April 5, 2024 • 36 mins
Meet WEE's newest bestie, April Roberts, Head Vixen of The Vixen Gathering. If you enjoy the WEE podcast and what WEE are all about, you will love our guest. April is all about gathering women together, helping them in their entrepreneurial ventures and reminding them of what makes them fabulous. Did someone say GenX? Yep, this one's for us!
Connect with April:
Like the show? Be sure to Like, Subscribe, Review and Share! Interested in being a part of WEE? Reach out to our group liaison, Kelli@WomenExcellingEverywhere.com
Connect with April:
- VixenGathering.com
- April@VixenGathering.com
- YouTube
- The Vixen Voice Podcast
- Complementary Strategy Session
Like the show? Be sure to Like, Subscribe, Review and Share! Interested in being a part of WEE? Reach out to our group liaison, Kelli@WomenExcellingEverywhere.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Hello, and welcome to another episodeof the Women Excelling Everywhere Podcast. I
am Julia Anderson, your host,and I am so happy to be here
with you. We are Women ExcellingEverywhere, and our design and desire is
to help you excel wherever you areat in your life, your relationships,
your business. We gotcha. We'rehere to support you. And one of
the ways that we do that isby interviewing amazing women on the podcast who
(00:33):
they themselves have experienced excelling in someaspect of their life and sharing their wisdom
and their story will oftentimes inspire you, and that is one of our hopes
with our guest today, and ourguest is April Roberts. April, thank
you, and welcome to the WomenExcelling Everywhere Podcast. Thanks Julie, I'm
super excited to be here. Yeah, I am looking forward to hearing more
(00:58):
about your story. As I waslooking over the website and reading more about
you and what you do to helpa gen X women especially, I thought,
what a cool, cool guest tohave on the program. So let
me read a little bit of yourprofessional by intro for those who have who
are listening in so they can getto know a little bit about April.
(01:21):
April Roberts helps gen X women achievemore abundance, love, spirituality, and
alignment by connecting with their femininity.As a high achieving former attorney and financial
advisor with degrees from Vanderbilt and NotreDame, April understands the societal pressures facing
women that often lead to burnout.She hosts the podcast Fix and Voice,
(01:42):
where she shares stories of gen Xwomen that have shed the traditional definition of
success to pursue their true life's passion. So, once again, welcome April
to the show. Thank you,Julie. I'm excited. I love your
mission and because it's so funny becausepeople are always like, well, what
do you do? And it's,as you know, it's hard to say
(02:05):
because Okay, I do business consulting, but I really do that so I
can help women live their best lives. And what's so funny is all of
my clients are like, my marriagegot better, Like I manage my time
better, Like I like my kidsmore right like So it's just like,
you know, helping them to reallytap in. And it's so important gen
X, like you talked about,because as gen xers, many of us
(02:29):
are worrying about our parents' health.They're taking care of our health. Many
of us have kids, right,and so it's so easy for we women
to lose ourselves and giving to othersand serving others, and so the Vixen
Gathering is all about helping women comeback to themselves like a human being,
a woman work walking on earth,and like really tapping into what do you
(02:53):
want? Because when you tap intowhat you want, I think those are
the breadcrumbs of why you're here onearth and what you're meant to do right.
And we all know when we're happy, we show up better for everyone
in our lives. So I feellike you and I are so aligned and
I love this. I'm excited.Yeah, it's so true, and you
(03:14):
hit it right. You know,we're in that generation that's that we learned
a lot of different things. Wekind of learned the hard way, but
it's like we know the technology andthe new stuff, but we also learn
the old way of the baby boomers, and we're taking care of the baby
boomers, and it does oftentimes we'rejuggling a lot of things and it can
lead to a lot of overwhelm andburnout for a lot of people, so
(03:36):
very timely subject for this generation ofpeople, well for everyone, but you
know, it hits us. Ithink a little bit harder sometimes. Now.
You when I read your introduction,you know you you've been a financial
advisor, you're a former attorney,and this is like very different. What
(03:57):
you're doing now is very different thanwhat you were doing then. What made
you? Tell us a little bitabout that life journey, a little bit
about your story and what led youto developing the Vixen Gathering. Yeah,
we'll try not to give you theencyclopedia version, so in between, actually
I taught English and Italy, sothis is technically my fourth career. But
(04:23):
yeah, you know, I meanI think it kind of for your listeners
tuning in who are genexers, they'llrelate to this like we we grew up
and I just had an episode wherewe talked about money mindset. You know,
when you think back to when youwere a child, what your parents
said, what your grandparents said,And a lot of us could relate that
our parents were part of the statusgeneration, right, like they were the
(04:46):
first ones to work hard, havenice things. And if you think about
the eighties, like that's like theepitome of the eighties, right, like
that's when oh I need a nicecar, I need a nice purse.
Like this started popping up, andso you know, we were kind of
I want to say, program thatyou go to the best college you can,
you get the best job you canget. You make as much money
(05:08):
as possible, you know, tostart with, so you can buy stuff.
I mean it's more than that,but you know, I'm simplifying,
and so you can have a securefoundation because that's what the baby boomers wanted
you to do. Yes, yeah, yeah, totally. And it's like,
you know, when I was atVanderbilt and I was a communications major
and I was just talking to anothervan dycomm major the other day. We
(05:30):
reconnected and we're like, people don'tunderstand. We had a forty eight hour
degree. It was multidisciplinary, likeit was the pre law. You know,
we learned persuasion, we learned rhetoric, and I loved it, Like
I wanted to be a communications professor. And you know, my dad's the
first person in our family to goto college. I'm the first person to
go somewhere out of state. Andmy parents were like, we're not supporting
(05:54):
you to go to university to comeout with a PhD and you don't know
what the heck you're doing with that. That was literally the conversation with my
parents, right, And it waslike, didn't you talk about being a
lawyer? Would in law school makemore sense? And so, you know,
being the oldest of three children,being the child of like you said,
the baby boomer, I mean alot of times we were geared towards
(06:16):
Yeah, what's more common sense?What's that security? You know, what's
that status? And I went tolaw school and quite honestly, Julie,
I remember first year of law schoolgoing, if they're cramming all this crap
in my brain, I'm going touse it. Like I remember having that
thought because my mom's like, justgo to law school and then we'll see.
That's like how my mom would talkme into stuff, right, And
(06:41):
I was like, Okay, likethis isn't fun, so I'm gonna go
find a way to use this.So anyway, I mean, I think
many people our age have had asimilar journey. Maybe they're not through four
distinctly different careers. You know.I also had parents that supported me to
follow my passion even though it doesn'tI don't like it. So you know,
(07:01):
I remember being at my law firm, and intellectually I loved what I
did. And this is going tosound crazy. I love the social aspect
of my job because we were thelargest law firm in Atlanta. We were
very connected. I had Braves tickets, I got to go to basketball games,
I got to meet former president.You know. Like, so as
a twenty five year old, you'relike, ooh, this is kind of
(07:23):
cool. This sawsame right, andyou know, and I like the intellectual
But then I worked for a verylarge firm for large corporations, and you
know, nothing that our clients weredoing was illegal. But can I say,
like in my heart and soul thatI agreed with everything I was having
to defend no right. And it'snot a they were wrong and I'm right.
(07:44):
It just wasn't aligned with what Ibelieved. And so, you know,
luckily or unluckily, at age twentyseven, I fell in love.
And when you fall in love andyou're working eighty hour weeks, like you
start looking in the mirror and saying, hmm, this this is really what
I want to CONTI you right,for sure? For sure? So then
you went to what is in alot of a lot of gen X hearts,
(08:09):
and that is being an entrepreneur.So what was that like? I
mean, what did what did thefamily and everyone when you said, okay,
wait a minute, I think I'mgonna stop being an attorney go out
on my own. What was thatlike for you? Well, A couple
of things. There were hiccups.So one, I come from a family
(08:31):
of entrepreneurs. Both my grandfathers.One was a paint contractor, the other
one was a contractor and owned adry cleaners. My parents owned my dad's
CPA firm, and I think,you know, when my dad realized none
of us had a desire to takeover his business was when he sold into
something different. And so I don'tthink it was that odd to them.
(08:54):
Also, again I'm giving you theshort version. I had a very uh
what did toxic marriage? So Ithink my parents just wanted me to be
happy. At that point, Iwas thirty two, you know, and
I'm blessed have parents that loved mea lot, and number one, they
just want me to be happy.Also, by that point, I think
they had been through enough stuff andevolved enough to be like, Okay,
(09:18):
April's going to figure it out likewe trust. And then the third thing
was my entrepreneurial journey started by workingwith my dad because he had gone on
to be a financial advisor. SoI learned from him in Mississippi, and
then I moved to Houston to openmy own practice. And I mean,
honestly, my dad supported me becausehe didn't think I would make the money
(09:39):
I wanted to make in South Misissippi, or have the group of friends or
find a significant other, which iscrazy because now I love going to South
Mississippi and I love like being withmy family and my friends there, right,
but at that point in my life, so they very much supported my
move to Houston. If anything,you're gonna laugh at this. I think
(10:01):
my dad was a little jealous becausehe had always wanted to move to the
big city and my mom had alwayskept him in Mississippi. So I think
the only friction was perhaps some jealousy, which you know, when we all
realize our parents aren't perfect as animportant growing up moment, sure, right,
so much so. So now you'reand you've gone from being an attorney
(10:24):
into being a financial advisor, andthen I don't know, you may still
be in that financial advisor space atthe same time. But when did you
decide to start working with gen Xwomen to support them and their dreams and
their passions. So I actually soldmy practice March of last year, so
(10:46):
I've completely exited. Here's a funnything. Well, I had nine potential
purchasers, and I ended up sellingto my brother, who was in the
same business and does make a lotof money in South Misissippi, has a
very success He took over our originalso he bought me out, and I
now coach his advisors. So I'mtotally out of the business, but I
(11:07):
help him coach the advisors. SoI've kind of combined my new career with
my old career. So it's funny, but it just I just started having
callings Julie, and that's why,you know, I really focused the Vixen
gathering on women around our age,like I'd say late thirties, really up
to like mid sixties, because there'sa certain point in life where you start
(11:28):
getting called to do something deeper.Right, It's kind of like, Okay,
I've checked the box of successful job, I've checked the box of marriage.
If that's what you want, youknow, that's not the path I
have chosen. I've checked the boxof kids, I've checked the box of
this, and you kind of startgoing, what else is there? And
it's when a lot of us ventureon a deeper spiritual journey, whatever spirituality
(11:50):
is to you, but like gettingto know more. And you know that
happened to me and it started intwenty seventeen, and I had a very
successful bit business with hundreds of clientsthat depended on us a team. So
this was not a light decision.I mean really, it called to me
three times and again. The shortversion is the third calling came April of
(12:11):
twenty twenty, and I just rememberlooking up, going really right now,
I need to do this right now. So you know, I did what's
not easy for us female entrepreneurs.I started asking for help because I had
no idea what this new impact was, and I had the benefit of being
in masterminds, having mentors, andI just reached out and I ended up
(12:37):
on this beautiful journey of zoom callsbecause it was twenty twenty and we were
all at home right with other femaleentrepreneurs, other women leaving corporate, other
women that had suddenly found themselves athome taking care of kids, remember a
lot of change was going on,and I just thought, wow, I'm
well suited for change. I've alwayspivoted well in my life and I thrive
(13:00):
on it. Not everyone does.So what if I help pave a path
or help guide women who want tofollow their true journey? And that's you
know. So about end of twentytwenty is when it became really clear what
the Vixen Gathering would become. Andof course it took me till March of
twenty twenty three to set everything upbe able to exit and go full time.
(13:24):
That's very cool. Now, inthis journey you help women to In
the introduction, you said that youhelped women to achieve more in abundance and
love and spirituality and in alignment,and you talk about and you teach women
about their calendars and make things tomake sure that they have in our calendars.
(13:48):
What is that? Yeah, Well, if you don't have a set,
time blocked, color coded calendar,I'm telling you right now you should.
This is coming from someone who hatesroutine, but like you know,
the more organized your calendar is,I feel, the more freedom it gives
you. And most of us becomeentrepreneurs and seek a different path because we're
(14:11):
really seeking freedom. But you know, for example, right now, I
have a certain color code for Vixenevents. My team, we consider this
an event. It means April's notavailable in any way, shape or form,
right, and April's here with Julieand her audience. And so I'm
not sitting here thinking, oh mygosh, what's in my email? Oh
what happened on this call earlier today? What am I having for dinner?
(14:35):
Because I know when the time isright, I'll be focused on that.
And so what you find is youlive life deeper, You're fully present in
the moment, and just lots ofmagic comes from that. And another tip
for your calendar is, if youdon't have a color for pure joy,
(14:56):
this is what brings you joy,not a you should and to begin with,
schedule it at least once a weekand then build on that. Yeah,
you know, it's interesting that yousay that I don't color code my
calendar. I use pins to colorcode appointments in my calendar. Yeah.
I like that. Yeah, justfor a differentiation of what's business and what's
(15:18):
personal. And I like blocking outfor me one of the things that's really
important. And I've talked to onthis about this before that, taking time
in the morning for some mindful meditationand just being really mindful and setting my
intentions for the day and doing thatblocking that very first time out in the
(15:39):
morning is incredibly helpful to make theday more run more smooth, because if
you're an entrepreneur, you have twentydifferent squirrels running across your desk all the
time. So I can see howwhat you're saying by making sure that if
this is a time block that isdevoted to this, you're not worrying about
all of this in the meantime.And for those of you who are listening
(16:00):
on the podcast, I was justwaving my hands around in the air trying
to describe the colors and the blocksin the calendar, and so that I
can see how you teach that thatreally gives you a lot of freedom.
When you think it might actually berestrictive, it is giving you freedom at
least in taking a lot of thestressors away. Well. And the reason
(16:22):
I like the colors and well,you know you don't want to go crazy.
I mean i'd say three to fivecolors. What I do is subcolor
my calendar. So Vixen is green, but there's four different shades of green.
Right. It's when I'm on acoaching call versus a sales call,
versus an event, versus time withmy team. Because if you think about
(16:45):
it, each of these activities takesa different type of energy. And that's
why I call it time, energyand confidence management and same thing like if
I you know, if I'm joiningyou on a podcast, I want to
be charming, So I want tomake sure nothing happens where I get bad
news right before coming on the podcastand having a lovely conversation with you.
(17:06):
And I think so often we don'tthink about time, energy and confidence management
as setting us up for success.Yeah, that's an interesting concept, So
tell us a little bit more aboutthe time and energy management connecting those two.
Yeah, And that's why I likeyour calendar color coded, because we
(17:26):
want hacks. Right, So ifI look at my calendar, I can
be like, oh, I don'thave pink on my calendar this week.
That's my color for joy. Youcan see like if you're watching this magenta
color I'm wearing, it's my favoritecolor, right, So that's my color
for joy. Or I could seelike, you know, I have time
to work on my goals a certaincolor. Well, if you don't have
time to work on your goals onyour calendar, you are not going to
(17:48):
reach your calendar. Or let's sayyou know, and this can be seasonal.
I like to say, review itmonthly when you first start. Make
sure there's a good rhythm. That'sthe energy part. You want to make
sure that your calendar gives you energy, not that it takes energy. And
I don't love it, Like youknow, all these five AM Club books
(18:10):
came out and everything great concepts,and I personally trained myself to wake up
earlier because I saw most successful peopledo. And now I love that because
like usually if I don't have mymeditation prayer time in the morning like my
day, like that's just my quiettime. I need it before everything starts.
So I'm so grateful for it.But we all have different bio arrhythms.
(18:32):
So pay attention to what your bodyneeds. How much sleep does your
body need? What's optimal for you? Right? And play around if I
wake up at five o'clock versus sixo'clock, what happens? Right? And
so you really want to optimize yourenergy. And then confidence is you know,
are you setting yourself up for success. So again I was joking about
not wanting to get bad news,but seriously, I got on with a
(18:56):
client one morning and we always sharewins at the beginning of co coaching sessions,
and she was having a hard time. I was like, Hey,
what's going on. She was like, well, my daughter's I had a
call with my daughter's school and we'rehaving challenges with X, Y and Z.
And then I talked to my CPAand found out what I owed in
taxes, and then I talked tomy doctor and I'm like, you did
all this before starting your workday,because so often we just think as tasks
(19:18):
that we have to get done.Because she's a mom, an entrepreneur and
has a corporate job, right,so she's just thinking I'm going to get
stuff done. Well, you justset yourself up to have a poopy day.
Excuse my language, but if that'show your day starts, like,
you're not going to feel very confidentgoing into that first meeting whatever it is.
(19:38):
Yeah, that's a good that's reallygood advice. Break break up those
stressful things. Don't put it all. Yeah, there's so much to your
mindset and so much like literal brainchemistry, putting on my brain, Lady
fat you know you're actually that's oneof the reasons why having those that quiet
(19:59):
time in the morning, whatever you'rewhatever, that is, it's like really
focusing. And that's one of thethings I do, you know. It's
it's it's sitting there and it's watchingthe sunrise, and it's it's playing with
the dog, yes, you know, or just doing things that, as
you would say, bring you thecolor of joy, right, And having
those conversations with my husband always makesthis coffee and we'll have short conversations,
(20:22):
but it's it's you know, that'smy prayer time, that's my intention time.
And if you're starting off, ifyou hit the ground running in a
stressful mode, that's changing the brainchemistry and releasing a ton of cortisol and
negative stress hormones into your body.And that's not that's not conducive for real
(20:44):
happiness or success on those levels.So and I love you talk about that,
Julie. So I do spiritual healingon the side. And the one
thing I talk about often is humanityhas become addicted to their negative emotions and
thought. And you could give usthe science behind that, like I keep
it real simple, but you're right, it's this like flux of chemicals going
(21:07):
into your body and you literally becomeaddicted to it. So you have to
schedule your day, your week,you know, your time, so that
you're breaking that up and you're notjust going on that energy, on that
negative energy, right, you wantto be going forward with positive energy,
so you're attracting good things into yourselfand feeling worthy and open to receiving.
(21:33):
This's another challenge we women have,right, we need to be more open
to receiving. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, I was
like bookending the day. You know, in the morning, you do that.
In the evening, you do gratitudesand you know, just focus and
a lot of times it's what didyou accomplish today? You know, what's
what's the positive that you did accomplish. You may have had twenty emails you
(21:56):
needed to respond to and you onlygot to three. Well, great,
you accomplish three emails, like celebratethe wins and end on a positive note.
Because if you end on a negativenote, that's what your brain's going
to be focusing on while you're sleeping. Then you're not going to sleep well.
And then it's just going to bethis whole, you know well,
And that's also a huge hack forconfidence because it is, like we talked
(22:18):
about, we do tend to dwellin the five percent that's negative versus the
ninety five percent that's positive. Soif you can flip that where you're focused
on the positive, like you're happier, you're more confident, like you go
forward in a better place and youknow, so, yes, I totally
agree that that's a hack. Andone other is, you know, if
(22:41):
you have a thirty minute meeting,make it a twenty five minute meeting.
If you have an hour meeting,make it fifty minutes. And high performance
data shows that the average high performertakes a break every fifty two minutes.
So you can get as much donein twenty five minutes as thirty and fifty
as an hour. And guess whatyou do, just bot humanity for five
minutes or ten minutes for everybody onthat meeting, Like you get to be
(23:04):
a human for five minutes. Congratulations. I love that. I love that,
and I agree one hundred percent that'sand part of that has to do
again with the brain, you know, because when you're in the focus mode,
for too long, your brain getsfatigued. If you're sitting for too
long, your brain loses oxygen.Right, if you're sitting and focusing for
(23:26):
too long, you're probably not hydrating. You know, it's literally getting up
and doing breaks. It doesn't meanthat your subconscious brain isn't still working on
the problem you were addressing before.It just means you get a break well
and another problem going on. Soresearch has shown, you know, burnout
is up, but people actually aren'tworking more hours, but they are seeing
(23:48):
screens longer. And so you know, if you have five minutes, sit
back in your chair, like,get up if you can. I'm a
big fan of getting up. Ihave a little rebounder. I'll go do
sixty seconds on in between zooms,or hop out on the balcony to get
some fresh air. But you know, if you have just a little bit
of time just sitting back in yourchair, taking deep breast and closing your
(24:10):
eyes, because we've become visually overstimulated, and that's a lot of times when
you're cranky or fatigued, it's actuallyyou're over stimulated. Yeah, for sure,
for sure, I am with youone hundred percent. I love walking
out even if it's sprinkling outside,you walk out under the under the cover
and it's just like breathing the freshair and just like going okay, okay,
(24:34):
actually, and then I throw theball for the dog a little bit.
You know. I love accept theday raises the endorphins makes me happy.
So we talked about how the timemanagement and taking those breaks get your
energy back. But how does orhelps to give you energy? How does
(24:55):
this time management relate to your confidencelevel and gaining those things you know,
becoming more having more abundance or morealignment connected to to who you are?
How does how does doing these typesof things connect to or what advice do
you have to connect to that confidenceand building your confidence, because that's something
(25:21):
else that I think a lot ofa lot of women in our generation,
because there's so much to juggle,we're a little bit harder on ourselves because
we're not juggling at the way weor somebody else anticipates we should. So
then the confiden's coming. Well,what hits our confidence often is not holding
our promises up to ourselves. Andif you think about it, the first
(25:45):
promise you break always is the promiseyou've made to yourself, right, you'll
you'll do everything you promise. OhI promise my client this, I have
to do it. Oh I promisemy team this, I promise my husband
this, or my kids this,I have to do it. What about
the promises you're making to yourself,right, And so if you make a
practice of keeping those promises to yourself, it really stacks your confidence. So
(26:08):
one, don't overbook. Two,make sure you have priority on your calendar.
And three it goes back to celebratingthose wins. You know you talked
about bookending. I like to talkabout six minutes to change your life because
a lot of times this is little. So what if for two minutes in
the morning, you set a timerand you just thought about everything you're grateful
for and excited for in the day, right, and then at lunchtime two
(26:32):
minute timer and you look back onthe morning and celebrate at all your wins.
And then in the evening, likeyou said, bookend with Okay,
what are my wins today? AndI know you share gratitude. And if
you have a significant other, husband, like, why not have this amazing
powerful conversation with them? Right?And so the more you focus on your
(26:52):
wins and you put reflection time intoyour day, the more your confidence goes
up. Number one and number twoagain, keeping those promises to ourselves,
right, Like I have this.I couldn't do this. I was like,
I want to walk an hour anda half a day, and right
now I just can't make it happen. I mean, I would be sleeping
six hours a night and I likeseven to eight hours, So I'm not
(27:15):
willing to sacrifice sleep. So lastweek I go, you know what,
I'm going to walk thirty minutes aday. Guess what. I've kept that
promise every single day. I couldn'tkeep the other one, right, So
now my confidence is growing. Sothen next I'm going to find a way
that it's forty five minutes every day, right, And then next I'm going
to say, okay, thirty minutesin the morning, thirty minutes in the
(27:36):
evening. So again setting that standardfor yourself so you achieve it consistently.
You know, these consistent small windsare what builds our confidence. I love
that. I love that, theconsistent small winds, they're stairstepping you to
build the confidence. And again,yeah, you focus on the positive and
(27:57):
as you said earlier in the conversation, we have a tendency to always focus
on that five percent that's negative orthat smaller amount that's negative. And yet
from a brain perspective, psychologically,for every negative, you have to have
like four or five positive thoughts toridethat so celebrating the wins or you know,
(28:18):
saying good job to yourself is soimportant because you know, there's plenty
of times when you drop something you'relike, oh, that was stupid,
you know, like you know thatso well on the other end of that
spectrum, because yeah, it's sofunny. I just talk about this in
my financial seminars, like neurofinance.You know, they've done plenty of studies
(28:38):
where it's like if they simulate youmaking money, your brain floods with dopamine.
But if they simulate you losing money, it's like three times as much.
And I think that's like kind ofwhat you're referencing, right, It's
like four times as much power inyour brain the negative. So if we
think how much we let fear creepinto our lives, and you know,
(29:00):
especially I'm assuming because this is womenexcelling everywhere, that we have a lot
of high achievers on here, right, Like you know, they're always fearful
of failing or fearful or imposter syndrome. So we really have to control that
fear factor because the fear factor canjust flood you and you can't You're not
gonna have confidence, you're not goingto manage your time, you're not going
(29:22):
to manage your energy. So Iagree focusing on the winds and also controlling
the fear or the negativity. Yeah, for sure, fear. Fear can
do horrible things to your brain.We won't even get into that. Absolutely.
Oh so many good tidbits that havebeen shared today and that you have,
(29:44):
so tell us a little bit aboutmore about what what is the Vixen
gathering about? Like what is thatis? Is that someplace where you're all,
you know, gather and sip onwine? Are they sometimes? So?
So it is. Actually we're focusedon female entrepreneurs currently. The goal
is in the future to open upa networking membership which is open outside of
(30:08):
that. But you know, femaleentrepreneurs have a particular route where they have
a lot they're juggling, and soI really wanted to create rooms where people
just like we said gen xers,we get each other, right, Like
I want a room where you kindof get each other. It doesn't take
as long for us to bond andgo deep because you know, Julie,
(30:29):
I don't know about you, butI used to joke that I'm not a
networker because life's too short for cheapwine, cheap cheese, or cheap talk.
Like, I'm just not a smalltalker, right, So if we're
going to have a conversation, like, let's go deep, and it's so
funny. So we're like, okay, put away your cell phones. Like
there's lots of things to set thestage. And at first the women are
like, what are you doing,because I'll do happy hours sometimes, so
(30:52):
we do sip wine and that's kindof their introduction and they're like, what,
I can't have my phone. Ohmy gosh, you're giving me conversation
cards. That's what's going on.When they leave at the end of the
night, they're thanking us for thesemeasures, right, So thank you for
asking that. So we do havenetworking events like that, but for the
most part, I have a twelveweek intensive for aspiring entrepreneurs women who have
(31:15):
like a side hustle. A lotof women are working corporate and on the
side they're trying to build a jobso they can leave right or startups and
you know the goal of that isto get you to six figures as quickly
as possible so you can reach thatgoal. But we're putting in sustainable habits,
lifestyle, all these things so thatyou can do that. And then
(31:36):
we have a mastermind for women doingsix figures in their business who are looking
to go to seven or stay inmultiple six and just have a better quality
of life, right. And thenwe have a mastermind for women doing seven
figures plus because usually you're leading ateam. It's not just business. There's
just different elements, right. Sothat's what our current focus is. And
(31:57):
the vix and Voice Are podcast isreally, i mean, very similar to
yours to inspire women to live theirbest life, let them know they're not
alone, and help them think outsideof the box. Right. So I
love that and I have a Facebookgroup. It's my new favorite thing.
I re engaged. I know youhave a Facebook group as well. I
can't wait to hop in yours.But it's abundant business women and that's just
(32:22):
fun. Like I actually monitor itmyself, do everything because we just have
amazing conversations and it's such a blessing. Yeah, I love it. I
love it. So we will haveall of that information we will have in
the show notes for those who arelistening or watching. We'll put it on
the YouTube channel and we'll have allthat information in there, so that will
(32:45):
be someplace that you can certainly gojoin. And of course you can follow
her Vixen Voice, the Vixen Voiceand podcast, which I'm going to do
that and follow and listen. I'dlove to hear some of the some of
the wisdom that showed there. Andthen also you have a fifty minute complimentary
strategy session that you offer to people. Tell us about that. Yeah,
(33:09):
I love it. And honestly,if you go on our website, it's
not free, so please use thislink. This is only for your podcast
guests, so definitely go to theshiit It's You're welcome. Yeah. We
started charging because my team was like, you're giving away your time too much.
So that's where a team can beamazing, right. But I just
(33:30):
I love meeting new people and Ilove when we have these great conversations.
If someone's reaching out to me,we probably they probably heard something that touched
them on this call. And youknow, my greater purpose in life is
to bring women more peace, joyand love. As you read, so
if something touched you, please takeadvantage of that link have a complimentary fifty
(33:51):
minute consultation with me. You mightwant some coaching, you might want a
network, you know, you mightjust want to brainstorm something. I'm an
amazing forstormer. Please take advantage ofthat and we'll see if it makes sense
for us to work further together.Very cool, Well, April, this
has been such a great conversation.I encourage everyone listening to reach out and
(34:13):
to stay connected with her. Wewill also show all of her social media
links, all the places that youcan stay connected with her on. She's
on Facebook and Vixen Gathering on Instagram, Vixen Gathering on YouTube, Vixen dash
Gathering on LinkedIn. But then youalso have your what did you say the
name of your Facebook group is?It's called Abundant Business Women, And I'll
(34:35):
shoot you that link as well,Julie perfect. That's wonderful and we'll have
all that for everybody. Well,thank you so very much, April for
being on the Women Excelling Everywhere thatwe podcast today. Your presence has been
beneficial and thank you for sharing yourwisdom. I greatly appreciate your and value
your time. Well, thank youfor having me. It's been such an
honor, Julie, and conversation withyou was easy, so I loved it.
(35:00):
Oh, thank you, dittoh backcatch you sister. Okay, all
right, well, everyone be sureto stay connected with our guests today as
well as stay connected with us.Check out our new website, Women Excelling
Everywhere dot com, follow us onthe podcast. We are on all the
major podcast channels and you know WomenExcelling Everywhere podcasts. We are really excited
(35:22):
and we're going to be focusing thisyear on just bringing topics to help your
excel. That's our goal, rightis to bring you those topics to help
you excel. Think about joining ourprivate membership community. This is Women Excelling
Everywhere Success Collective, and this iswhere we are. It's off Facebook,
it's off the social media. It'skind of like our own little social media
(35:44):
app. And what that's the wholeidea behind there is to just open up
conversations and support each other in anythingthat we that we can do that with.
And we have monthly topics and weeklyactivities all kinds of fun things there
as well, be watching. Pleaseplease please mark your calendar, Actually,
don't mark your calendars because it'll probablybe past the release date. But we
(36:06):
are releasing our Women Excelling Everywhere collaborativebook on February twenty third, and I
am so excited for that, Sogo on to It's eighteen Wonderful Women.
We've got lots of wonderful wisdom toshare with you and with everyone, so
be sure to check that out onAmazon or on our website, Women Excelling
Everywhere dot com. All right,everyone, take a nice deep breath,
(36:30):
roll those shoulders back. Oh,go out there and simply enjoy every moment
until next time.
Hello, and welcome to another episodeof the Women Excelling Everywhere Podcast. I
am Julia Anderson, your host,and I am so happy to be here
with you. We are Women ExcellingEverywhere, and our design and desire is
to help you excel wherever you areat in your life, your relationships,
your business. We gotcha. We'rehere to support you. And one of
the ways that we do that isby interviewing amazing women on the podcast who
(00:33):
they themselves have experienced excelling in someaspect of their life and sharing their wisdom
and their story will oftentimes inspire you, and that is one of our hopes
with our guest today, and ourguest is April Roberts. April, thank
you, and welcome to the WomenExcelling Everywhere Podcast. Thanks Julie, I'm
super excited to be here. Yeah, I am looking forward to hearing more
(00:58):
about your story. As I waslooking over the website and reading more about
you and what you do to helpa gen X women especially, I thought,
what a cool, cool guest tohave on the program. So let
me read a little bit of yourprofessional by intro for those who have who
are listening in so they can getto know a little bit about April.
(01:21):
April Roberts helps gen X women achievemore abundance, love, spirituality, and
alignment by connecting with their femininity.As a high achieving former attorney and financial
advisor with degrees from Vanderbilt and NotreDame, April understands the societal pressures facing
women that often lead to burnout.She hosts the podcast Fix and Voice,
(01:42):
where she shares stories of gen Xwomen that have shed the traditional definition of
success to pursue their true life's passion. So, once again, welcome April
to the show. Thank you,Julie. I'm excited. I love your
mission and because it's so funny becausepeople are always like, well, what
do you do? And it's,as you know, it's hard to say
(02:05):
because Okay, I do business consulting, but I really do that so I
can help women live their best lives. And what's so funny is all of
my clients are like, my marriagegot better, Like I manage my time
better, Like I like my kidsmore right like So it's just like,
you know, helping them to reallytap in. And it's so important gen
X, like you talked about,because as gen xers, many of us
(02:29):
are worrying about our parents' health.They're taking care of our health. Many
of us have kids, right,and so it's so easy for we women
to lose ourselves and giving to othersand serving others, and so the Vixen
Gathering is all about helping women comeback to themselves like a human being,
a woman work walking on earth,and like really tapping into what do you
(02:53):
want? Because when you tap intowhat you want, I think those are
the breadcrumbs of why you're here onearth and what you're meant to do right.
And we all know when we're happy, we show up better for everyone
in our lives. So I feellike you and I are so aligned and
I love this. I'm excited.Yeah, it's so true, and you
(03:14):
hit it right. You know,we're in that generation that's that we learned
a lot of different things. Wekind of learned the hard way, but
it's like we know the technology andthe new stuff, but we also learn
the old way of the baby boomers, and we're taking care of the baby
boomers, and it does oftentimes we'rejuggling a lot of things and it can
lead to a lot of overwhelm andburnout for a lot of people, so
(03:36):
very timely subject for this generation ofpeople, well for everyone, but you
know, it hits us. Ithink a little bit harder sometimes. Now.
You when I read your introduction,you know you you've been a financial
advisor, you're a former attorney,and this is like very different. What
(03:57):
you're doing now is very different thanwhat you were doing then. What made
you? Tell us a little bitabout that life journey, a little bit
about your story and what led youto developing the Vixen Gathering. Yeah,
we'll try not to give you theencyclopedia version, so in between, actually
I taught English and Italy, sothis is technically my fourth career. But
(04:23):
yeah, you know, I meanI think it kind of for your listeners
tuning in who are genexers, they'llrelate to this like we we grew up
and I just had an episode wherewe talked about money mindset. You know,
when you think back to when youwere a child, what your parents
said, what your grandparents said,And a lot of us could relate that
our parents were part of the statusgeneration, right, like they were the
(04:46):
first ones to work hard, havenice things. And if you think about
the eighties, like that's like theepitome of the eighties, right, like
that's when oh I need a nicecar, I need a nice purse.
Like this started popping up, andso you know, we were kind of
I want to say, program thatyou go to the best college you can,
you get the best job you canget. You make as much money
(05:08):
as possible, you know, tostart with, so you can buy stuff.
I mean it's more than that,but you know, I'm simplifying,
and so you can have a securefoundation because that's what the baby boomers wanted
you to do. Yes, yeah, yeah, totally. And it's like,
you know, when I was atVanderbilt and I was a communications major
and I was just talking to anothervan dycomm major the other day. We
(05:30):
reconnected and we're like, people don'tunderstand. We had a forty eight hour
degree. It was multidisciplinary, likeit was the pre law. You know,
we learned persuasion, we learned rhetoric, and I loved it, Like
I wanted to be a communications professor. And you know, my dad's the
first person in our family to goto college. I'm the first person to
go somewhere out of state. Andmy parents were like, we're not supporting
(05:54):
you to go to university to comeout with a PhD and you don't know
what the heck you're doing with that. That was literally the conversation with my
parents, right, And it waslike, didn't you talk about being a
lawyer? Would in law school makemore sense? And so, you know,
being the oldest of three children,being the child of like you said,
the baby boomer, I mean alot of times we were geared towards
(06:16):
Yeah, what's more common sense?What's that security? You know, what's
that status? And I went tolaw school and quite honestly, Julie,
I remember first year of law schoolgoing, if they're cramming all this crap
in my brain, I'm going touse it. Like I remember having that
thought because my mom's like, justgo to law school and then we'll see.
That's like how my mom would talkme into stuff, right, And
(06:41):
I was like, Okay, likethis isn't fun, so I'm gonna go
find a way to use this.So anyway, I mean, I think
many people our age have had asimilar journey. Maybe they're not through four
distinctly different careers. You know.I also had parents that supported me to
follow my passion even though it doesn'tI don't like it. So you know,
(07:01):
I remember being at my law firm, and intellectually I loved what I
did. And this is going tosound crazy. I love the social aspect
of my job because we were thelargest law firm in Atlanta. We were
very connected. I had Braves tickets, I got to go to basketball games,
I got to meet former president.You know. Like, so as
a twenty five year old, you'relike, ooh, this is kind of
(07:23):
cool. This sawsame right, andyou know, and I like the intellectual
But then I worked for a verylarge firm for large corporations, and you
know, nothing that our clients weredoing was illegal. But can I say,
like in my heart and soul thatI agreed with everything I was having
to defend no right. And it'snot a they were wrong and I'm right.
(07:44):
It just wasn't aligned with what Ibelieved. And so, you know,
luckily or unluckily, at age twentyseven, I fell in love.
And when you fall in love andyou're working eighty hour weeks, like you
start looking in the mirror and saying, hmm, this this is really what
I want to CONTI you right,for sure? For sure? So then
you went to what is in alot of a lot of gen X hearts,
(08:09):
and that is being an entrepreneur.So what was that like? I
mean, what did what did thefamily and everyone when you said, okay,
wait a minute, I think I'mgonna stop being an attorney go out
on my own. What was thatlike for you? Well, A couple
of things. There were hiccups.So one, I come from a family
(08:31):
of entrepreneurs. Both my grandfathers.One was a paint contractor, the other
one was a contractor and owned adry cleaners. My parents owned my dad's
CPA firm, and I think,you know, when my dad realized none
of us had a desire to takeover his business was when he sold into
something different. And so I don'tthink it was that odd to them.
(08:54):
Also, again I'm giving you theshort version. I had a very uh
what did toxic marriage? So Ithink my parents just wanted me to be
happy. At that point, Iwas thirty two, you know, and
I'm blessed have parents that loved mea lot, and number one, they
just want me to be happy.Also, by that point, I think
they had been through enough stuff andevolved enough to be like, Okay,
(09:18):
April's going to figure it out likewe trust. And then the third thing
was my entrepreneurial journey started by workingwith my dad because he had gone on
to be a financial advisor. SoI learned from him in Mississippi, and
then I moved to Houston to openmy own practice. And I mean,
honestly, my dad supported me becausehe didn't think I would make the money
(09:39):
I wanted to make in South Misissippi, or have the group of friends or
find a significant other, which iscrazy because now I love going to South
Mississippi and I love like being withmy family and my friends there, right,
but at that point in my life, so they very much supported my
move to Houston. If anything,you're gonna laugh at this. I think
(10:01):
my dad was a little jealous becausehe had always wanted to move to the
big city and my mom had alwayskept him in Mississippi. So I think
the only friction was perhaps some jealousy, which you know, when we all
realize our parents aren't perfect as animportant growing up moment, sure, right,
so much so. So now you'reand you've gone from being an attorney
(10:24):
into being a financial advisor, andthen I don't know, you may still
be in that financial advisor space atthe same time. But when did you
decide to start working with gen Xwomen to support them and their dreams and
their passions. So I actually soldmy practice March of last year, so
(10:46):
I've completely exited. Here's a funnything. Well, I had nine potential
purchasers, and I ended up sellingto my brother, who was in the
same business and does make a lotof money in South Misissippi, has a
very success He took over our originalso he bought me out, and I
now coach his advisors. So I'mtotally out of the business, but I
(11:07):
help him coach the advisors. SoI've kind of combined my new career with
my old career. So it's funny, but it just I just started having
callings Julie, and that's why,you know, I really focused the Vixen
gathering on women around our age,like I'd say late thirties, really up
to like mid sixties, because there'sa certain point in life where you start
(11:28):
getting called to do something deeper.Right, It's kind of like, Okay,
I've checked the box of successful job, I've checked the box of marriage.
If that's what you want, youknow, that's not the path I
have chosen. I've checked the boxof kids, I've checked the box of
this, and you kind of startgoing, what else is there? And
it's when a lot of us ventureon a deeper spiritual journey, whatever spirituality
(11:50):
is to you, but like gettingto know more. And you know that
happened to me and it started intwenty seventeen, and I had a very
successful bit business with hundreds of clientsthat depended on us a team. So
this was not a light decision.I mean really, it called to me
three times and again. The shortversion is the third calling came April of
(12:11):
twenty twenty, and I just rememberlooking up, going really right now,
I need to do this right now. So you know, I did what's
not easy for us female entrepreneurs.I started asking for help because I had
no idea what this new impact was, and I had the benefit of being
in masterminds, having mentors, andI just reached out and I ended up
(12:37):
on this beautiful journey of zoom callsbecause it was twenty twenty and we were
all at home right with other femaleentrepreneurs, other women leaving corporate, other
women that had suddenly found themselves athome taking care of kids, remember a
lot of change was going on,and I just thought, wow, I'm
well suited for change. I've alwayspivoted well in my life and I thrive
(13:00):
on it. Not everyone does.So what if I help pave a path
or help guide women who want tofollow their true journey? And that's you
know. So about end of twentytwenty is when it became really clear what
the Vixen Gathering would become. Andof course it took me till March of
twenty twenty three to set everything upbe able to exit and go full time.
(13:24):
That's very cool. Now, inthis journey you help women to In
the introduction, you said that youhelped women to achieve more in abundance and
love and spirituality and in alignment,and you talk about and you teach women
about their calendars and make things tomake sure that they have in our calendars.
(13:48):
What is that? Yeah, Well, if you don't have a set,
time blocked, color coded calendar,I'm telling you right now you should.
This is coming from someone who hatesroutine, but like you know,
the more organized your calendar is,I feel, the more freedom it gives
you. And most of us becomeentrepreneurs and seek a different path because we're
(14:11):
really seeking freedom. But you know, for example, right now, I
have a certain color code for Vixenevents. My team, we consider this
an event. It means April's notavailable in any way, shape or form,
right, and April's here with Julieand her audience. And so I'm
not sitting here thinking, oh mygosh, what's in my email? Oh
what happened on this call earlier today? What am I having for dinner?
(14:35):
Because I know when the time isright, I'll be focused on that.
And so what you find is youlive life deeper, You're fully present in
the moment, and just lots ofmagic comes from that. And another tip
for your calendar is, if youdon't have a color for pure joy,
(14:56):
this is what brings you joy,not a you should and to begin with,
schedule it at least once a weekand then build on that. Yeah,
you know, it's interesting that yousay that I don't color code my
calendar. I use pins to colorcode appointments in my calendar. Yeah.
I like that. Yeah, justfor a differentiation of what's business and what's
(15:18):
personal. And I like blocking outfor me one of the things that's really
important. And I've talked to onthis about this before that, taking time
in the morning for some mindful meditationand just being really mindful and setting my
intentions for the day and doing thatblocking that very first time out in the
(15:39):
morning is incredibly helpful to make theday more run more smooth, because if
you're an entrepreneur, you have twentydifferent squirrels running across your desk all the
time. So I can see howwhat you're saying by making sure that if
this is a time block that isdevoted to this, you're not worrying about
all of this in the meantime.And for those of you who are listening
(16:00):
on the podcast, I was justwaving my hands around in the air trying
to describe the colors and the blocksin the calendar, and so that I
can see how you teach that thatreally gives you a lot of freedom.
When you think it might actually berestrictive, it is giving you freedom at
least in taking a lot of thestressors away. Well. And the reason
(16:22):
I like the colors and well,you know you don't want to go crazy.
I mean i'd say three to fivecolors. What I do is subcolor
my calendar. So Vixen is green, but there's four different shades of green.
Right. It's when I'm on acoaching call versus a sales call,
versus an event, versus time withmy team. Because if you think about
(16:45):
it, each of these activities takesa different type of energy. And that's
why I call it time, energyand confidence management and same thing like if
I you know, if I'm joiningyou on a podcast, I want to
be charming, So I want tomake sure nothing happens where I get bad
news right before coming on the podcastand having a lovely conversation with you.
(17:06):
And I think so often we don'tthink about time, energy and confidence management
as setting us up for success.Yeah, that's an interesting concept, So
tell us a little bit more aboutthe time and energy management connecting those two.
Yeah, And that's why I likeyour calendar color coded, because we
(17:26):
want hacks. Right, So ifI look at my calendar, I can
be like, oh, I don'thave pink on my calendar this week.
That's my color for joy. Youcan see like if you're watching this magenta
color I'm wearing, it's my favoritecolor, right, So that's my color
for joy. Or I could seelike, you know, I have time
to work on my goals a certaincolor. Well, if you don't have
time to work on your goals onyour calendar, you are not going to
(17:48):
reach your calendar. Or let's sayyou know, and this can be seasonal.
I like to say, review itmonthly when you first start. Make
sure there's a good rhythm. That'sthe energy part. You want to make
sure that your calendar gives you energy, not that it takes energy. And
I don't love it, Like youknow, all these five AM Club books
(18:10):
came out and everything great concepts,and I personally trained myself to wake up
earlier because I saw most successful peopledo. And now I love that because
like usually if I don't have mymeditation prayer time in the morning like my
day, like that's just my quiettime. I need it before everything starts.
So I'm so grateful for it.But we all have different bio arrhythms.
(18:32):
So pay attention to what your bodyneeds. How much sleep does your
body need? What's optimal for you? Right? And play around if I
wake up at five o'clock versus sixo'clock, what happens? Right? And
so you really want to optimize yourenergy. And then confidence is you know,
are you setting yourself up for success. So again I was joking about
not wanting to get bad news,but seriously, I got on with a
(18:56):
client one morning and we always sharewins at the beginning of co coaching sessions,
and she was having a hard time. I was like, Hey,
what's going on. She was like, well, my daughter's I had a
call with my daughter's school and we'rehaving challenges with X, Y and Z.
And then I talked to my CPAand found out what I owed in
taxes, and then I talked tomy doctor and I'm like, you did
all this before starting your workday,because so often we just think as tasks
(19:18):
that we have to get done.Because she's a mom, an entrepreneur and
has a corporate job, right,so she's just thinking I'm going to get
stuff done. Well, you justset yourself up to have a poopy day.
Excuse my language, but if that'show your day starts, like,
you're not going to feel very confidentgoing into that first meeting whatever it is.
(19:38):
Yeah, that's a good that's reallygood advice. Break break up those
stressful things. Don't put it all. Yeah, there's so much to your
mindset and so much like literal brainchemistry, putting on my brain, Lady
fat you know you're actually that's oneof the reasons why having those that quiet
(19:59):
time in the morning, whatever you'rewhatever, that is, it's like really
focusing. And that's one of thethings I do, you know. It's
it's it's sitting there and it's watchingthe sunrise, and it's it's playing with
the dog, yes, you know, or just doing things that, as
you would say, bring you thecolor of joy, right, And having
those conversations with my husband always makesthis coffee and we'll have short conversations,
(20:22):
but it's it's you know, that'smy prayer time, that's my intention time.
And if you're starting off, ifyou hit the ground running in a
stressful mode, that's changing the brainchemistry and releasing a ton of cortisol and
negative stress hormones into your body.And that's not that's not conducive for real
(20:44):
happiness or success on those levels.So and I love you talk about that,
Julie. So I do spiritual healingon the side. And the one
thing I talk about often is humanityhas become addicted to their negative emotions and
thought. And you could give usthe science behind that, like I keep
it real simple, but you're right, it's this like flux of chemicals going
(21:07):
into your body and you literally becomeaddicted to it. So you have to
schedule your day, your week,you know, your time, so that
you're breaking that up and you're notjust going on that energy, on that
negative energy, right, you wantto be going forward with positive energy,
so you're attracting good things into yourselfand feeling worthy and open to receiving.
(21:33):
This's another challenge we women have,right, we need to be more open
to receiving. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, I was
like bookending the day. You know, in the morning, you do that.
In the evening, you do gratitudesand you know, just focus and
a lot of times it's what didyou accomplish today? You know, what's
what's the positive that you did accomplish. You may have had twenty emails you
(21:56):
needed to respond to and you onlygot to three. Well, great,
you accomplish three emails, like celebratethe wins and end on a positive note.
Because if you end on a negativenote, that's what your brain's going
to be focusing on while you're sleeping. Then you're not going to sleep well.
And then it's just going to bethis whole, you know well,
And that's also a huge hack forconfidence because it is, like we talked
(22:18):
about, we do tend to dwellin the five percent that's negative versus the
ninety five percent that's positive. Soif you can flip that where you're focused
on the positive, like you're happier, you're more confident, like you go
forward in a better place and youknow, so, yes, I totally
agree that that's a hack. Andone other is, you know, if
(22:41):
you have a thirty minute meeting,make it a twenty five minute meeting.
If you have an hour meeting,make it fifty minutes. And high performance
data shows that the average high performertakes a break every fifty two minutes.
So you can get as much donein twenty five minutes as thirty and fifty
as an hour. And guess whatyou do, just bot humanity for five
minutes or ten minutes for everybody onthat meeting, Like you get to be
(23:04):
a human for five minutes. Congratulations. I love that. I love that,
and I agree one hundred percent that'sand part of that has to do
again with the brain, you know, because when you're in the focus mode,
for too long, your brain getsfatigued. If you're sitting for too
long, your brain loses oxygen.Right, if you're sitting and focusing for
(23:26):
too long, you're probably not hydrating. You know, it's literally getting up
and doing breaks. It doesn't meanthat your subconscious brain isn't still working on
the problem you were addressing before.It just means you get a break well
and another problem going on. Soresearch has shown, you know, burnout
is up, but people actually aren'tworking more hours, but they are seeing
(23:48):
screens longer. And so you know, if you have five minutes, sit
back in your chair, like,get up if you can. I'm a
big fan of getting up. Ihave a little rebounder. I'll go do
sixty seconds on in between zooms,or hop out on the balcony to get
some fresh air. But you know, if you have just a little bit
of time just sitting back in yourchair, taking deep breast and closing your
(24:10):
eyes, because we've become visually overstimulated, and that's a lot of times when
you're cranky or fatigued, it's actuallyyou're over stimulated. Yeah, for sure,
for sure, I am with youone hundred percent. I love walking
out even if it's sprinkling outside,you walk out under the under the cover
and it's just like breathing the freshair and just like going okay, okay,
(24:34):
actually, and then I throw theball for the dog a little bit.
You know. I love accept theday raises the endorphins makes me happy.
So we talked about how the timemanagement and taking those breaks get your
energy back. But how does orhelps to give you energy? How does
(24:55):
this time management relate to your confidencelevel and gaining those things you know,
becoming more having more abundance or morealignment connected to to who you are?
How does how does doing these typesof things connect to or what advice do
you have to connect to that confidenceand building your confidence, because that's something
(25:21):
else that I think a lot ofa lot of women in our generation,
because there's so much to juggle,we're a little bit harder on ourselves because
we're not juggling at the way weor somebody else anticipates we should. So
then the confiden's coming. Well,what hits our confidence often is not holding
our promises up to ourselves. Andif you think about it, the first
(25:45):
promise you break always is the promiseyou've made to yourself, right, you'll
you'll do everything you promise. OhI promise my client this, I have
to do it. Oh I promisemy team this, I promise my husband
this, or my kids this,I have to do it. What about
the promises you're making to yourself,right, And so if you make a
practice of keeping those promises to yourself, it really stacks your confidence. So
(26:08):
one, don't overbook. Two,make sure you have priority on your calendar.
And three it goes back to celebratingthose wins. You know you talked
about bookending. I like to talkabout six minutes to change your life because
a lot of times this is little. So what if for two minutes in
the morning, you set a timerand you just thought about everything you're grateful
for and excited for in the day, right, and then at lunchtime two
(26:32):
minute timer and you look back onthe morning and celebrate at all your wins.
And then in the evening, likeyou said, bookend with Okay,
what are my wins today? AndI know you share gratitude. And if
you have a significant other, husband, like, why not have this amazing
powerful conversation with them? Right?And so the more you focus on your
(26:52):
wins and you put reflection time intoyour day, the more your confidence goes
up. Number one and number twoagain, keeping those promises to ourselves,
right, Like I have this.I couldn't do this. I was like,
I want to walk an hour anda half a day, and right
now I just can't make it happen. I mean, I would be sleeping
six hours a night and I likeseven to eight hours, So I'm not
(27:15):
willing to sacrifice sleep. So lastweek I go, you know what,
I'm going to walk thirty minutes aday. Guess what. I've kept that
promise every single day. I couldn'tkeep the other one, right, So
now my confidence is growing. Sothen next I'm going to find a way
that it's forty five minutes every day, right, And then next I'm going
to say, okay, thirty minutesin the morning, thirty minutes in the
(27:36):
evening. So again setting that standardfor yourself so you achieve it consistently.
You know, these consistent small windsare what builds our confidence. I love
that. I love that, theconsistent small winds, they're stairstepping you to
build the confidence. And again,yeah, you focus on the positive and
(27:57):
as you said earlier in the conversation, we have a tendency to always focus
on that five percent that's negative orthat smaller amount that's negative. And yet
from a brain perspective, psychologically,for every negative, you have to have
like four or five positive thoughts toridethat so celebrating the wins or you know,
(28:18):
saying good job to yourself is soimportant because you know, there's plenty
of times when you drop something you'relike, oh, that was stupid,
you know, like you know thatso well on the other end of that
spectrum, because yeah, it's sofunny. I just talk about this in
my financial seminars, like neurofinance.You know, they've done plenty of studies
(28:38):
where it's like if they simulate youmaking money, your brain floods with dopamine.
But if they simulate you losing money, it's like three times as much.
And I think that's like kind ofwhat you're referencing, right, It's
like four times as much power inyour brain the negative. So if we
think how much we let fear creepinto our lives, and you know,
(29:00):
especially I'm assuming because this is womenexcelling everywhere, that we have a lot
of high achievers on here, right, Like you know, they're always fearful
of failing or fearful or imposter syndrome. So we really have to control that
fear factor because the fear factor canjust flood you and you can't You're not
gonna have confidence, you're not goingto manage your time, you're not going
(29:22):
to manage your energy. So Iagree focusing on the winds and also controlling
the fear or the negativity. Yeah, for sure, fear. Fear can
do horrible things to your brain.We won't even get into that. Absolutely.
Oh so many good tidbits that havebeen shared today and that you have,
(29:44):
so tell us a little bit aboutmore about what what is the Vixen
gathering about? Like what is thatis? Is that someplace where you're all,
you know, gather and sip onwine? Are they sometimes? So?
So it is. Actually we're focusedon female entrepreneurs currently. The goal
is in the future to open upa networking membership which is open outside of
(30:08):
that. But you know, femaleentrepreneurs have a particular route where they have
a lot they're juggling, and soI really wanted to create rooms where people
just like we said gen xers,we get each other, right, Like
I want a room where you kindof get each other. It doesn't take
as long for us to bond andgo deep because you know, Julie,
(30:29):
I don't know about you, butI used to joke that I'm not a
networker because life's too short for cheapwine, cheap cheese, or cheap talk.
Like, I'm just not a smalltalker, right, So if we're
going to have a conversation, like, let's go deep, and it's so
funny. So we're like, okay, put away your cell phones. Like
there's lots of things to set thestage. And at first the women are
like, what are you doing,because I'll do happy hours sometimes, so
(30:52):
we do sip wine and that's kindof their introduction and they're like, what,
I can't have my phone. Ohmy gosh, you're giving me conversation
cards. That's what's going on.When they leave at the end of the
night, they're thanking us for thesemeasures, right, So thank you for
asking that. So we do havenetworking events like that, but for the
most part, I have a twelveweek intensive for aspiring entrepreneurs women who have
(31:15):
like a side hustle. A lotof women are working corporate and on the
side they're trying to build a jobso they can leave right or startups and
you know the goal of that isto get you to six figures as quickly
as possible so you can reach thatgoal. But we're putting in sustainable habits,
lifestyle, all these things so thatyou can do that. And then
(31:36):
we have a mastermind for women doingsix figures in their business who are looking
to go to seven or stay inmultiple six and just have a better quality
of life, right. And thenwe have a mastermind for women doing seven
figures plus because usually you're leading ateam. It's not just business. There's
just different elements, right. Sothat's what our current focus is. And
(31:57):
the vix and Voice Are podcast isreally, i mean, very similar to
yours to inspire women to live theirbest life, let them know they're not
alone, and help them think outsideof the box. Right. So I
love that and I have a Facebookgroup. It's my new favorite thing.
I re engaged. I know youhave a Facebook group as well. I
can't wait to hop in yours.But it's abundant business women and that's just
(32:22):
fun. Like I actually monitor itmyself, do everything because we just have
amazing conversations and it's such a blessing. Yeah, I love it. I
love it. So we will haveall of that information we will have in
the show notes for those who arelistening or watching. We'll put it on
the YouTube channel and we'll have allthat information in there, so that will
(32:45):
be someplace that you can certainly gojoin. And of course you can follow
her Vixen Voice, the Vixen Voiceand podcast, which I'm going to do
that and follow and listen. I'dlove to hear some of the some of
the wisdom that showed there. Andthen also you have a fifty minute complimentary
strategy session that you offer to people. Tell us about that. Yeah,
(33:09):
I love it. And honestly,if you go on our website, it's
not free, so please use thislink. This is only for your podcast
guests, so definitely go to theshiit It's You're welcome. Yeah. We
started charging because my team was like, you're giving away your time too much.
So that's where a team can beamazing, right. But I just
(33:30):
I love meeting new people and Ilove when we have these great conversations.
If someone's reaching out to me,we probably they probably heard something that touched
them on this call. And youknow, my greater purpose in life is
to bring women more peace, joyand love. As you read, so
if something touched you, please takeadvantage of that link have a complimentary fifty
(33:51):
minute consultation with me. You mightwant some coaching, you might want a
network, you know, you mightjust want to brainstorm something. I'm an
amazing forstormer. Please take advantage ofthat and we'll see if it makes sense
for us to work further together.Very cool, Well, April, this
has been such a great conversation.I encourage everyone listening to reach out and
(34:13):
to stay connected with her. Wewill also show all of her social media
links, all the places that youcan stay connected with her on. She's
on Facebook and Vixen Gathering on Instagram, Vixen Gathering on YouTube, Vixen dash
Gathering on LinkedIn. But then youalso have your what did you say the
name of your Facebook group is?It's called Abundant Business Women, And I'll
(34:35):
shoot you that link as well,Julie perfect. That's wonderful and we'll have
all that for everybody. Well,thank you so very much, April for
being on the Women Excelling Everywhere thatwe podcast today. Your presence has been
beneficial and thank you for sharing yourwisdom. I greatly appreciate your and value
your time. Well, thank youfor having me. It's been such an
honor, Julie, and conversation withyou was easy, so I loved it.
(35:00):
Oh, thank you, dittoh backcatch you sister. Okay, all
right, well, everyone be sureto stay connected with our guests today as
well as stay connected with us.Check out our new website, Women Excelling
Everywhere dot com, follow us onthe podcast. We are on all the
major podcast channels and you know WomenExcelling Everywhere podcasts. We are really excited
(35:22):
and we're going to be focusing thisyear on just bringing topics to help your
excel. That's our goal, rightis to bring you those topics to help
you excel. Think about joining ourprivate membership community. This is Women Excelling
Everywhere Success Collective, and this iswhere we are. It's off Facebook,
it's off the social media. It'skind of like our own little social media
(35:44):
app. And what that's the wholeidea behind there is to just open up
conversations and support each other in anythingthat we that we can do that with.
And we have monthly topics and weeklyactivities all kinds of fun things there
as well, be watching. Pleaseplease please mark your calendar, Actually,
don't mark your calendars because it'll probablybe past the release date. But we
(36:06):
are releasing our Women Excelling Everywhere collaborativebook on February twenty third, and I
am so excited for that, Sogo on to It's eighteen Wonderful Women.
We've got lots of wonderful wisdom toshare with you and with everyone, so
be sure to check that out onAmazon or on our website, Women Excelling
Everywhere dot com. All right,everyone, take a nice deep breath,
(36:30):
roll those shoulders back. Oh,go out there and simply enjoy every moment
until next time.
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