God and we say lends all this stuff silent
partner, right? Show me what of all of this
should I actually pour into and I have found for me, it's
(40:56):
usually one thing, one thing, right?
It was the podcast for four years before I ever added an
additional thing. It was only one thing that I I
coached for three years before Imigrated into a course.
It's one thing. Well, and it's for the right
reasons. So I want you guys to think
about simplifying and streamlining and really being
(41:16):
able to hone in on your particular craft and who you're
called to serve and don't look up and until that kindling fire
is a bonfire and it is super successful for you.
Now we look up and we add that next rite thing to the mix.
OK. Let's talk monetization.
So you went from coaching. How did you get your first
(41:38):
client in coaching? On the podcast, I simply said,
you know, I want to start coaching.
I've always been very vulnerableand honest with my audience.
So I was like, I've never coached before.
I want to start coaching. If any of you guys are
interested. And like at the time it was
called Clarity Coaching. Like you don't know what your
business would be. I'd love to sit with you.
And I threw that out on the podcast.
This was back in 20, you know, 18 when I started, I'm not
(41:59):
kidding. It was like 2 days and I had my
first, they emailed me, they, I had no website.
I had nothing. They emailed me and I sent them
a PayPal invoice for $80 and we did an hour of time and they
cried and it was amazing. And I was like, this is it.
And I poured into coaching for two years.
It went 80 dollars, 204 hundred,800 an hour, an hour to the
(42:19):
point of like I couldn't actually keep up with demand.
And I really was so tired because it couldn't scale.
And my kids were very young too at that time.
Like so at that point I started to ask myself, and I of course
was bringing us to get the feet of Jesus.
I continued to help get his helpand I felt what is the thing I'm
coaching on over and over again that can become a course.
So I built Podcast Pro University, which taught my
(42:42):
clients how to start a podcast with their new business and that
really helped. And then over as that that
course started to become successful, I phased out of
coaching over the next couple ofyears.
And then I added my my offer nowof group coaching because people
still wanted to work with me, but I needed a scalable model.
So now they come into my group coaching program and I teach
(43:03):
them how to make their podcast profitable, their own offers and
optimizing an SEO and all those important pieces of how to make
a podcast actually work for you.Yeah.
So that's what that looks like. And so you went from one on ones
to sort of DIY courses to 1 to many, right?
So now you're, you do the group thing, they all pay and then
(43:25):
that's a nice way to scale. Do you have any recurring
revenue models built into your business?
Well, we still have the courses,so people can still come in
'cause that's a great affordablemodel.
As you guys grow your businesses, your podcasts,
hopefully you have long form. A lot of people just want to go
like get a taste of working withyou.
And so it's nice to have an easything that's going to solve
(43:46):
their first problem. So that's what I have a clarity
course and then my podcasting course.
So those are recurring passive revenue models.
People can buy from the podcast,they can buy from a workshop
that I have online. And then my big group coaching
program is actually Evergreen. So people can come in at any
time, but they're in there for six months and we do do big boot
(44:07):
camps into that. So they have a cohort, so to
speak, where they go through it with them.
And I have coaches in there now that help have 4 coaches in
there. So I'm showing up to coach on
Thursdays. So for me it's very passive, but
for them it's so in depth because they have the coaches
and the courses and the community and they have coaching
with me on Thursdays. And like, it's just so fun to
(44:30):
watching the evolution of you build something and it's not it,
you know, but it's kind of it. And then you're like, put some
people through it, You guys don't be afraid of like, put
some people through stuff beta, let them try it.
Let them tell you everything that's wrong with it at a great
price. And you can rework it and refine
it. You know, this thing has been
refined 4 times to the point of like, it's the most incredible
(44:51):
thing that I'm most proud of offering the world is the, the
group coaching program I have now.
But it's on its fourth, it's on its fourth iteration, right?
Because great things take time and we cannot be afraid of
sometimes tearing some things apart and rebuilding them
better. In your business, you're going
to do that. If you're afraid of that, like
you're in the wrong business. Because that's what
(45:11):
entrepreneurship is. It's testing, it's data, it's
refining. So it's been a really fun
journey to get to here. There is a famous saying that
says you don't think constant ischange, right?
And so that is exactly it in business and in in, in creative
pursuits. We are on the same, we're on the
same wavelength. We started with the podcast.
(45:32):
The podcast generated interest. Everybody asking, do you have a
course? And I was like, entrepreneurship
isn't a course, it's a journey. So we LED with the membership
community first. So it was like, pay this much
money every month. And then we'll create a lot of
DIY solutions in there. Still not really courses, but
just some guidelines and some things that they could watch and
learn and get ideas from. And then, you know, I went into
(45:55):
the mentorship part of it, whichyou're exactly right.
I, it's very difficult to scale when you're on a one-on-one
basis. And not everybody is willing to
help themselves to the degree that you're willing to help
them, which is a challenge. And, and now we've just beta
tested our group model, the takethe women on a journey.
We did an 8 week program, summerwork program, we called it, and
(46:16):
we gave them like hands on weekly challenges to do together
as a team. And they absolutely like we just
finished yesterday. So like they absolutely loved
it. And when we were done and it was
all three of us on the team and we, we just were like, we're in
love. Like So what we thought it was
going to be is not what it is today.
And so now we're like, great, like how do we monetize this
(46:37):
portion of it? Or do we take the recordings and
put it in there? Like so it's constantly, we're
constantly evolving. But the driving force I think
you have and that we have alike is that we are driven to serve
others and we are driven to takethe lessons that we have learned
and the experiences that we havehad.
That says you don't got to chasethe money like crazy.
(46:57):
You don't got to work yourself to death.
And you can have time, freedom. And for me, I spoke at Ted X
about purpose. Just you can actually identify
what your purpose is and make money in your purpose.
And if you do that with God, you're not going to lose.
It's going to feel so great, like the whole thing is going to
feel so great. Amen.
(47:17):
I love that. OK, so tell us again, where can
they find you? What do you have to offer them?
Let's let's hear it. Yeah, well, thanks for having
me, Rachel. This has been such a beautiful,
blessed conversation. I hope you guys learned
something. Come listen to the podcast.
I got 760 episodes to help you guys grow and scale your online
businesses in a way that glorifies God, that is in less
(47:41):
time and that's online business for Christian women.
And then my website isstephaniegas.com, it's Stefan
i.e. GASS and I've got everything,
checklists and workshops and so many fun resources to help you
guys grow with God. Amen.
Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much, Rachel.
Welcome to another episode of the Rachel Unpacked podcast.
I am your host Rachel Medina andin every episode we talk about
mindset, wealth, building and faith for every girlie who is
looking to change and level up her life.
If you want to follow me on social media, you can do so at
Rachel Medina 101 or visit my website rachelmedina.com.
But if you are ready to build a business in a life that you
(00:23):
love, head on over to our new she eox.com site again, she EO
dot com where you are going to find a tribe of like minded
business building dream aspiringgirl.
He's just like you, connecting, learning and growing together.
And a new CEO X partnership program means we attract the
(00:43):
talented, experienced and successful women who are ready
to teach you how they did it so that you can succeed too.
Let's go. Hello everyone, welcome back to
the Rachel Unpack podcast. I am your host Rachel Medina.
In this episode, I have an amazing guest named Stephanie.
Yes, and we are going to unpack all of the things that make her
(01:05):
magical and brilliant in her niche and in her space and pull
up a chair and get a notebook and get ready to be inspired.
Welcome, Stephanie. Hi, Rachel.
Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on.
It's been, we've been like, you know, anxiously anticipating the
interview. We've had some really brilliant
(01:26):
women on. And so we're just very, very
glad to to have you on. So tell us what you do and who
you do it for. Absolutely.
So I help Christian women build businesses from their calling
work using podcasting. Nice.
You know what's great about thatis that the audience is very
(01:49):
familiar with this, but if but CEO audience may not be as much
because that's was kind of two audiences going on here.
My life changed when I started podcasting.
I started podcasting in 2019, turning my pain into purpose.
The audience knows this. I'm a Christian woman and I was
like, all right, let's go. Thanks to Deneen on my team who
(02:10):
you've interacted with. She was like, we do these
meetings at our company and she's like, that's a podcast
episode that you just did. And I'm like, what?
So it's, it's, it's life changing.
So like, I look forward to hearing how you got into
podcasting. Yeah, so it changed my life as
well. I can really say that with full
(02:30):
heart and honesty. I had been an entrepreneur
before my podcast for about a decade, ended up getting laid
off of corporate America. I had gone into network
marketing, had all the success in network marketing that
there's to be had walk the stages, have the checks and the
cars and the trips. And it was really fun until it
wasn't because I was working endless hours.
(02:52):
I had, you know, a 2 year old and a newborn and I'm just
working. I'm having anxiety attacks
because of the level of work andeffort it's taking to maintain
this level of success. And within about a year, Rachel,
that company or my particular organization that I had built,
it kind of crumbled because all the new fancy shiny companies
(03:15):
were coming out with the leggings and the lipstick And
they were like, I want to have the success you've had.
Well, I learned a hard lesson inthat season, which was I had
built a, a business that was notmine.
I had all my eggs in someone else's basket and I had idolized
success instead of the God who provides and the God who could
(03:37):
really redirect me and what thisbusiness was I was supposed to
be doing. So I found myself in this really
dark kind of rediscovery phase of my life.
This was 2017 ish and I was struggling.
I was struggling to find purposeagain.
I wasn't making any money, whichfor me I'd been a big piece of
identity, right? Like I'm successful at all these
(03:59):
things and I'm a leader and I'd really found myself in this
place of nowhere really to go but God.
And so I went through this really deep dive into my faith.
I started praying more intentionally.
I started opening the Bible really for some of like
basically the first time in my life with seriousness fumbling
my way around trying to figure out what does this look like?
(04:21):
And, and God, do you speak to meand can I have you help me in
this area, not just this area. Stop compartmentalizing him and
I kept praying. What am I supposed to do?
I don't understand. I know I'm called the business,
but I don't understand how October of 2018 I had a dream.
It was very prophetic. It felt I could feel the spirit
of the Lord when I woke up that that morning and I heard start a
(04:43):
podcast and I saw it and it was clear just a beautiful vision
from the Lord and I went a podcast got like I didn't get
it. How does it work?
It makes money like I don't understand, but you know what,
I'll be obedient in this. Plugged in a microphone, started
speaking. This was six years ago.
I was messy, I was scrappy. I did everything wrong.
(05:04):
But God because his plans are bigger than mine.
The podcast ended up reaching, you know, hundreds and thousands
of people in the first few years.
It was how I was able to grow a six figure and then multi 6
figure coaching business from the show.
The podcast today is a top 20 podcast.
It's been the vessel for a 7 figure company.
(05:25):
I've got 15 people on the team at any given time.
Like it's so crazy, Rachel, because none of that was a goal
that I had. It's too big.
And so for it to be so big, I know that it had to have been
God. So that's really the podcast was
so, so much of course, in alignment with God's will for
the for the podcast, really thisbreaking like jumping point for
(05:51):
what he had for the women that Iserved today.
I find it really interesting because hearing you because one
of the things in doing podcasting for me, as I don't do
deep dives necessarily into the person that I'm going to
interview, which is really sort of contradictory.
I think a lot of people really like dive deep into their
(06:12):
subject because I want to explore it from very sort of
naive eyes like very just a clean slate and and think to
myself gosh what to be curious like the audience would be be
right meeting you for the first time.
I'm hearing your story and I andI see me We talked a little bit
about this a bit ago, but it yeah breaking up with corporate
(06:35):
over the age of 40. That's my story.
I was in the magazine media industry 20 something years,
built A7 figure business after that because my simple question
was God, for 20 years I've been making these people very, very
wealthy. How can I do that for myself and
for my family? I know I got it.
But on our team we say sometimesit's easier to do for others
(06:57):
what we don't know how to do forourselves.
And so there I was 40 years old.I had recently ended up
divorced. Then I was like unemployed in
some weird fluke of events. And there I was with teenage
sons praying to God, also in a in a knee dropping moment of
what do I do here? Being in corporate, you know,
(07:20):
and I was I was a magazine publisher.
So like sort of tippity top. It's easy to have all the
answers when you're getting thishuge salary.
But when you're just on your ownand you feel like you just took
a leap and you don't know that that net's going to appear.
I was like, I'm going to look up.
I can't look to the left, I can't look to the right.
(07:40):
I have to look up. And in doing so it it was just
I'm here, you're going to be OK.Like you know how to do this.
But like you said, built A7 figure business with my very
small team, did it from home. That kind of became my claim to
fame. What made people curious about
what I was doing, but I was miserable, absolutely working
(08:03):
crazy hours and had no time freedom.
And so anyways, I'm sharing all that with you because I'm just
meeting you now to say I I hear you, I see you and I am like we
are one in this because the passion to help women understand
that they could do it too is is there.
I love that so much. And I think God's really on the
(08:24):
move in those of us that are called in this space right now.
And so it's funny because as I meet more and more people, I
realize our stories are almost all the same.
We almost all have some type of of idol or trauma or, you know,
traumatic situation that we walked through or hardship that
we had to come out of. And all of it is it's, it's
(08:49):
allowable because it's now for apurpose.
Like you said in the beginning, your pain into purpose.
It's that and the story is really the same, but with a
different label for each and every one of us that are called
to this business space. Let's get into the seven figure
thing because I, I think and maybe like you kind of touched
on, a lot of people are like scrolling through social media,
(09:12):
they're seeing the laptop lifestyle.
They're seeing, oh, you know, she's at Mykonos.
This person's flying private like the fast car is like the
the dream closets. And so people begin to idolize
the outcomes, right, of entrepreneurship where they
begin to idolize like the money and the the lifestyle that it
can bring. There's also a lot of
comparisons, right? And so let's talk about when you
(09:33):
made your first six figures, 7 figures.
When you cross that line, let's let them know what that's really
like, because there's this illusion that it's life
changing, that somehow it bringsall this joy.
And let's unpack that for them. Really good.
So I've made six figures multiple different ways in my in
(09:58):
my lifetime, and then I've made seven figures after this
podcasting business was started.So when we really look back at
the six figure benchmarks, the first time I did it was in
corporate. And that's because that was my
salary. And I also worked really
stinking hard, lots of hours, didn't have kids yet was like
newly engaged. So for me, I just leaned into
that and I went, oh, success, cool.
(10:19):
Like I'm going to wear that as ajacket because success actually
feels really good. So I got my first taste of that,
ended up getting laid off from that job and went into the
network marketing thing. And to that one, I built 6
figures. Like on the back of hustle.
It was constant Facebook groups,DM ING calls at 5:00 in the
(10:41):
morning, calls at six because I was the one good at sales.
So I was the one doing all of those hard things.
I was at networking events two 3-4 nights a week, hosting
parties, all of these things andI hit the six figures relatively
quickly in network marketing. But what happened was it wasn't
enough. None of it was ever enough.
(11:02):
It was like, OK, what's next? What's I never felt this moment
of like, oh, it's, it's this life changing amount of money
where like now it makes sense. It was feeding the beast, so to
speak, within me of like, oh, more, more, more like now I
would look with envy upon the seven figure earners in my
company and want to be on the stage.
And then I got on the stage and went, what's next?
(11:22):
And like, it almost started the addiction towards success,
started feeding other addictive behaviors in my life.
You know, at the time, I was drinking a lot.
I had food issues. I had.
I like anything I could do to more, more like this hunger that
I couldn't fill in my heart. And yeah, like, we went on nice
trips. I remember celebrating my 30th
(11:44):
birthday in Vegas. We went to this pool party and
we had a table in the bottle service and I just remember
thinking like this is it? And then coming home to the
sobering reality of emptiness and going now what?
There was this pivotal moment for me, Rachel, where I got on
on the stage with that company in front of 20,000 people and
(12:05):
you get a $60,000 bonus check and it's the top of the top.
And you go and you share your little story.
And I was like, This is why I did it all.
This is what makes sense. This is it like ever this like
the adrenaline was just like pouring out of me.
And I walk up to the mic, my heart is beating out of my chest
and I say the thing I'm supposedto say and I walk off the stage
(12:28):
and I felt the same. And I went, I thought that was
it, like, and I realized that was the moment I realized like,
this is not the thing that can fulfill me.
The money doesn't matter. I feel literally more empty than
I did before. And so I think as we as
Christians start to really recognize like the only thing
(12:50):
that can fulfill us is the love,faithfulness and fullness of
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we start to be convicted
in these areas of our lives thatwe are coveting and we are
idolizing. And for me, it was that success.
It was that all the band aids, the alcohol and the this and the
and the fame on social media. And slowly as I started to pray,
(13:10):
God help me with this feeling. I'm so full of anxiety.
I would have anxiety attacks anytime I would drink alcohol.
God kept convicting me. And I finally, finally said
like, Lord stripped me of these things, 'cause I'm so I, I, I'm
sick of feeling like I need something so deeply and I can't
find it. And as soon as that prayer left
my lips, things started to dissipate.
(13:31):
And then I was kind of left withthat, that stripping, if you
will, and left with this, only myself and only the things that
mattered were left. My family, thank God, was still
here and my health, thank God, was still here.
But I was left with this other void.
And so I started to fill it withhim.
And as I did that, I just was hungry for the Lord.
(13:52):
I was opening the word of God. I was praying.
I failed, you know, I'd fail andI'd start something new, like,
oh, let me try to make money making Amazon T-shirts like I
would, you know, Yeah, chasing the raw.
And then God would redirect me. And over the course of that,
those few years of that really deep searching, you know, what I
found was the end of myself. And so as I started praying,
(14:15):
like God, I'm ready to start a business again, but I want to do
it with you this time. I was afraid.
I was afraid of success, Rachel.I was afraid of falling back
into who I used to be. At this point, I'm kind of, I
was flirting with sobriety at that point, like kind of like,
oh, I should stop drinking and I'm going to try to treat my
body like a temple. And I'm going through a lot in
my personal life at the same time as feeling this like rising
(14:37):
my spirit to launch a business again.
And So what I did is I just keptmy dependence on him and I said,
tell me what to talk about today.
If I go live, tell me what to do.
Should I say yes to this coaching client?
I was like, so surrendered and sold out to how God wanted me to
build that as I was building this next level, this new thing
with God, it was so different. It was like I would feel
(14:59):
someone, someone would come intothe inbox and like my spirit
would leap and they'd they'd say, do you do a coaching call?
And I'd be like, God, did we do coaching calls?
And he's like, yeah. And I'm like, I do.
And we'd get on a zoom and like the Holy Spirit would show up,
Rachel. And it was like they'd cry and
say, like, Oh my gosh, you've been praying.
What what was my business or what is?
And like, you've been a, a, a blessing.
(15:19):
You've been an answer to my prayer.
And I knew it was God. He was making these connections.
He was opening these doors and as I passed that six figures,
like, yes, of course, like the driver in me, like the leader in
me was like, this is cool. But it was so cool because I was
celebrating with God and I said,what are we gonna do with the
money now? And it was neat because I was
able to start paying off debt and we started tithing and
(15:42):
opportunities came for us to give it bigger capacity.
And as we gave and served and I just really open handed with the
money and you know, I was hiringpeople to get more help.
I wasn't like, this is all mine and I have to build it myself.
I was like, Lord, who do you have to help me grow?
And I was so much more open handed with it.
Pretty soon it was half a million and then it was a, it
was $1,000,000 company. And I went this point like, God,
(16:06):
this has got to be you because Idon't know what to do.
Like I don't know how to shepherd this stuff.
And he would provide me with, here's the accounting team you
need need, and here's the legal pieces we need in place.
And I continue to just pray and say, if you, you know, much is
given, much is expected. Lord help me to continue to
shepherd and steward this money.So all the while the money's so
fun. Like, let me be honest, I'm able
(16:28):
to build a team and do cool stuff and like play in the
online marketing space and like,I love being able to do really
incredible things for his Kingdom.
But what's cooler than that is that he's been able to show me
how to grow a business that's highly profitable and glorifying
to him. And I work 20 hours a week now.
I don't work 60. I'm not striving.
(16:49):
I'm not drinking my problems. I don't have panic attacks
anymore. Like I'm free.
I'm free to walk in this glorious business that he's
provided to me. And the money is fruitfulness on
that obedience that he asked of me six years ago.
What's amazing about that is that my son recently, because
(17:11):
I'm still in the pattern of hustle and I am doing my
absolute best to break up with it.
I tell everybody to break up with it.
I talked the talk, but I'm I'm, I'm walking very slowly on that
walk. And not too long ago my son
said, why are you working? Like God's not in it?
And the irony of it is that I openly say that when I made God
(17:37):
my silent business partner in this leg of my life, everything
changed. The 1st 7 figure business that I
built with my team, he wasn't init like that.
It was like, Oh my God, it's amazing.
It was all me. It was like, I have 20 years
experience, how can I do this for myself, right?
Self built it amazing. Now I'm literally serving that
(17:59):
God because, like you said, feeding the beast.
I I felt the entire time if I don't work immensely hard and
also guilt of like I have to work harder than the people I
employ was a was a weird thing. The airplane's gonna fall out of
the sky. That's all self right.
And so then I tragedy stuck struck my life.
(18:21):
I lost my son. He was 25.
And then right after COVID hit, it was this 1-2 punch.
I recently spoke at Ted X about this.
And life will wake you all the way up and and realign you and
your perspective and give you such a reality check.
(18:41):
And again, once again, there I was going.
I have nowhere to look but up. Because losing my son obviously
rocked my life and my world and made me look around at
everything from handbags that I had and like the car and like
the numbers and, and all of these things and instantly
(19:03):
nothing had value. Like instantly I looked around
those few days after and was like, this is besides the
memories of like traveling to Europe and doing all these
amazing things, you know, with my boys that thank God, you
know, we got to do. But other than that, nothing,
when I tell you nothing had value.
I do not own a designer anythingright now.
(19:26):
And I just cannot, I can't judgepeople that have it.
I just don't see any value. And then and then all of a
sudden COVID hit shut down. And then that made me no choice
once again. But to go all right.
It's a surrender. It's like I thought money, now
nothing has value, but I still have to figure out this
business. And then God said, boom,
(19:47):
pandemic means hang it up and just be, be still.
Because I was running from that pain and that mourning process
and I was like, I gotta get backto work.
Like we buried him and I was like, we got we gotta, I gotta
OK, OK meetings, OK clients, OK.Cuz again, if I'm not the one
selling, cuz I'm the one that has all that ability, right?
(20:07):
Supposedly then it falls out of the sky.
And then and then the pandemic said Nope.
And in being able to go fine. Clearly I am not the captain of
the ship, like clearly I have 0 control.
As much as I believe, I made myself believe that I did.
I surrender. I fully surrender it all because
(20:30):
nothing matters and let's do this thing your way.
And it's almost as though in themoment of being able and I had
done some public speaking a little bit here and there and
there was some opportunities andI said, OK, I'm going to fully
surrender. I'm going to start a podcast.
I'm going to hit record. I don't know what I'm doing.
The audio is trash. Like, forget camera.
(20:53):
I was like, I am not going to record myself.
That's so weird. I, you know, showing up on
social media, it's so braggy. I can't do it.
Like the whole thing was cringe.But in my spirit, I was like,
somebody somewhere is in the storm and doesn't know how
they're going to get out. And so I want them to know, hi,
I'm in the storm too. And like, let's hold hands and
(21:16):
like, let's pray and let's look up.
And so then when I was able to start this new business and CEOI
said, this is you. So I say God is my PR manager,
He's my marketing director, He'smy creative, you know, whatever.
Like he's my accountant, he's the he's my advisor.
(21:37):
And so I say, I built this with him and he's my silent business
partner. But I still, even myself knowing
all that, I still struggle with that guilt of I have to work
really hard. And so I'm I'm trying to be a
good steward of the blessings, but at the same time realize
it's not me anyways. Like it's not gonna fall apart.
(22:00):
It's not gonna fall apart. Yeah, it's funny that you bring.
First of all, I'm sorry about your son.
Thank you. Can't imagine.
I have two boys, so you know, that's near and dear to my
heart. It's funny that you bring this
up because last week I was in the word in Matthew and I saw
the verse that talks about, you know, you that seek wisdom, ask
(22:23):
and you shall receive. But then it says a little bit
farther down it says, but those of you that have divided
attention should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
And I had been really struggling.
I kept waking up with this feeling of dread in the mornings
and I we're going through this season of like, what schools are
the kids going to go to? And then of course, like, you
(22:43):
know, the climate of the world right now and all of that.
And I kept waking up with dread.And I kept waking up with dread.
And so I'd go to YouTube Shorts and I'd watch all the shorts
with all the political commentary and all the stuff and
all the noise. And I realized like, OK, it's so
easy for us to shift the noise from OK, I'm going to hustle.
So OK, now I'm just going to obsessively worry about the next
(23:06):
thing. Or I'm going to replace it with
busyness or cleaning, or I'm going to replace it with
mindless scrolling. I'm going to replace it with
shopping. Like whatever the noise is that
we've decided to fixate on in our life right now.
The enemy ain't dumb and he knows that.
And he, he puts a speaker on it.He amplifies the noise, right?
(23:26):
And so our job as these Kingdom entrepreneurs is to notice
where's the noise, right? And so Rachel, you just said,
like, I keep falling into hustle.
That's the noise. So we're going to focus on this
noise and then we're going to take it and we're going to
release it at the feet of Jesus.We're going to pray on it.
And one thing that I'm forcing myself to do, if this blesses
anybody, I have to sit in it. So I want to tend to get back to
(23:50):
work, right? Like you, like, I want to get
busy and probably have some dishes to do.
Got to do something. And it's like, no, you're going
to sit in this moment of distress in your spirit, the
wrestling that's going on between the enemy's amplified
noise and God's peace. You're going to sit in God's
peace and you're going to let the enemy fight and struggle
with you for a second and then you're going to freaking win.
(24:11):
And so I've been sitting like every day something will creep
up. I'm like, I'm like, oh, even if
it's 30 seconds, it might be 60 seconds.
Guess what happens? I feel this release of all this
pressure. I feel this lifting.
I'll get a revelation. I think of somebody.
I'm supposed to text. I get a word from the Lord.
And I'm like, it's these little pockets of stillness that we
(24:32):
resist, that enemy's amplified noise that we are going to
receive the big wins. They're micro.
And you guys have to be paying attention to that because if He
can keep us distracted, he can keep us from showing up in the
purpose work that we truly have to do, which is all gods anyway.
Like you said, I don't need to worry about where the money's
coming from. I don't need to worry about the
(24:53):
opportunity. I don't need to worry about the
conversations. I just have to show up and do
good works for the Kingdom each day.
And that also includes doing less.
It also includes listening well and being really present and
sitting in the stillness. It's not all hustle, work and
strive. It's actually less of those
pieces. It's, you know, holding space
for God to do his thing and not,not that we can block him in any
(25:15):
way, but you know what I mean? It's like, I think mentally I
tried to tell myself like you'vedone what you can do today, like
like allow that space, let let, let all of that work out.
You touched on something earlierregarding money and about
holding on, you know, clinging on to it versus like letting it
go, letting it flow, so to speak.
(25:37):
And that's another thing that I had to contend with with my
first 7 figure business was everything was reinvested in the
business. But to a degree of I felt again,
the guilt of and by the way, this could be cultural.
I am, I am a Latina, you know, aMexican.
(25:57):
There's like this guilt of if the people that you know, love,
trust around you are not entrepreneurs are not prospering
in this way. And then you're over here just,
you know, you don't even have anyone to talk to about it.
So for me personally, I was in astate of like, don't buy
(26:18):
anything, like no new cars, no new.
It was this weird. Like I don't want to look like
I'm bragging. There was also, though, this
sense of I don't want to lose itall.
So there was a lot of saving, which is smart.
It got us through some pretty difficult times.
But there was this, OK, I paid them this much.
I don't want to pay myself too much.
(26:39):
I really struggled with the money part of it.
On that side. There was guilt in a weird way
that I didn't realize it was guilt in the time I could
hindsight's 2020, I could look at it and go, OK, It's because I
felt I don't want to make this person feel bad that they don't
make money. And I didn't want to appear to
be bragging and step into my wowthis is awesome era.
And also for the people that work so hard on the team and,
(26:59):
and we're getting paid a certainamount.
I'm trying to be humble with that as well and be a good
steward of, of the fact that they're even dedicating their
time to this. But the, the money part, when I
recently again, that I'm, I'm, I'm walking in it every day.
I figured out, oh, with this business, right?
Because this business is different.
(27:20):
It's not the recurring revenue model necessarily.
It's it's getting there, but notwhat the other one was.
And so there's this tendency again to go, oh, here came, you
know, $10,000 here, let's put this over here in a jar.
And it's like, no, hire the guy that can do the thing just
(27:41):
'cause you know, Canva really well does the you need to spend
5 hours in Canva, you know, likepay the guy, you have the guy,
his name's Denny. Pay the guy like.
Pay the. Guy pay the guy you guys like
they would like what a blessing.And So what ended up, I do this
thing called coffee with God every morning and I sit down
(28:02):
with my cup of coffee and I justsit on a step outside of my
house in the sun. And then I just have coffee with
him. And sometimes I have nothing to
say and sometimes I have a lot of random weird things to say.
But ultimately I have that coffee with God.
And I said, God, I don't want torepeat those patterns.
I want to learn from the mistakes and also help me to be
(28:25):
a good steward of this money. And what instantly came to me
was everything living has a pulse and a circulation.
Everything living flows, has an ebb and flow.
And so when it pours into you and the vision, that sort of
kind of the idea that kind of came to me over coffee was that
there's like a scene in the Bible where there's bread and
(28:47):
then he breaks the bread and it like feeds 5000 people.
So when the blessing comes to you financially, let's just say
it is meant to bless many. And it's not just here's 50
bucks, here's 100. No, no, no.
It's like there's a guy in my neighborhood that details cars.
I know that that's more expensive than just going to the
(29:08):
do it yourself thing, but the blessing isn't.
I have the financial means. He's dedicated his, his himself,
himself to doing that work for others.
Bless him. Bless him with that 175 bucks or
whatever it is like, and learning that if you go to a
restaurant, you're helping to pay the rent for that restaurant
tier the C roll. Like you leave a tip.
(29:30):
Like there's all these things. So in spending the money, which
is like hard to get for some people, that's all they do.
But like for me, it was a struggle.
There's so many blessings in that.
Yeah, and that verse blessed thegiver, right?
We think about that verse. I want to highlight something
you said for those listening. I think, Rachel, it's important
that we hear you made the time to sit with God, then you were
(29:56):
willing to be humble enough to ask for his help.
And the third thing was you did receive the answer.
I think so often when we're sitting in, we sit in struggle.
We either avoid it, we lean intoit because it's actually a
coping mechanism that we have instead of going oh wow, this
(30:16):
behavior that I keep getting theconviction of the Lord.
I call it discernment alarms. You will feel when something
that you are doing is off, you will feel it.
Don't stuff that away. Get that coffee cup.
Go on that stoop. I have a prayer couch.
I do a similar thing in the mornings, looking outside and
sitting with God, and I have to get in my humility.
You know, God, I was prideful yesterday.
(30:37):
Or I'm feeling jealous of my friend or like whatever
ridiculous things that we face as humans because we are all
human and we ask and you receivethe answer.
And I think what's interesting about the answer is, like you
guys, it's not about what Racheldoes with her money or about
what I do with my money. It's about how God asks you and
convicts you to shepherd and steward the money that he gifts
(30:57):
you. And he's going to, so he's going
to give you as much as you can handle.
So I want you to be OK with the blessing and provision that you
have today. Become responsible shepherd of
the money he gives you because as you do what he asks you with
(31:18):
that money. And God's been very gracious to
me like you, you know, we've been able to buy things and do
beautiful things to the home andgo on some vacations.
But I'm also giving it a high capacity worth saving really.
Well, I've been careful to really be prayerful about what
he's asking of me. And what's funny is when we do
something that God asks, he typically does something
(31:38):
beautiful in return with either like, oh man, somebody was so
blessed by that thing, or oh, this opportunity to go on a
family vacation came up. Like he is such a good and
loving and kind God. He's not going to take all your
money and leave you right? Like it's just not his nature.
He has a a giving God, beautifulnature doesn't mean we don't
have financial struggles, right,everyone.
(31:59):
We also live in a fallen place. But but what I'm saying is we
have to turn to him in every area of our life, including the
financial, financial stewardshipand look to Scripture for how to
handle that. Pray and bring it to him.
And I think as you find yourselves, we find ourselves in
weakness or in failure sometimes.
Like, oh, I heard a word from the Lord.
(32:20):
I know that he's asking me to whatever it might be, tithe or
something. And then we get freaked out.
Oh, I had a tight month, probably not the month I'm going
to tithe. And then you don't tithe.
And then the next month you realize all that money came back
in again and you went oops. Like, guess what?
God, he gets us, He loves us, Heforgives us.
(32:40):
His grace and mercies are new every morning.
Just get that coffee, head back outside and say, man, I screwed
up. God, can you help realign my
focus and my intentions in this thing I'm struggling in?
He's not a God of confusion. He has a way for you.
And I think too, in recognizing God as the sort of Co founder of
(33:01):
your business, silent business partner, your partners get their
cut, you guys. So when you're making money, you
wouldn't have a a, a human business partner and not give
them their cut. You know, when you make money,
they make money. So so I think there's that
little if if that's the little inch step you take forward into
wrapping your head around what that looks like, then that's
(33:22):
then that's a beautiful step. I think the other thing that I
would add to what you're saying is I think the in the
preparation comes sort of the build up of abundance.
So, and what I mean by that is if you are praying for something
bigger or you're saying, you know what, I just saw this
individual get $100 million for their podcast and you're like, I
(33:44):
want to get into podcasting. The Lord is telling me to do it.
I feel called to do it. Well, then you need to probably
start preparing your buckets andgo, OK, so if I got offered 50
million or 100 million, am I ready to receive that?
So often we're looking over the fence and going, I want what
they have, but you're not even ready to receive it.
Like you're not even taking careof what you we already have.
(34:07):
And, and so it's preparing the buckets.
Like for myself, I'm working on something that's behind the
scenes and I haven't announced it.
It's a really big deal. And then I'm like, am I?
But before that even came in, you guys, I was like, I would
love the opportunity one day to be able to do that.
But currently today, am I prepared to receive that
blessing? And it's like, let me look at my
(34:27):
buckets. Do I know an entertainment
attorney? Do I know like where would I put
the money if I'm if another million came in?
Like answer those questions for yourself in a workbook, a
notebook to start to like, look into it as if it is on the way.
Because if he put it in you, it's already done.
And I feel that everyday I'm like, oh, he put this in me,
(34:48):
it's already done. And I get so excited.
And then there's it's a journey of like, oh gosh, this is really
hard. You know it is.
That's great advice. And the only other thing, the
other thing that I'll add beforewe start to kind of give you the
stage here towards the end is the latest thing that sort of
has come to me that may help youladies, is that we often say,
(35:10):
Jesus, take the wheel, right? We come into the desert, we come
into a tough spot. Maybe we're getting everything
we want. And we're like, oh, my God, it's
so scary. Success could be scary.
Yeah. And you say, Jesus, take the
wheel. This is what many of us are
guilty of. You hand him the keys.
He's sitting in the driver's seat.
(35:30):
You're like, yay, he's here. And then you're saying to
yourself, why are we going this way?
My friend went that way. Like last time I came this way,
it was so easy. Isn't that a shortcut over
there? Look, everyone's going, you
know, to Utah that way. They're not going all the way
around this way. And, and, and we take this
control. We're passenger drivers.
(35:52):
Oh my gosh, watch out for that. Oh, no, let's go, you know, and
also, can we bring so and so? Oh, but so and so really wants
to come with us. And it's like, no, when we're
sitting here giving full controlto God.
I have now learned that my only job is to know the destination.
(36:14):
Like enter it into the GPSI would really love to be a public
speaker. That's it.
Like, do you know the thing? And then the journey there, you
guys, oh man, like if you're going to hit potholes, you're
going to veer off the road into the desert.
It's going to be the long way. Like, but once you get there,
(36:35):
you're able to go, oh, I get it.You're going to be able to say,
I get why he took me this way. Yes, the preparation.
It's the refining by the fire, right?
So, OK, so tell us, tell the ladies that might be stuck right
now. Give them a message of they're
(36:55):
stuck. There's two different types of
ladies that listen to listen to this podcast and that join the
CEO online community. They either know they want
something bigger for their lives, but they don't know how
to take that leap and and they feel held.
They feel blocked, right? They feel stuck.
And then there's the ladies thatalready took the leap and
they're just like, oh Lord, they're in the middle of the
desert and they're just questioning their entire
(37:16):
existence and their decision about this.
Let's go ahead and have you talkto those ladies.
Sure. So lady number one, the one who
is just stuck. You know, I think so often we
want to have this visual of thisbig audacious outcome.
And we wanted to be so clear so that we can map out back to your
(37:41):
story, right? The destination, the way we're
going to get there. But the reality is, as much as
you may have an inkling of what God wants for you to do, like
maybe I want to start a podcast,or maybe I want to start an
online business or write the book or start the ministry, The
actual outcome of what that might look like, that's not
going to come in. OK.
(38:01):
That's just a visual. And So what we do is wrap it up
in our fears and in our projections about all the things
that can go wrong when we stay safe, because that's how we are
coded. We're hard coded to stay safe.
So what I want you guys to do isinstead of focusing on this big
outcome and all the things that could go wrong, you're going to
ask yourself one question. What is the next right step?
(38:26):
You're going to sit with God. You're going to come up with the
next step, the next thing you'redoing, whether it's today,
whether it's tomorrow, maybe it's this week.
I'm doing this to move a little bit closer to the thing I think
God is asking of me. And then you do it.
You just do it. I don't care if it's messy and
scrappy. I don't care if you fail
forward. You just do it.
(38:47):
Then you stop yourself from spiraling yet again and you go
now what is the next right step?As I did this over the past six
years, there were things I can'tcame up against that I was right
of public speaking being won. But I asked the question instead
of looking at that big thing because that actually terrified
(39:07):
me. I said, what's the next right
step? And I said, well, it's to tell
myself that I'd be willing to take a speaking engagement to
write down all the things that could go right did that the next
thing was OK to be available if a speaking engagement might come
up. The next week, I got a phone
call you. I would, I want you to come
(39:28):
speak at this thing. It was like the perfect safe
place to explore it. I wanted to say no.
Everything inside of me was screaming no, no, no, no.
And I went, you know what? I did the work.
I I talked about what can go right.
I could. I knew that I could make this
happen This summer. I've put it out to some friends
that I'm thinking about it. If I'm saying yes, that was the
next right step, then it was pick your outfit, then it was
(39:50):
get your lodging, then it was show up, then it was and then I
did it and then it was over withand I was like, I did the thing
that God's asked me to do. And now I've relabeled my fear
around this thing as excited anticipation because it was
actually amazing. So those are my I'm stuck the
ladies in the middle in the messof it all.
Often for you, you're overcomplicating it.
(40:13):
You're doing way too much. So for those of you in that
place, what I want you to do is I want you to sit with God.
And I call this a business meeting with God.
They're going to do some prep work and you're going to write
down all the things you're doingright now.
You know, I'm trying to write a best selling book and I started
a blog and I have 13 offers and I'm also coaching.
But yet I'm struggling, right. And all these different areas of
(40:35):
my life. Well, yeah, because you're doing
everything. And if we're doing everything,
we're probably doing it for the wrong reason.
Yeah. So we bring all that credit to
the meeting with God and we say lends all this stuff silent
partner, right? Show me what of all of this
should I actually pour into and I have found for me, it's
(40:56):
usually one thing, one thing, right?
It was the podcast for four years before I ever added an
additional thing. It was only one thing that I I
coached for three years before Imigrated into a course.
It's one thing. Well, and it's for the right
reasons. So I want you guys to think
about simplifying and streamlining and really being
(41:16):
able to hone in on your particular craft and who you're
called to serve and don't look up and until that kindling fire
is a bonfire and it is super successful for you.
Now we look up and we add that next rite thing to the mix.
OK. Let's talk monetization.
So you went from coaching. How did you get your first
(41:38):
client in coaching? On the podcast, I simply said,
you know, I want to start coaching.
I've always been very vulnerableand honest with my audience.
So I was like, I've never coached before.
I want to start coaching. If any of you guys are
interested. And like at the time it was
called Clarity Coaching. Like you don't know what your
business would be. I'd love to sit with you.
And I threw that out on the podcast.
This was back in 20, you know, 18 when I started, I'm not
(41:59):
kidding. It was like 2 days and I had my
first, they emailed me, they, I had no website.
I had nothing. They emailed me and I sent them
a PayPal invoice for $80 and we did an hour of time and they
cried and it was amazing. And I was like, this is it.
And I poured into coaching for two years.
It went 80 dollars, 204 hundred,800 an hour, an hour to the
(42:19):
point of like I couldn't actually keep up with demand.
And I really was so tired because it couldn't scale.
And my kids were very young too at that time.
Like so at that point I started to ask myself, and I of course
was bringing us to get the feet of Jesus.
I continued to help get his helpand I felt what is the thing I'm
coaching on over and over again that can become a course.
So I built Podcast Pro University, which taught my
(42:42):
clients how to start a podcast with their new business and that
really helped. And then over as that that
course started to become successful, I phased out of
coaching over the next couple ofyears.
And then I added my my offer nowof group coaching because people
still wanted to work with me, but I needed a scalable model.
So now they come into my group coaching program and I teach
(43:03):
them how to make their podcast profitable, their own offers and
optimizing an SEO and all those important pieces of how to make
a podcast actually work for you.Yeah.
So that's what that looks like. And so you went from one on ones
to sort of DIY courses to 1 to many, right?
So now you're, you do the group thing, they all pay and then
(43:25):
that's a nice way to scale. Do you have any recurring
revenue models built into your business?
Well, we still have the courses,so people can still come in
'cause that's a great affordablemodel.
As you guys grow your businesses, your podcasts,
hopefully you have long form. A lot of people just want to go
like get a taste of working withyou.
And so it's nice to have an easything that's going to solve
(43:46):
their first problem. So that's what I have a clarity
course and then my podcasting course.
So those are recurring passive revenue models.
People can buy from the podcast,they can buy from a workshop
that I have online. And then my big group coaching
program is actually Evergreen. So people can come in at any
time, but they're in there for six months and we do do big boot
(44:07):
camps into that. So they have a cohort, so to
speak, where they go through it with them.
And I have coaches in there now that help have 4 coaches in
there. So I'm showing up to coach on
Thursdays. So for me it's very passive, but
for them it's so in depth because they have the coaches
and the courses and the community and they have coaching
with me on Thursdays. And like, it's just so fun to
(44:30):
watching the evolution of you build something and it's not it,
you know, but it's kind of it. And then you're like, put some
people through it, You guys don't be afraid of like, put
some people through stuff beta, let them try it.
Let them tell you everything that's wrong with it at a great
price. And you can rework it and refine
it. You know, this thing has been
refined 4 times to the point of like, it's the most incredible
(44:51):
thing that I'm most proud of offering the world is the, the
group coaching program I have now.
But it's on its fourth, it's on its fourth iteration, right?
Because great things take time and we cannot be afraid of
sometimes tearing some things apart and rebuilding them
better. In your business, you're going
to do that. If you're afraid of that, like
you're in the wrong business. Because that's what
(45:11):
entrepreneurship is. It's testing, it's data, it's
refining. So it's been a really fun
journey to get to here. There is a famous saying that
says you don't think constant ischange, right?
And so that is exactly it in business and in in, in creative
pursuits. We are on the same, we're on the
same wavelength. We started with the podcast.
(45:32):
The podcast generated interest. Everybody asking, do you have a
course? And I was like, entrepreneurship
isn't a course, it's a journey. So we LED with the membership
community first. So it was like, pay this much
money every month. And then we'll create a lot of
DIY solutions in there. Still not really courses, but
just some guidelines and some things that they could watch and
learn and get ideas from. And then, you know, I went into
(45:55):
the mentorship part of it, whichyou're exactly right.
I, it's very difficult to scale when you're on a one-on-one
basis. And not everybody is willing to
help themselves to the degree that you're willing to help
them, which is a challenge. And, and now we've just beta
tested our group model, the takethe women on a journey.
We did an 8 week program, summerwork program, we called it, and
(46:16):
we gave them like hands on weekly challenges to do together
as a team. And they absolutely like we just
finished yesterday. So like they absolutely loved
it. And when we were done and it was
all three of us on the team and we, we just were like, we're in
love. Like So what we thought it was
going to be is not what it is today.
And so now we're like, great, like how do we monetize this
(46:37):
portion of it? Or do we take the recordings and
put it in there? Like so it's constantly, we're
constantly evolving. But the driving force I think
you have and that we have alike is that we are driven to serve
others and we are driven to takethe lessons that we have learned
and the experiences that we havehad.
That says you don't got to chasethe money like crazy.
(46:57):
You don't got to work yourself to death.
And you can have time, freedom. And for me, I spoke at Ted X
about purpose. Just you can actually identify
what your purpose is and make money in your purpose.
And if you do that with God, you're not going to lose.
It's going to feel so great, like the whole thing is going to
feel so great. Amen.
(47:17):
I love that. OK, so tell us again, where can
they find you? What do you have to offer them?
Let's let's hear it. Yeah, well, thanks for having
me, Rachel. This has been such a beautiful,
blessed conversation. I hope you guys learned
something. Come listen to the podcast.
I got 760 episodes to help you guys grow and scale your online
businesses in a way that glorifies God, that is in less
(47:41):
time and that's online business for Christian women.
And then my website isstephaniegas.com, it's Stefan
i.e. GASS and I've got everything,
checklists and workshops and so many fun resources to help you
guys grow with God. Amen.
Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much, Rachel.
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