What worked for our clients in 2020 (life and business)

As the year comes to a close (and what a year it’s been), I want to encourage you to reflect back on the past 365 days. Now, I know 2020 brought a lot of change to all of us. But are you the type of person already counting down the days until 2020 is over? Or are you celebrating your resilience and growth in spite of all the change and chaos that was 2020?

I hope it’s the latter.

Here’s the thing, while we’ve certainly felt the impact of COVID here at IHML, we also recognize the new opportunities that came from it. In particular, we’ve witnessed some incredibly inspiring transformations this year among our Mastermind students. I mean, I am blown away by the courage and resilience of these women. It’s truly an honor to play a small role on their journey toward living their best life. It’s all I want for them.And I want that for you too.

That’s why I want to share one of those Mastermind success stories here with you today to remind you that even in the craziest of years (I’m looking at you, 2020!) we all have the power to change our lives. You can still scale your business. You can create more time and space for what brings you joy. You can embrace new opportunities to learn and grow. You can transform.I was so excited to have one of our amazing IHML Mastermind students, Rose Lounsbury, on the podcast this week to share how she was able to make 2020 work in her favor. Rose is an example of someone who took 2020 and totally ran with it. Her story is truly inspiring. I mean, this year completely changed her life.

The best part? She was willing to literally share her list of what worked for her and led to one of her most transformational years to date. Don’t worry, I’m going to share some key takeaways from our conversation here with you today.

Remember, it’s great to draw inspiration from other people’s stories. But the only way you’re going to begin to experience change in your own life is through taking action.So, here’s my challenge for you. By the end of this, I want you to have one non-negotiable thing that you are going to start implementing in your life when you’re done reading.

Are you ready?When it comes to business in 2020, Rose took three important steps that helped her step away from a business model that was no longer serving her and following her intuition toward the online business she runs (and loves) today.

So, what worked for her business this year and how can it work for you, too?

Networking = Growing her audience.

Rose looked toward new ways of sales and marketing to help grow her audience and was able to do so by posting guest blogs and participating in a book swap. When you have your sights set on a certain goal, you have to be willing to put in the work and try new things to achieve it– even if that means reaching out to others. You have to be willing to move past the fear of rejection because the potential outcome is so much greater. Rose’s business is proof that being bold with networking pays off.

Taking action.

Instead of letting the changes of 2020 stagnate her face-to-face business, she embraced the opportunity to operate fully online (and she absolutely loves it). But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t afraid to take the leap. Again, it takes courage to make these types of decisions and pivots in your business, but if you can move past the fear, it’s totally worth it.

Following her intuition.

Opening her online business was one of the biggest proofs of Rose committing to her intuition despite her fears of failure. Following your intuition requires a lot of trust in yourself and that can be pretty scary. But, as Rose teaches us, you have to let go of whatever is no longer serving you. You have to trust that the right thing will follow and that it’s there for the taking. Only then will you be able to move away from what’s holding you back from your true purpose.

Rose welcomed just as much change and growth in her personal life. She practiced more gratitude, made more time for things she enjoyed doing, spent more time with her family, and listened to her body. 2020 was an opportunity to live life on her terms, and she doesn’t plan on going back.

What worked for her in her personal life this year and how can you do it too?

Practicing gratitude.

Instead of getting stuck in everything negative going on in the world, for the first time in her life she started a daily gratitude practice (despite being hesitant to do so in the past) and it has put more positive energy into the start and end of each day. Gratitude is a great way to offset the patterns of self-judgment that we’re so quick to fall into. Everyone can practice gratitude in their own way and get the benefits of slowing down and paying attention to the little things that light up our life.

Making changes to her health.

Rose realized that small changes to her health to lead to big changes in how she felt.

Whether it’s what you do to or put in your body, it’s important to pay attention to how it makes you feel. In fact, we can learn more about ourselves when we listen to our body. Don’t do the exercise if it hurts or because it’s the latest trend on social media. Don’t continue to put things in your body if it doesn’t make you feel good.

Saying “no”.

Instead of doing things out of obligation, she started doing things out of joy. Life gets busy fast. Here’s the thing, it’s okay not to fill up your calendar because what’s on your calendar doesn’t mean you’re any more or less important. What’s important is how you feel about where your time is going. Whether you want to have more time with your family, to read a book, dream up your next business, go for a walk– set time aside and do it.

Wow. There are many great things in there. I hope you were taking notes! And, if you can believe it, she dives into even more during our conversation on the latest episode of the IHML podcast (You can find it here).

In all seriousness, Rose is a phenomenal example of how learning to trust yourself is a total game changer. 2020 taught her that following your instincts and letting go of your ego and moving through the fears that try to protect it are essential to tapping into your potential and living out your dreams.

Every time I hear Rose talk about her journey through 2020, I am just in complete awe. I hope you were able to take something away from her story that you can apply to your own life or business.

And if 2020 wasn’t the year you hoped it’d be, don’t get too hung up on it. Learn, grow, and get ready to start making changes for a better year ahead.

Remember, it’s never too late to live out your dreams.

Emily

P.S. If you are ready to transform your life, but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’re just looking for resources and support? Whatever the thing is, we want to help. The IHML Mastermind helped transform Rose’s life by giving her the tools and support she needed to step into her power and continue living her best life (so much so that she signed up for another year in the program!). If you’re curious to see if we can do that for you too, you can learn more about our Mastermind here and apply for one of our remaining two spots.

P.P.S. Interested in adding a daily gratitude practice to your life? Hear more about how I implemented gratitude into my life (and why you should too) in my recent I Heart My Life podcast episode here.