Transcript of Episode

Leah Gervais: Hey visionaries. Welcome back to the Your Biggest Vision show. I’m your host, Leah Gervais. And today I wanted to take you behind the scenes of one of my most elite offerings- that is my mastermind. Now, for those of you who have been here, um, around here for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about this program before and that’s just because it honestly keeps getting better and better. And what this program does is it brings together women who have already started their business and have already decided that their success is inevitable, you know, have really put so much out there and are taking so many risks and they’re ready to really see the fruits of their labor. I started the mastermind because I sort of saw a gap between when all the support out there for starting businesses and leaving your nine to five job and how to make your business better.

And I love all of that stuff. It definitely helped me, but there’s a point where you do that all, and you are able to quit your nine to five job, and you are able to, you know, totally work for yourself and replace your nine to five income. And you, you then get to decide, do I want to have steady growth upward where my income will grow. It will grow. You know, you’ll have your five figure months and you’ll start outsourcing and you’ll have some really great bursts of success and that’s fine, but you, you can choose, do you instead want exponential growth where you just take off. And instead of thinking, how can I make more than I was making it my nine to five, you start thinking, how could I make my nine to five salary, my monthly salary, and really start asking those bigger questions.

I feel like in that zone, that was where I really, really saw that people needed to come together and have the community and have really intimate mentorship with me as someone who has done it, because that area, that kind of level is not where another e-course or, um, or doing things on your own are really going to cut it. You need that customized support and that community, which is so important. So our mastermind has been one of the most successful parts of my business for about two years now, which is so exciting. Um, and it’s been incredible to see what the women have gone on to do from it. And it is open again now for enrollment, uh, for the July, um, cohort. So if you are interested in learning more about it, you can go to Urban20Something.com/mastermind, where you’ll get more information you can apply.

We only have a few spots left, and this is really for you if you are full time in your business, you’ve decided to go all in, you know, you know that you are the next big thing, and you refuse to end this year at anything less than multiple five figure months. And importantly, you know, the mastermind, one thing that I think people get about is, is do I have enough time for it? Because I think when you get to that place of having maybe $5,000 a month coming in, $10,000 every once in a while, or sometimes more, you’re so busy, you know, you’re so, so your time is so, so tight, it’s already full. Um, and we don’t want you to feel like you can’t be living your life because of your business. So we really take that into consideration, and it’s not about, um, committing yourself. Like it’s not about being on zoom calls every day. I’ve been in masterminds like that. I joined one when I really thought that it would take me to my next level and I ended up having to leave early because I just felt like I was on zoom all the time. And I was like, that’s not why I started my business. So I totally get that. And if that is a fear, just know that we’ve taken that into consideration. And it’s really about saving you time, not having you spend more time. 

So with that, one of the things that, I go through with the masterminders when they join, um, that I really take quite seriously and really try to make sure we all stay on the same page on throughout the mastermind, because, um, it is what will lead to success are 10 values of the successful entrepreneur.

And these are what we all kind of go into this with. So we’re on the same page. And if someone is feeling out of alignment with one of these, or if they start feeling, you know, like this, isn’t what’s happening for them, we can always come back to this and just remember, okay, where can we just do a simple reset? Where am I not living in alignment with these values? And where can I shift back into that to start seeing the results that I want in my life. So I thought that I would share these 10 values with you today, what they are, why I chose them, um, and where along my journey, they led me to, you know, success and, and why, why I think they’re important. Um, and this also is something I even just shared with my Scale Your Side Hustle cohorts as well. So this stuff works. And without further ado, let’s go ahead and dive in.

Value number one, do not listen to doubts about the path you’ve chosen and your other choices. So don’t listen to the dots of others about your business, your choices, your commitments, and your dreams. They are simply projecting their own background onto you. And most of all, don’t listen to your own doubts. So I put this as number one, because this was something that was critical in the earliest area of my journey or the earliest chapter. Um, this was actually something that I had to embrace before I even did quit my nine to five. So a lot of the masterminders have, you know, already been thinking about this, but it’s always worth remembering that, um, other people will doubt you. They just will, and it has nothing to do with you. And I think that until you consciously know that it’s very hard to, to defend yourself from those doubts, especially when it’s people in your life that you love, that love you, um, and that you really respect and value.

It’s very hard to not take what you know, they say seriously, but it, once again, has nothing to do with you. Other people’s opinions of what you’re doing, what you want to do. And what’s possible for you is only existing from their background and their understanding of what has been possible for them. And that doesn’t mean that they might not have some good advice or good intentions, but at the end of the day, these are your decisions. And no one will understand what you’re capable of or what you are, what’s in store for you except for you and your vision. And that’s why it’s so important to have a coach as you pursue your vision. Because I always say in my company, um, we become the voice for your vision and together, there’s really nothing that you can’t create. 

So you know, really embracing the doubts of others, you, you don’t have the energy for it. It’s just the blunt truth. Um, and it doesn’t mean that those doubts don’t sound reasonable or that they don’t make sense some of the time. Um, there’s lots of stories, success stories that don’t work out. It’s just true. There are, but if you’re looking for them, and if you’re seeking advice from people who would focus on them, that is putting a toxic leak into your energy and your brain. So you only need to deal with your own doubts and battling those off that will take as much of the energy as you probably have. So don’t absorb other people’s as well. 

Okay. Value number two, make decisions from an inspired place. So this was really important for me when I went from, you know, having that first five figure month, which was so exciting to having five figure months and up be my new normal, having it be just a sort of, “but of course in my life”.

And I will say that this was something that I don’t necessarily encourage people to totally focus on in the beginning. And here’s why in the beginning, you kind of do need to work no matter what, no matter how you feel, no matter, um, if you are exactly sure what’s going on, uh, it is all hands on deck to really get this thing going once it’s going. Um, what you don’t want to do is then work out of like a frantic place or a stress place, or a fear based place because you’ve worked so hard to build a business and you don’t want to then start building, you know, putting in building blocks of it that are, are not really in alignment with what you really want or what you really feel. So what I work with my masterminders to do is when they’re feeling stressed or they’re feeling flustered, or maybe they got a rough email or bad news, or they’re overwhelmed, or, you know, all the very understandable things that go through a human’s head, it’s a step away. I have a five step process. I walk them through to shift them back into an inspired place and take action from there.

And you will see so much faster growth once you aren’t working under stress. And it’s counterintuitive, especially for people that are really type A and driven, you know, the more stress they are, they need more money. They want more success. They want to reach their goals. They can feel like they need to just work more, work, more, work more, and paradoxically that will only stress you out more, that will create an energy of stress. And if you do make wins in your business from that place, they’ll be wins of stress. So we don’t want to do that. Come from an inspired place.

Value, number three, cherish your colleagues. So I didn’t realize when I first started joining my own group programs and joining my own masterminds, how critical the community would be.

Um, and maybe you feel that as well, if you have never been in a mastermind, uh, you know, I felt like I had a supportive boyfriend, a man who’s now my husband and I had supportive friends. And I, and I do, I mean, I really have to say I’ve seen some entrepreneurs over the years that have had to totally break ties with some of their friends, just because they didn’t grow with them. And I’ve been super blessed that I haven’t had to do that. My best friend in the world has been my best friend since we were 18. And, you know, we’re still best friends, even though we couldn’t be more different and have more different career paths. Um, one of my other best friends ended up actually going down this path as well and became an entrepreneur. She actually is an alum of my mastermind.

My point here is that I didn’t realize how much I needed an entrepreneurial community and entrepreneurial friends. Um, because I thought I had a pretty good community and I know another one of my masterminders has shared the same thing. I even remember when I met her. And she was saying how her husband is so supportive and helps her. And I was like, Oh, no, like you need, um, you need entrepreneur friends. Like you need to be in this community. And she was like, well, no, he’s great. And now like a year later, she’s like, Oh my God, I definitely needed this. And the reason it’s so powerful is because above all, you go through things together in interest of your growth and an interest of your business growth and growth in an interest of your financial growth that no one else in your life has either gone through or will understand or might even support.

So when you’re talking about having, you know, a $20,000 a month, and you’re trying to talk to your friend about it, who is, you know, making like $4,000 a month, they can be as happy for you as they want, but they don’t understand how hard you have to work for that and what it actually takes and the inner work you have to do to get there. So you go through all of that with people in this and it’s really something to be cherished. And from there that, I mean, I think for my mastermind, the relationships alone are worth the investment because I’ve seen people go on to work for each other for certain projects. You know? So it’s, it’s another stream of income because they already trust each other and they know they can help each other. Uh, they’ve referred each other time and time again to other people they’ve continued their friendships they’ve, you know, met up together in person.

They are always going to have each other’s backs in business and in life. And it’s genuine because they went through all of this together. They went through so much growth together, and those relationships are just hard to come by. You know, especially when you are doing things like entrepreneurship, just most people aren’t entrepreneurs. And so having kind of that backbone, those people in your corner is, like I said, it’s worth the mastermind investment alone. 

Value number four, short and sweet, do not take excuses. So if you are waiting, and this is so timely because I’m recording this in the middle of the coronavirus, and there’s a lot of civil unrest right now because of the tragic murder of George Floyd, which obviously ignited, generations, decades of abuse. Um, my point is, there’s a lot of chaos right now, and a lot of stress, a lot of collective anxiety. And this is a great example of it not being an excuse to stop working on your dreams. And I don’t say this heartlessly, but what I do see is people not realizing they’re doing this, but they are really only building a business when they have the energy, when they feel great, when they have enough money, when they have the time, et cetera, and that’s not going to cut it, I’ll just be blunt about it. If you are tired, you need to keep working. If you don’t have enough money in the bank, but you need to, you know, grow your business with visibility, you can’t stunt your business’s growth, um, by not investing in it because you’ll pay for that more in the long run. If you’re in a grumpy mood, then use my five step process to get into inspired action and keep working.

And again, people don’t realize they’re doing this, I see this all the time. They don’t wake up and think, Oh, until I have all these ducks in a row, I’m not going to work, but I do see them come to me. And they’re like, well, this last week, wasn’t so productive. I got my period. Um, I had friends in town. I, just wasn’t feeling so great. Um, I was kind of upset about something I saw on the news and I feel all of these things too. I’m not trying to be a monster here, but I am trying to be honest with you and realistic that it takes a no excuses policy and it takes no matter what, this doesn’t mean you need to work 24/7. But if you have a goal at the end of the month to make $20,000, and it’s the last week, and you still have some, you know, some to go, uh, and if you have a rough week because of the news, or because of, you know, how you’re feeling or because you’re tired or because you have friends in town that you are letting those excuses rob you from your goals.

So you really have to shift in and think my goals are not-  there’s no excuse for me to not achieve them. I will not take any excuses because those excuses are running your life at that point. And if you think the news has robbed you from some of your energy, like it’s robbed you from some of your happiness, it’s gonna super rob you. When you let it take you away from your goals. Like that’s what you need to think about it is how much more do you want to give the unpleasant things in your life? So, no excuses, policy.

Value number five, take full responsibility for your results, circumstances and actions. We know that success comes from the inside out. Our external results are not to be blamed on others, make us feel pitiful or put us in victim mode. We recognize that if our external lives need tweaking, we look in the mirror first. So we don’t blame other people, other circumstances, things that did or didn’t happen for the environment that we are in. We always look in the mirror and you don’t even need to blame yourself. It’s not about blaming. It’s about observing and it’s about empowering yourself. And if you are consistently allowing, you know, your student loans, to be the reason you don’t have enough money, or you’re allowing, um, your busy schedule to be the reason why you don’t go to the gym and why you’re not in shape, you’re giving away your power to things like your former college, or, you know, time, which none of us can, can be or fight. So this full responsibility piece is realizing that there’s no need to blame yourself or anyone else for circumstances. Sometimes I guess you might, blame just a harsh word, but I’m trying to get at it that you are the only person that can change your circumstances.

You are the only one that can say, you know what? Today is the day that I am going to go to Urban20Something.com/mastermind and apply because I am no longer available for this income guessing game every month, it’s different every month. I don’t know where it’s coming from. I’m exhausted. I don’t want to do that anymore. No, one’s going to do that for you. You get to take full responsibility and decide when you’re ready to change your life. It’s the same thing with exercising. It’s the same thing with relationships. It’s the same thing in our life. And this was one of the most monumental things I learned. I didn’t realize how much I and the people in my life are in victim mode. If you aren’t careful about it. Like the example that I used earlier of student loans, that was totally me. I never felt like I had that much money leftover and I would blame NYU.

It was so expensive. I had student loans. Um, my salary is entry level. Um, and that’s why I don’t have enough money. I live in an expensive city. And finally I woke up and I was like, Whoa, Whoa. I chose to go to NYU and I wouldn’t change that. And I need to own that. I chose. So I choose to live in New York city and it’s expensive and I wouldn’t change that and I own that. And yeah, I’m sick of making an entry level salary. So I’m going to start a website on the side, you know, hire someone to teach me how to monetize it and change my salary. And that’s what I did. And it wasn’t easy, but that’s where change happens is when you start rephrasing your words and your thoughts to recognize that you are in control of your life and your environment, and you are the only one in the driver’s seat.

Okay. Value number six is to show up authentically, be yourself and be present in doing so. So in this mastermind, this means show up on the calls, show up in our conversations, don’t stay hidden. Really, you know, you get what you give, and this also just means showing up in your life with your clients. Um, really recognizing, you know, it’s funny. I was just talking to one of my clients who’s also a nutrition mentor of mine. She’s taught me so much about holistic health, which has been so helpful. But I was telling her that years ago, before I ever had a six figure business, I would have assumed that at six figures and up, you know, my biggest, like kind of reasons for having that amount of money would have been because I had a really great, you know, marketing strategy or because I had a super fancy funnel that was working all the time.

And now being here with multiple six figures, those things very much help. And the marketing is important and I’m really proud of the marketing strategies that we’ve developed. But I would say my number one biggest priority is my energy. And just making sure that I, um, you know, show up in a way that aligns with what I really care about and is truthful. You know, what someone once told me, what if you had four video cameras in your house, just kind of like following you at all times that your clients could see, like, would it actually line up to what you’re talking about and in, so for my clients and my mastermind, what this looks like is, um, are you, you know, telling your clients and sharing with your customers, that they need to take risks on themselves and they need to look at the positive and they need to think about what could happen for them. And yet day to day, they’re scared all the time. It’s somewhat hypocritical. And I’m not saying that to be harsh, but we do have to be showing up in alignment with, with you. We have to walk the walk, I guess, and talk, the talk is what I’m saying. 

Okay. Value number seven is to take care of yourself above all else. This was really pivotal in what I would say, my phase of going from like six figures to multiple six figures. So I’ve never been one to, I think it’s easy to fall in the trap of like, if you get up at 4:30 AM and make your bed every morning and you know, work out every day, you’ll totally tune up your body and you’ll be successful. And I don’t think that’s true. It’s not going to like save your startup. But I do think, I mean, first of all, I think you should always take care of yourself.

And I do think that it’s, it’s one of those things that can really up-level you, once you’re in quite a bit of initial momentum. So for me, I’m over this, especially this past year of 2020 and a little bit before when I was about to get married and I started looking deeper into my health. I started seeing some ways that I could dramatically increase my energy and my positivity and my mood and my sleep through holistic health. And this was a game changer for me. So some staples for me, all along, I’ve always exercised every single day since I started building my business, because pretty much what my days would look like were, um, you know, getting up really early, building my business before my nine to five job than sitting at my nine to five job all day. So just having that daily movement, even 20, 30 minutes was a game changer for me, um, and was necessary.

So that’s been a must. And then just, you know, I’ve always had a green smoothie. Those have kind of been my staples and tried to eat relatively healthy. The things that have allowed me to really up level are to start making vegetables the staple of every meal, including breakfast. So if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen my testers with different breakfast I can make with vegetables. Cutting out gluten because I realized that it made me really tired throughout the day. And, and what I’ve learned is that’s because a lot of gluten and white rice, your body processes, I might not say this totally correctly. I’m not a nutritionist, but it processes it like refined sugar in the sense that your blood sugar will spike after you eat it, which then obviously your blood sugar will drop. So, that’s definitely what was happening to me.

I realized I was getting tired after a lot of meals. And when I cut out gluten, I realized that that didn’t happen to me anymore. I don’t eat meat. Uh, I eat seafood every once in a while. Um, I don’t drink nearly as much. I used to, you know, have happy hours frequently, especially before COVID, um, I cut out alcohol a lot because it helps with my sleep. I cut out a lot of caffeine because it helps with my sleep. I’ve just noticed a huge change from these relatively small tweaks in how much energy I have, how well I sleep, how good I feel day to day. And I definitely think that that’s really what helped my income and the way I started thinking about it is that, you know, like I get, I don’t know how to say this properly when I was at my nine to five job, I, you know, was just kind of into the way that like people around me saw, I saw them treating their bodies at nine to five jobs.

And this is a total generalization. I know not everyone’s the same, but in New York, anyway, I saw a lot of, you know, two, sometimes three cups of coffee, um, eating, whatever you could pick up around Midtown, which for those who aren’t as familiar with Manhattan is like kind of a lot of chains, um, or just like kind of grab and go type food. So I’d have, you know, what I thought was healthy a lot like sushi, a lot or poke. And every once in a while, those things are fine, but again, it would have this white rice base. It would make me really tired after it. And it was also just, you know, a lot of it was just more processed food. It wasn’t like vegetable-based naturally made food, which is more what I eat now. Um, and workouts were just sort of like if you could squeeze them in type thing, because people were commuting and everything.

I really just had to start thinking of myself as a higher performer and think about what tweaks I could make in order to just have more stamina and have more energy. So, um, those started becoming non-negotiables for me and anyone who is like a friend of mine, um, is probably laughing at this part because they know how serious about this. I am even like on the weekends for the most part, I go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00, um, if I’m really pushing it. Yeah. Uh, and, and I, and I don’t really make that a negotiation. Um, and that’s just because that is what works for me to keep me at the top of my game. So whatever your self care game looks like, that will help you be the highest performing version of you, is really important to take seriously.

And in my mastermind, even though obviously not a nutritionist, you know, if there’s a lot of stress going on, if people are really tense, uh, some of the first questions I ask are, are you exercising daily? Do you meditate? Are you hydrated? Are you eating enough vegetables? Um, because if you’re on this, like, you know, take out diet, it’s going to be very hard to keep your mood and your energy and your stamina up to where you need it to be. 

Okay. Value number eight is to practice mindset daily. So most of you, if you started a business, you’ve probably heard about the importance of mindset and you might kind of roll your eyes at this, but just bear with me. A lot of times, the people at my mastermind level, and I had this happened to me too. You do tons of mindset work in the beginning of your business, right? You have to learn how to take risks. You have to learn how to think differently. You have to learn to be okay with people not knowing what you’re doing. You have to learn to be okay with being freaking terrified all the time. So you do a ton of it and then it works right? And then you get to the next level and then you quit your job. And then you’re making more than you are at your nine to five. And it’s super exciting. And then all of a sudden you realize you don’t have time for your mindset work anymore busy. You already did that kind of thing. Um, and minds are working really is like working out or even kind of just how I described my health journey. You, you start somewhere and just like with anything in life, you start, you do your best with what you, you can initially do.

But you don’t stop doing it. Like we don’t stop working out, right? Ideally you get to, if you’re new to working out, you get to a place where it’s regular, it’s your new normal. You feel good about it. And then you’re ready to go somewhere deeper with it. You’re ready to start lifting higher. You’re ready to start running longer. You’re ready to start, um, doing deeper yoga poses. I said, I think I said, yogurt, yoga poses. So it’s the same with mindset. We never want to think that it’s done. Um, and we never want to stop doing it. So there really is a next level of mindset shifts that can be made that will get you to the multiple six figure level. And that’s the kind of stuff we go through in our mind in our mastermind. But you have to, we have to actually make time to do it. Otherwise it will easily get pushed to the wayside.

Value number nine is don’t indulge in the roller coaster. This was also something I adopted when I was quitting my nine to five job, but I think it still really applies because it’s something I see a lot as people, um, grow. So you’ll hear time and time again, entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. Some days it will be great. Some days it’ll be really hard. Some days you’ll be like, this is the best thing ever some days you’ll be like, why do I do this? And by default, that’s totally true. I’m not going to deny that that is the case. It is, there’s a reason a lot of people don’t do it. And it’s because it can be an emotionally exhausting experience. However, this value comes from that exact issue, emotionally exhausting. And the reason we work on not indulging in the roller coaster is because you don’t have the emotional capacity to indulge in the roller coaster.

And so for me, I even had a sticky note on my desk when it started, that just said this, and I would look down on it and it would help when I was feeling stressed or uncertain or insecure or anything like that. Um, and it still helps me to this day, because this is like I said, the default, it will be a roller coaster just by nature of what it is, but you don’t have to let it. And when you don’t, you will be stunned at how not exhausted you are because this back and forth will this work? I don’t know if this will work or this is the best thing ever. I don’t know if I can do this. Um, I have this great launch plan. I don’t know if I can make enough money, totally energy draining. And when you spend all that energy just on the launch, or just on self care, or just on working with your clients, or just on strategizing for what’s next, you can get like three times as much done.

And here’s the best part. It’s more joyful because you’re not indulging in this self doubt, which results often in self-loathing or self pity, or, you know, turns into something about you and your own potential. That just isn’t true. That’s what the roller coaster does. It’s very insidious. So just deciding that, even those moments of, I don’t know if I can do this. Nope. We’re not going there. Like, how can you be so protective of your mindset, that when you see the slope go downward, you just pull it right back up or just think about something else. You don’t always have to be in a good mood. You don’t always have to think that you’re going to be superwoman. I’d love it if you did, but that’s, we’re not trying to put too much pressure on you here. We’re just trying to support you in deciding you are not going to indulge in that. You know, your success is inevitable. And I work with my masterminders on tools and techniques to stay in that vibrational confidence, because that’s where you manifest what you really want. 

Okay, final value, my favorite value is to have fun. It is so easy to get caught up in doing all the things and feeling really busy and the hustle and the grind and the “Leah told me to do this”, but at the end of the day, by biggest value for you and part of what I include in my, my eight step methodology for my clients to reach huge results is to always be injecting your life with little up levels. How can you add indulgences into it from your business so that you really are using your business to fill in the puzzle pieces of your vision of your life? That’s what this is all about.

Your business should not become your life. Your business should support your life. So whether that means you start traveling more and you work while you travel, or you’re able to just treat yourself more, or maybe you do more regular spot days, or maybe you just sleep more now, um, you know, whatever the case may be, this is so critical. And it’s really going to be the way that you keep up your stamina and the way that you connect with your clients, because the blunt truth is, you know, I have never wanted to invest in someone that doesn’t look like they’re enjoying their life, because why I don’t want to build a business that I can’t love or enjoy. So this is where this is where this all ties together. This is where you walk the walk, where you talk the talk where you’re authentic, where you show up, where you are, you know, not living in victim mode because you’re in charge of your life.

This is where it all ties together and really brings out what we all started our businesses for to begin with. And that is what you can expect in my mastermind. So I hope you enjoyed learning about these values. I hope that they resonated with you. I’d love it. If you would DM me on Instagram and let me know which one you needed to hear most today. And once again, if you are interested in one of the last spots of this incredible mastermind, please go to Urban20Something.com/mastermind and reach out if you have any questions, but the doors are going to close and they only open twice a year and it’s constantly evolving. So don’t put your life on hold for six months. It really makes me so sad when people are like, maybe I’ll just do the next round. And I did that early on with the program.

And now I look back and I’m like, Oh my God, my life could have happened so much faster. Like I would have been so much further along, you know, than I am even now, if I just would’ve started earlier. So don’t delay time is of the essence, especially as we’ve all learned through COVID and everything that’s happened this year. It’s just so precious, you guys. It really is so beautiful. So thank you guys for tuning in. I hope that this helps no matter where you’re at right now, and if you are interested in the mastermind, I’m excited to hear from you have a beautiful day.

Your Biggest Vision’s Daily Checklist for Visionaries;

Free Download!

Click here to download the checklist