EP376: Simple Ways to Express and Embody Gratitude (Even When Things Are HARD)

12:09AM Nov 19, 2022

Speakers:

Tracy Matthews

Keywords:

business

flourish

jason

money

people

podcast

jewelry

feel

grateful

thrive

life

gratitude

relationship

cash

generate

friends

millions

listening

place

week

There are two ways to react when things are not going well, you can get caught in the story and spiral downward and basically burn out of control and destroy everything. Or you can get scrappy and resourceful, and try to figure it out and think outside of the box of what you need to do to change your current situation. Welcome to thrive by design, the podcast for ambitious independent jewelry brands, looking to profit from their products, get ready to make more and sell more doing what you love, without spending every single waking minute doing it. Hey, and if you're a creative fashion or product based business, I want to welcome to the show, I'll be dropping big tips on launching, growing and scaling your business. So you could spend more of your precious time using your creativity to make money. You ready? All right, let's do this. Welcome to the thrive by design Podcast, episode 376. Today, I'm going to be talking about three simple ways to express and embody gratitude, even when things are hard on this Thanksgiving Day. And I want to just welcome and say to all of you, if you're listening to this on Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving, and if you're not, I am so grateful for you, the listeners of this podcast, it is because of you that I show up every single week, and record these episodes. And I'm just beyond grateful that you take the time to put your earbuds in and listen to me on an ongoing basis. So if you know anyone else, you know, I build my podcast audience on referrals, too. So if you know anyone who might be interested in listening to this podcast, a Thanksgiving wish for me would be that you share it in your stories or share it with someone. So today, I want to talk about simple ways to embody gratitude, especially when things get really hard. I know a lot of people have been reaching out to me saying business is hard, things are hard, lots of stuff is hard. And generating cash flow is hard right now. And then there's a lot of people who are totally crushing it, like one of the designers in our momentum program is doing like 1.2 million for the first time this year. And it's exciting. So with that being said, I really wanted to come in and talk about first and foremost ways that you can kind of get out of your funk, if you're in one. And things to think about anytime that you're in the slumps, and you need that little extra boost of gratitude. Now, one of the reasons why this came about is because a couple of people have been emailing me saying that like things that used to work aren't working anymore. And I know that we're experiencing that and feeling that and flourish and thrive as well. And so one of the things that I really want to do is to help you guys generate as much cash as you can, throughout this holiday season. And so we're releasing today, as our Black Friday offer our Fast Cash strategies mini course, this is a an amazing program that is super simple, easy to implement, it's very short, that is designed to help you generate some serious cash flow in just seven days or less if you need it, if you follow the system. I've had multiple people, multiple multiple people reaching out to me saying like, Oh, my gosh, I tried this yesterday, and I made two sales of $350 each, I did exactly what you told me to do. And in nine hours I made $2,500. This whole strategy is an expanded version of strategy that we taught at a retreat that generated over $36,235 in just 48 hours. And so if you need a quick infusion of cash, or you just want to really max out your holiday sales, and make some serious bank, here is your invitation to buy this mini program over at flourish thrive academy.com forward slash fast cash that's flourish, thrive academy.com forward slash fast cash and get a quick infusion of cash in your jewelry or handmade business. I'm offering it through the Black Friday cyber weekend for $67 instead of the regular $147, which it will be on the general market once this weekend is over. So we'll have a link in the show notes. But make sure that you get on it right now pause this video or audio whatever you're listening to and go buy it now. So you don't forget because it's the price is gonna go up quickly. And I don't want you to forget about it. That's flourish, thrive academy.com forward slash fast cash. So I'm gonna be honest with you, and I might start crying and I apologize if I do. But the last six months has been extremely hard for me. And I'm sharing this because I think a lot of people are in the same place. So around this summer I had some realizations about like how I'm showing up in the world and business that kind of put me in this trauma loop where I had a really hard time getting out of it and it affected everything else that I was doing in my life in my business, including my relationship with Jason. And for the past six months. Many things in my life have been in what feels like a downward spiral and I've done a lot of work To solve that, Jason's my partner, we've been together for about three years now, we just had our three year anniversary. And we met when I was living in New York City, he walked into my apartment. And it was like, instant connection. We didn't start dating until about six months after we met. But like, I knew that this person was going to be a very special person in my life. And that if we were to ever get into a relationship, that it would be one of those relationships that was legendary. And it has been. And so about two months ago, or six weeks ago, maybe, as I'm recording this, it felt like some challenges that we were having, as a couple were extremely highlighted. And, in a way, maybe blown out of proportion, but it was causing us both to really reevaluate, do we want to stay together, in particularly Jason, like I was the one who wanted to make it work. And he was wondering if he wanted to continue or not. And it was really hard, because when COVID started, I moved my entire life and everything, here to Arizona. And while it's been great, it's just been a huge adjustment for me, that has put me into a mild depression, and made me feel really isolated, because I haven't really developed the community that I had in New York and some of the other places where my friends live. And so it's been just a lot. And so I didn't even tell Jason, I was gonna record this episode. The good news is we're doing great, we were able to work through it. And thank God for plant medicine and great support systems around us who have been really rooting for us and could see that we were both just acting out of childhood trauma and other stories and things that have happened previously in relationships for us that weren't really serving us, that were kind of getting us to this point where we're thinking that we didn't want to stay together. And we got through it onto the other side. But during this process, I had to really reevaluate everything that I was doing to get to a place where I can even show up and sleep at night, wake up feeling motivated during the day, because it was hard, you know, because on top of that, when one thing is really off kilter in your life, other things start to fall. And so like I was slipping with things that I needed to do for flourish and thrive, and my jewelry company, like I wasn't giving the best service to like my jewelry customers, which is something that I'm really adamant about, you know, like when you do that, then they start to question like, is

this the right person to be working with, you know, like, Am I making the right choice here working with Tracy Matthews and stuff like that. And so I did a lot of work to help get me grounded to a place where I could actually show up to have tough conversations and to fix and complete some of the things in my business that I've really been like, struggling to do. And so I wanted to talk a little bit more about some of the things that I did. And these are just practices that you can use at any time. So if you want to grab a notepad, and remember this or take notes on your phone, or save this podcast for later, for the next time that you're struggling, maybe it will be helpful for you if you're in a really bad place. So let's dive in, I have three things for you. And there might be an extra bonus one out of this, I don't know, sometimes that happens, we're gonna see. So one of the things that I learned a long time ago is that when you're developing a gratitude practice, especially when you're in a funk, and it's hard to remember, like, anything that's going well, is that you have to acknowledge all the gifts that you do have. And so one thing that's been helpful for me, and this is a daily practice for me, or at least I tried to, when I do take the time to journal is to create a gratitude list of everything that's going well in my life. So even if I feel broke, and I don't have any money, and things aren't going the way that I would like them to, you know, because we all have cycles of like patterns with our money and stuff like that. So there are times when things are going really well. And there's times like as a business owner when I have to make some sacrifices. And in these past couple of months, I've had to make some sacrifices. And so one of the things that I did was to acknowledge all the money that I do have, and all the gifts that I do have and what I've been able to achieve in my life with with the money that I've been able to generate. I say that because like I'm real, you know, it's like, you see entrepreneurs out there. And sure, like, I've made a significant amount of money in my career, millions and millions and millions of dollars, like over $8 million alone in my jewelry business. And most of that time has been working only part time in the business. And like 10s of millions with flourish and thrive, you know, if we were to add up over the past 10 years, so the reason why I'm saying this is that, you know, at any given time, like we might feel like we're not at the place where we think we should be or we want to be right that can trigger our Money Story and bring us back to like old bought. So if you're feeling like, in a place of lack, like you're not doing enough, you're not profitable enough, you're not generating enough cash flow, you aren't paying yourself enough, whatever it might be that I want you to get to a place where you are grateful for all of the money and all the that you've ever generated and all the money that is in your bank account right now. Feel that sense of gratitude. Same thing with relationships. You know, one of the things that was really hard thinking that I might lose this person who I think is like the love of my life, was to get to a place of being grateful for the experiences that we did have together. Because this relationship has been completely transformational to me. For the last three years, it's opened my heart to love again, and made me see things that I never thought I would see in my lifetime, in the context of a relationship. Oh, my gosh, I knew this was gonna be hard to get through. Anyway, finding gratitude in all the places that we have had an amazing relationship and the family that we've built and the dog that we have together and the stepkids I've been, I call them my stepkids, but they're Jason's daughters that I've been like, I call it mentoring, because, you know, I'm not really their mother, but I do. You know, I was having a great conversation with Jason's daughter Natalia last night, and she shares things with me that she won't even share with her dad or mom. And I understand the reasons why, but she really thinks of you as a confidant, she sends me messages all the time saying how much he loves me, and how much she hopes to be like me someday. And to hear that it's just like incredible. So I try to always remember those things, especially when things are tough. So I want you to take an inventory, no matter what is going on in your life, of all the things that are going well in your life, your friendships, your relationships, your dog, you know, the fact that you have an able body, that you're healthy, that you're getting a good night's sleep, that you have some money in the bank, you know, even if it's not what you want it to be, to be grateful at your capacity to earn money. If you don't have any money in the bank, you know what I'm saying, and get scrappy and resourceful. Just think through like every little thing until you've exhausted every single avenue and find that gratitude, because it will change your life when you do when you start getting to this place. Now another thing that I started doing, and this is became really important to me, and I've really been trying to get consistent with this is that I have felt really isolated over the last couple of years living here in Arizona. In my immediate community. What I mean by that is like, I don't haven't really met my people here. So if you're living in Arizona, or you know, people in Arizona who are cool, you know, introduce me to them, because I need some friends. And I'm kind of joking, but at the same time, like seriously, most of the times when I go and spend time with community, it's either to be traveling to New York, or Austin or Miami, or to Utah, or even Sedona, because we have some great friends there. But Sedona is an hour and a half away from where I live. So case in point is that the majority of my community is not in my local area. So what I try to do to feel connected to people is to reach out to two to three people a week that I haven't spoken to in a while and have a conversation either over text, or jump on a quick phone call or something where we can reconnect and really love on each other. You know what I mean? So that's been really helpful. And it's, it's been helpful to help me feel supported. And I think that if this is something that you've been avoiding, or you're feeling isolated, the more that you can reach out to people and start creating those connections that help you feel supported. And when you feel supported, you feel more grateful, because it's easier to do things with the support of a community. That's part of the reason why even started Flourish. & Thrive Academy because the jewelry industry was so insular. For so long, no one was willing to share a trade secrets and all the things and it became hard. So remember that and we are always have someone here with us. And we love connecting you guys and helping you guys stay connected with each other in our community, as well. And then finally, this is really, really important. When you're feeling down on yourself and everything that's going on for you and your business. I want you to remember how far you've come. You have come so far. It's really funny I did. This is where I started. And this is how it's going what video on Instagram for national entrepreneurs day last week. And it was funny because I looked at some of my early collections and the photography and those collections. I mean, I don't even have like great photos of like the early early stuff because they're like in a box somewhere. It was before digital photography, because this was back in the 90s I look at some of this stuff and I'm just like, oh my gosh, this is insane how far I've come and if you want to go on my Instagram feed, you can kind of find it probably like from you know, a couple weeks ago. There is a thumbnail of some beautiful jewelry on the cover. But then there's you'll see the first slide is like One of my best selling collections, and how I had it photographed for my line sheet, which is so embarrassing. It's like the complete opposite of anything I would ever tell anyone. But this is back in the late 90s, early 2000s, we didn't have, you know, trainings on product photography. And you know, I was just scanning my pieces on a photocopier. So I send them to my stores and create a line sheet, which is hilarious. But those, those are my best selling collections, people actually bought up those line sheets a long time ago, less competition that so you do have to have good photography. But it's amazing to see how far I've come 25 years later, I've written a best selling book, The Desired Brand Effect, go pick it up if you haven't done it yet. And it's gotten like over 105 star reviews and ratings. And it's just, you know, I've sold millions of dollars worth of jewelry to this point. I've impacted, like 1000s and 1000s of people, not just on my podcast, but in our programs. You know, we've had over a million downloads on this podcast over the years for a very, very niche and small audience. You know, some of my friends, they have a product podcast, and they're like, oh, we have like millions of downloads. But you know, it's like I'm talking to just one segment. And I feel really proud that millions of people have listened to this podcast over the years. And we've worked really hard to put it out. So I just want to remind you that you've come really far. So I want you to think of the early early days of when you were just starting a business or you were thinking about making jewelry or doing whatever you're doing. And you have come a long way, even if it doesn't feel like it and acknowledge that and be grateful for the journey. And I think the biggest lesson here is that business is not easy. My friend Audrey posted a reel the other day is like what people think having a business looks like. And it was her like all glammed out and like looking amazing. And then others he's like what running a business is really like. And it's like triggering all your money stories, like throwing you into your most traumatic experiences of your life. Serious ups and downs feeling like a failure every day, making mistakes, being underwater getting in debt, like it was kind of funny, because that sometimes is the real story of being an entrepreneur and a business owner. And, you know, it is a journey. And it is a learning experience every single step of the way. And I want to support you in that in your next steps with whatever you're doing. And so thank you for listening to this today. It was really, really hard to record. And I want to thank my friend Gary, who I dinner with.

She's my friend from Norway, she was here visiting and Arizona for a mastermind that she's in. We went to dinner and she's like Tracy and I was telling her like, she's like, how are you? And I was like, Well, if you were to ask me two weeks ago, I would have said, I am not doing well at all Jason and I are about to break up, I don't know where I'm gonna live, like I might be moving to Austin or something like that. And she's really encouraged me to record this podcast. And it's been hard. I've been crying most of the time, primarily because I'm so grateful for all of the experiences. And I'm actually really grateful for this experience that Jason and I just went through, and all the challenges that I've had the ups and downs, the highs and the lows of being an entrepreneur over the past 25 years because it has taught me so much about myself, and what I'm capable of, and who I am as a human human being. And I want you to remember the same thing for yourself because you are a badass, you deserve all the best in your life and your business. I don't want you to be jaded thinking that it's always going to be easy, or that's always going to be hard because business is up and down. And it requires resilience. It requires you to keep moving forward. And one of the things that I want to remind you is that sometimes there are two ways to react when things are not going well. You can get caught in the story and spiral downward and basically burn out of control and destroy everything. Or you can get scrappy and resourceful and try to figure it out and think outside of the box of what you need to do to change your current situation. So if you're not in a place that you want to be, you have an opportunity to make a change now. And as always, here's your official invite, please reach out to me on Instagram you can reach me out at Tracy Matthews and y are at flourish underscore thrive. And if you want help with your business, we'd be happy to help you here at flourish and thrive. We are completely revamping everything that we do. We have one on one coaching if that's something that you want to do with us we have group programs which are a little bit more affordable, depending on where you are. And then we have consulting packages and brand packages and all those things. We can help you based on where you are if you're willing to you know invest in yourself and your business and your next steps and I'd love to share with you how we can do that and support you in that. And once again, I'm just gonna plug my Black Friday sale before I sign off here. We are releasing our new mini course the Fast Cash strategies mini course. It is a crowd pleaser. is destined to make you some fast cash. And I can't even make the claim that you could easily make $2,000 in seven days, if you really implemented everything that I share with you, in the very least 30 days, but the strategies are literally so simple, you can easily do it in seven days. And the reason why this whole thing was developed is because we got some students in a program, and many of them were stressed about money. And we're like, let's try some things that are going to generate cash right now. We gave them these strategies. And within literally 48 hours, we had made $36,235 As a group, and there are maybe 30 people in the room. So you can do the math, that's like, you know, significant amount of money. I think, everyone, let's do the math. I think that's a little bit under 1000, or a little bit over $1,000 per person, if we do it that way. 36 to 35 divided by 30 people Yeah, it was about $1,200 A person in 48 hours. So some people made more some people made less, but everyone made money who tried it. So there you go. Anyway, head on over to flourish, thrive. academy.com forward slash fast cash. Grab this, use it next week. Use it immediately. And let's do this. Thanks so much for listening to the show today. This is Tracy signing off. Happy Thanksgiving. Have an awesome day. Big Love