Take 5 With: Emily Gallagher, Founder Conscious Boss
Emily Gallagher shares her top tips on finding your purpose, manifesting the life you want and the importance of an investment mindset...
What is the secret to success? "Be about something greater than yourself". This is not the answer you would imagine from an entrepreneur who's gone from making 20K in a year to 20K a month, but indeed for Conscious Boss Founder, Emily Gallagher, 31, it has been the recipe for success. When she first started her Conscious Boss Clique events back in March 2015, it was not about making money but bringing together like-minded women to talk business and share expertise. And yet in the doing for others Emily has been able to grow her own business.
However, do no be fooled into thinking that all of this happened overnight. The passionate New Zealand-born beauty will be the first to tell you getting to a point where she can finally work full-time in her business has been more like six years in the making. To fully understand her journey to finding her purpose and manifesting her hustle into her career, we must go back to the catalyst, which for Emily, was the death of her father (after a 4-year battle with cancer) when she was 24. "This was a game-changer for me", she says, explaining that it heralded the move back home to New Zealand and made her realise partying Thursday through to Sunday didn't seem so much fun anymore and the corporate job wasn't making me happy. Knowing what it was that she didn't want for her life, she decided to turn her attention to the health and wellness industry, first working in the health and nutrition network marketing business before launching Conscious Boss in November 2014 and completing her Life Coach course in 2015.
And like so many of us who on the journey to finding our true purpose, Emily's moment of truth came when it was least expected. "I had a moment of absolute clarity during a meditation course. I as sitting there in the final mediation and my mentors names were swirling around in my head," she says. "I knew right then that I had to take action immediately." Within six weeks she was in New York sitting down with one of her mentors Gabrielle Bernstein. "At the time I was stretched financially. I was 27 and living at home as I tried to get my network marketing biz off the ground", she recalls. "But I knew I had to follow the niggle."
Upon her return in November 2014 she launched her own business, Conscious Boss, holding her first ever event in March 2015 while still working at Lulu Lemon - which is where she really realised that she wanted to work with wellness entrepreneurs.
Fast forward to 2018 and after just one year full-time in her biz, Emily is about to make a move to Los Angeles for six months, as well as take her Conscious Boss Clique events on a national tour for the first time.
In this interview I asked Emily to share her top 7 tips on how to discover your purpose and manifest your dream into a reality, PLUS the importance of having an investment mindset if you want to make money. An inspiring read!
1. LISTEN TO THE "THREADS"
I actually got this from Oprah, but it's important to take note of what's threading through all the stuff that you have done that has lead you to this point - is it people, is it animals, is it children, is it corporate - what's the thread that lights you up the most? And be willing to get in game [because what you are meant to be doing] will become more apparent.
2. TAKE ACTION
Action - that was the biggest message I got from that moment in the mediation course. Just deciding that I am not going to let fear be my governing power anymore. I used to want to know everything before I felt secure enough to take one step. But that fear to take action is sometimes what makes you feel stuck. You think I will just stay here until I know where this is going to go. But if you do that, you may never take that step you need to, because you will be stuck there forever! You need to be willing to take that step into the darkness and let what is meant for you show itself.
3. HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS ABOUT BUSINESS GROWTH & MONEY
You have to be prepared to play the long game. People go into business and want to be full-time in their business over night. It doesn't actually happen like that, because people don't know what you do. Of course people can grow really quickly, but you have to be realistic.
You see a lot marketing courses online these days saying "I took my business from this to over 1 million dollars in a year". But I always think, what's the back story? I don't realistically think you can start a business and then make a million dollars in a year. Sure I took my business from 20K to 200K in a year, but I was working on my business for two years before that could actually happen.
You need to be discerning about that expectation, because if you want to have your own business you have to be willing to play the long game otherwise you won't stay around long enough to see results. The results take time. It's actually exciting, because your expectations change along the way. I thought I was killing it when i was making 20K a year, I was like "I've got a business, I'm making 20K a year" it still feels fun.
My joy was not coming from money, it was coming from getting great results from clients and finally living the life I wanted to live. Money is so interesting - I heard this saying, "money isn't everything unless you don't have enough." If you don't have enough money of course the biggest thing you need to think about is money, because you can't survive without money and it's such a heavy energy when you truly don't have enough. Which brings me to my next point...
4. HAVE AN INVESTMENT MINDSET
All of the money I spend I see as an investment. I am not very materialistic I don't buy a lot of branded stuff at all because it doesn't bring me joy. All my money is spent on things that I truly deeply care about - so for me it's staying in nice places when I travel because environment is really important, I take trips to build my business. I think so many people waste so much money on dumb stuff, they say they can't afford things but you need to look at where are you spending your money.
Now that I have a bit more money, my business takes a bit more money to run because I am growing it. If you're committed to growing and expanding your business, you're always going to be on your edge with money, but having an investment mindset is super powerful.
Get really comfortable about asking yourself;
- What do you want your money to serve you with?
- How your spending it?
- Are you investing it and do you think you will be able to make it back from by investing in whatever it is? For example if I invest in a 3K course, I ask myself "do I think I will be able to generate 3K or whatever it is the course or coach is worth if I have this skill set? And that is my filter, not " can I afford it?".
When I first stared it took me like 1 year to 14 months before I got a coach - I was trying to do everything myself, I was trying to create videos and do all the online courses and it was so time consuming and so isolating because you're doing it all by yourself. It was hopeless, i made $200. And then I hired a coach and we got super clear on what I did, because I had no idea how to bring it all together, who I could work for, what I could provide and my price point. It was within 5 weeks of starting with her that I made like 7K. And i was like whoa, that's the most money i've made in my life. But that's because I got support.
5. CREATE THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT
I believe environment and having people around you who can help you pull all that stuff together is so important. It's also so important to filter your environment. When you are surrounded by people who genuinely what to help you and share their business tips it reminds you that it's all good and that there is enough and you want to be that person too, because their attitude sets the benchmark. I work with a lot of people in the earlier stages of their business and this is the most vulnerable spot in the life of your business. It's really hard to know what you do, so hard to set goals and know what to charge and how to get it out there.
For me I felt like these questions and the question of "what do I do" was on my mind for two or three years before I finally got a coach. That's why I am so passionate about who I work with because it's that time in the process that's quite hard. But once you've got a some results and experience, you've got a lot more to work with and you can get a bit more clear on your own. That said we're always growing so we always need more support and our environment is everything, always.
Your physical environment is important too - when I travel I stay in nice places and spend the money to do so because I know how much it impacts how I feel physically, how I feel mentally, how I feel spiritually..
Also question, who is in your space, who is in our social media, who are you spending your time with on the weekend, who are you around, what are the conversations you are having? Upgrade that if you need to, because all these things impact your environment.
6. CONNECT, COLLABORATE, CREATE & BECOME PART OF A COMMUNITY
Collaborating to build business is such a strong tool, but i'ts really important that you are collaborating with people who have the same mindset otherwise it's bound for disaster. Collaboration has been massive for me, I'm such a fan.
Everything about Conscious Boss is about collaboration, it's about community, it's about connection, it's about contribution, and that's all come from collaboration. I really believe in collaborative energy - I only spend time with people who have a collaborative mindset. That competitive energy is so tainting and it's really easy to get sucked into especially in business. I find it's really toxic.
I've cut people out of my life who i've had experiences like that with because it doesn't feel good for me. I have the best people around me who are just so open and willing to share their time and support and expertise, and that feels so good to be around that. A big big part of the Conscious Boss Clique events, is really bringing that energy and going "guys we've got this" how can we connect and make things happen.
7. BE ABOUT SOMETHING BIGGER THAN YOURSELF
Of course you need to be strategic about money and business, but for me Conscious Boss Clique was one of the biggest factors in building my business and my community, but it was never about me. It was a community of people coming together, grabbing some sisters to chat about business. All the work I do is about helping other people find their purpose, and incidentally I grow because of that, but the mission is always to serve so if you can align your business with something other than yourself, and your services and your products, and more about the greater good, you're gong to feel amazing and get support from people/ businesses that you never probably thought about.
Follow Emily on Instagram @consciousboss
