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Leanne Knight</span> Leanne Knight is the owner of Authentic Vision Media and

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is a graphic designer for thought leaders , coaches

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and healers who desire to change the world . To

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their expertise , leigh Ann weaves her branding

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and personality into all their marketing visuals

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so that they feel polished , confident and

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ready to speak their truth . From social media graphics

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to course workbooks , she creates visuals

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with a focus on impact , clarity and

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shareability . So today , on the Scenic

1:05

Route Podcast , we have Leanne . I'm

1:07

always doing this fucking singing thing . I have no idea

1:09

why . Please slap me . But

1:13

so today Leanne

1:15

told me like oh , she

1:18

applied to be on

1:20

the Scenic Route Podcast because she's like well

1:22

, it's called the Scenic Route , I gotta fucking have to . Leanne

1:26

, what does Scenic Route

1:28

mean to

1:30

how you approach life and business ?

1:33

That's the question . Well , thank

1:35

you so much for having me here . It's so great to be

1:37

here with you . Yeah

1:40

, I mean , people are starting

1:42

. People are starting to say to me things like

1:44

oh , I should rest , like

1:46

what would Leigh Ann do , or something , and I'm like , okay

1:49

, so people are starting to pick up on that . I'm like

1:51

let's just chit-fill . And

1:53

I had to like preface this by saying like I grew

1:55

up as like a good student

1:57

, good girl , like doing the right things .

2:02

And so they didn't we all .

2:04

I'm not naturally like this , but

2:07

yeah , just something

2:09

that I feel like I've been doing , especially in my business

2:11

since I started it , is

2:13

taking things slow

2:16

and letting them be enjoyable

2:18

and easy now , instead of

2:21

hustling and growing and

2:23

scaling and then being like , oh no , I'm too

2:25

busy . Let me like pull it back . And

2:27

people have noticed that too . They're like , oh , like you're really

2:30

, or like they're like I didn't know you were so

2:32

busy because you're not available for a call this week

2:34

, and I'm like it's not that

2:36

I'm busy , it's that I don't want . I

2:39

don't take last minute stuff like that , I want

2:41

the boundaries .

2:42

people Listen , Leigh Ann , you're so

2:44

busy .

2:45

Like no , I'm not busy , I don't want to be busy . There's

2:47

memes like that that are like it's

2:50

. I didn't say , like I don't know what the

2:52

meme goes , you know , like it's not . I

2:56

blocked off the free time , like to do nothing , not

2:58

to be available to you .

3:01

Yeah Right , it's so interesting like

3:03

a lot of us start

3:06

their entrepreneurial journey to

3:08

like have more freedom and

3:12

if , and then I don't know six , 12

3:15

, 18 months down a row , you're realizing

3:17

like I fucking have less freedom than

3:19

I had when I was a corporate . So

3:21

whoa , what happened ? So

3:23

I'm curious . You said , like you

3:25

weren't , you weren't warned this way

3:28

, which is really

3:30

interesting because , like

3:32

most of my clients weren't

3:34

, most people here in the city

3:36

group podcast weren't . Most

3:38

of them were like good

3:40

girls , high achievers , like

3:43

so what was

3:45

there ? Like a little

3:48

moment or like something profound

3:50

, that kind of like inspired you to shift your

3:53

focus .

3:56

I think , as far as being

3:58

like the good girl thing , I

4:01

grew up going to church Baptist

4:03

church , and that's not something I believe in anymore

4:06

and that I

4:08

was like doing everything . I was

4:10

reading my Bible , I was teaching the kids

4:12

, I was teaching , I was leading the choir

4:14

. I was doing so many things . I was in it . I

4:16

was very like embedded . That was

4:18

my community , like it was cool . And

4:21

then I remember like going

4:24

to this , like leadership conference or something

4:27

, and I was like looking at the books and

4:29

I was just like present and I was like , hmm

4:32

, and then like one someone from my church

4:34

walked up to me and was like Leanne , we're all waiting

4:36

for you . Where are you ? Like , what are you

4:38

doing ? And I was like , oh

4:41

, I can be doing all the right things and

4:43

I'm still going to get in trouble , in

4:45

trouble , quote , unquote like for not doing the right

4:47

thing . And I think that is

4:49

like started to set me on the path of like

4:52

, oh , I'm not going to make everyone

4:54

happy , so I need to make

4:56

myself happy . Yeah .

4:59

This is like I mean you

5:02

look quite young . So I mean kudos

5:04

for realizing that at a younger age

5:06

, because it takes a lot of people a long time

5:08

to realize that , and this makes

5:10

me sound like I'm 50 . But I mean

5:12

it's really the case

5:15

though , right , like I mean I , I

5:18

tried for so long I mean I can so relate

5:20

I tried for so long to

5:23

make , like , specifically , my

5:25

mom happy until realizing

5:27

, well , it's never good enough

5:30

. So I

5:32

rather not deal with all the crazy and

5:34

have like a peaceful , serene life . And

5:37

I mean like be the damn child anyway . So

5:40

I mean , if I be the

5:42

cursed child , then I rather have my peace

5:44

than like not

5:47

just doing all the things where I'm like

5:49

no , I don't actually want to do that

5:51

. Yeah

5:53

, so tell

5:55

me more like how . Like

5:58

for most of us

6:01

, when we say we're on a scenic

6:03

route and

6:05

we're taking things slow , that

6:09

usually requires a

6:12

quiet , deep shift

6:14

from looking away

6:16

from to

6:18

, let's say , traditional goals

6:21

and traditional values or

6:23

focus points

6:26

in

6:28

both kind of like how you approach

6:30

business and how you approach life in general

6:33

. Right , Actually , I think

6:35

, when it comes to money , right

6:38

, like not saying the scenic route is a

6:40

poor , you got to be poor at a scenic route

6:42

. Absolutely fucking not . I want you to

6:44

have all the money you need or

6:46

to keep whatever lifestyle you desire

6:48

, but it's still

6:50

kind of like how do we

6:52

, how do you define success

6:55

now in your business or in your personal

6:57

life , when you don't prioritize

7:00

money as the main objective ?

7:02

Yeah , I think to talk about

7:05

this , like I'm reflecting

7:07

on like my journey as

7:10

a business owner and it

7:12

hasn't been super long , I started my business in 2020

7:14

, like the , you

7:16

know , in the pandemic and all of that , and

7:20

so getting

7:22

into this online business world

7:24

and getting so much

7:26

like advice and

7:29

you're making like a face

7:31

, but like some of it helpful

7:33

and some of it not , and like going down this

7:35

journey . And then there's

7:37

just I

7:40

feel like I got bored of certain

7:42

things early on , the like plan

7:44

your content for the next year . I'm

7:46

like why would I be planning what I'm gonna

7:48

do 12 months from now ? Like that's a walk

7:51

up to me , but anyways , but that's

7:53

turning up , like learning

7:56

all the things and all of that , and then realizing

7:58

that like being immersed in this

8:00

productivity culture , and

8:02

eventually I was

8:04

like I don't wanna do things just to do things

8:07

. I like to be organized and all of that . Of course , like

8:09

I said , I'm a good girl or whatever , but

8:11

I mean ex-girl

8:13

or whatever . So

8:17

it's become , over the years

8:19

, easier for me to spot the things

8:22

like , or the tactics

8:24

that are geared towards productivity

8:26

for productivity's sake . And

8:28

this all has to do with

8:30

living in capitalism and

8:33

how everyone's life is

8:35

from a child geared towards

8:37

like make sure

8:39

they're in a good preschool so they can learn and keep

8:42

up and so they can get to a good college

8:44

and so they can get a good job and so they can make money and

8:46

function in the system .

8:48

To pay up their debt for being in and

8:50

for going to a good college . At least if you're in the

8:52

States , yeah .

8:54

Yeah , and all of this , and I'm like , wow , everyone's

8:56

just so obsessed , or like their work

8:58

is their whole personality

9:00

or their whole life . And I feel like I was never

9:02

like that . Even before I started my business , I

9:05

was a freelancer in live event production

9:07

and I

9:09

would show up to work and people would be talking about the other gigs

9:11

that they are working on and I was so bored

9:13

by that . I was like what do you like to do outside

9:16

of work ? And of course I was . You know

9:18

, it just all

9:20

comes like goes around in circles for me a little bit , because

9:22

I'm like , yeah , well , I'm here to make money , but also my

9:25

life isn't my whole job , but I'm here

9:27

because of the system and because

9:29

we have to . So let

9:31

me get myself back on track .

9:33

Yeah , yeah , I mean , this is

9:35

like this is super interesting , right , because

9:37

there

9:40

was a shift when what

9:42

we do became so ingrained

9:44

that

9:46

it became like who we are and

9:49

it's just like no

9:51

, like you're still

9:53

way more than

9:56

that could ever fit into your LinkedIn

9:58

bio , right , it's like

10:00

it's insane . But

10:02

obviously , yeah , I mean byproduct

10:05

of capitalism , for sure . Like

10:08

if you were

10:11

said kind of like okay , you have to . Kind

10:14

of like you don't want to prioritize

10:16

money , like

10:19

can you share with us like an example

10:22

of how this like actively decentralizing

10:24

money has positively

10:26

impacted , like how you

10:29

do business , or like

10:31

how you approach business .

10:34

Yeah , yeah . So , following

10:37

this narrative of like getting immersed in

10:39

productivity , culture and stuff , and then

10:41

I , you

10:44

know , I

10:47

feel like I wanted to ask you also , jennifer

10:49

, if you edit this .

10:50

I meant to , I feel

10:52

like oh , let me lose my train of thought . I

10:56

do , I can , I do minimal editing

10:58

, but I do , I can

11:00

edit , sorry to say that , during

11:02

the record . That's fine , that's fine

11:04

, that's not what we roll , that's fine , yeah , it is

11:08

yeah . So Can you share , like

11:10

specific examples like that

11:12

you do , maybe

11:14

, when it comes to like how you

11:16

actually set goals or how you do like

11:19

you got to as

11:21

long as I mean you , yes , you're , we're

11:23

not focusing on money , but still

11:25

we have

11:28

a certain and that varies

11:30

from person to person , but everyone has a certain need for

11:32

financial stability . Right

11:34

, and how ? What

11:36

can I like ? Like ? Can you like shoot

11:38

out practical insights or examples that you're doing

11:41

?

11:42

Yeah . So some of the things that I'm

11:44

doing , well , the main thing

11:46

comes down to like prioritizing

11:48

and honoring my body first , and

11:51

I think that , especially coming from a Baptist

11:53

background , there's like this

11:55

belief that , like the body

11:57

is bad and should be suppressed and

11:59

brought into submission , and mind over matter

12:01

and all of that . Oh , that sounds like a lovely church

12:04

, yeah . And

12:08

so on the flip side , I'm like no , like

12:10

my , I want to prioritize

12:12

my body first . So some of the things that I do

12:14

are one of my goals

12:16

or values for being a business owner is

12:19

to never set an alarm . Yeah

12:22

, I also don't have kids , a side note .

12:24

Yeah , exactly , I was like , yeah , I'm gonna

12:26

do the alarm . Yeah , like a biological alarm

12:28

clock , it's fine yeah so

12:30

just caveat , that's where I'm coming

12:33

from .

12:33

But not to set an alarm , but to

12:35

because why do we , besides

12:38

kids , why do we have an alarm set up ? Cause we have to

12:40

get somewhere by a certain time to be the most

12:42

productive , give them our best hours and our best energy

12:44

, and all of that , and I think

12:47

, as a business owner , I can choose where

12:49

to put my best energy . And also , my

12:51

best energy is not necessarily 8

12:54

am to 5 pm or whatever . So

12:56

first thing is not waking up early . Not

13:00

waking , it's not the , not

13:02

it's the , allowing myself to

13:04

sleep as much as I need to , and

13:07

letting that be okay .

13:09

And if you're away , get six o'clock in the morning and

13:11

feeling ready , then you can jump

13:13

in .

13:14

Yeah , if you want , exactly , and

13:16

that's the thing . And it all comes back to like . I know that not

13:18

everyone's like me , but it's all for me . It all comes

13:20

back to choosing what we want and taking

13:23

a moment to get present with

13:25

what we actually want instead of what people

13:27

have told us we should want or should be doing . Today

13:31

I woke up at like seven . Yesterday I woke up

13:33

at like noon , so

13:35

every day is different .

13:36

Yeah , I'm not jealous , Like no , no , no

13:38

, no , no . Sorry , that's

13:41

fine that's fine , I

13:43

choose the life of raising , of raising

13:45

, yeah , yeah . So it's fine , of course

13:48

, and we have seasons .

13:49

We have seasons , but we

13:51

have seasons and we are choosing . So maybe

13:53

day to day there's not a big choice , but you've chosen

13:55

this season and that's what I think is

13:57

important . And also , if

14:00

you want , if someone wants to wake up

14:02

early and get there , use

14:04

their best energy to get work done . Choosing

14:06

that , because here's the other part of this . What happens

14:08

is there's

14:11

like I see this in like stages

14:13

sort of . There's a stage of like hustle . It's like

14:15

work all the time , work a million hours a week , and then

14:18

you're like , oh wait , I don't want to do

14:20

that . So you scale back and you're like I'm only or

14:22

you're burning out , and you're really like I'm not

14:24

, like I'm choosing the worst Because you don't . Yeah , but

14:26

you might scale back and be like , okay , I'm going to work only nine

14:29

to five every day because that's my working hours

14:31

. And then , when

14:33

you're in that mindset , we often think

14:35

like don't work on the weekends and don't work

14:37

at night . And if you see someone send an email at

14:39

10 pm and you're like , oh my God , they can't believe they're

14:42

working at night . And then the phase

14:44

after that is realizing that time

14:46

is made up and this

14:49

nine to five structure although just

14:52

side note . Of course , that came from unions and

14:54

we appreciate that the union is

14:56

bringing in these like guidelines and stuff

14:59

. And oh God , yeah , like people get overworked , yeah

15:01

. At the same time , it's still part

15:03

of capitalism . That's like productivity is

15:05

the thing that we're striving

15:07

for , to do more and

15:09

more and more . So it's like , oh okay , so the nine

15:11

to five structure and beating myself

15:14

in , that is still part of capitalism

15:16

. And so to be anti-capitalist

15:20

is to and this in

15:22

this aspect is

15:25

to be choosing when I want to work

15:27

, when it works for me , and not what

15:29

the clock says and not what someone else says . So

15:31

I could be working on the weekend or at night , I

15:34

could be sleeping until noon and working

15:36

, you know , two until midnight

15:38

or something , if that's what I want , because

15:40

I'm doing what's aligned for me , and there are times

15:43

that we're doing things that we don't really

15:45

wanna do , but we're making

15:47

you know , maybe waking up early every day is

15:49

not super what you wanna do , but it's something

15:51

that we're agreeing to because of the season we're in

15:54

and what we're working towards . But

15:56

just for me , I also

15:59

feel like I'm like unemployable now , because I just can't

16:01

have somebody telling me you need to be at

16:03

this place at this time every day .

16:05

That's the chance with most entrepreneurs to be honest

16:07

, like there's a point of no return , like

16:09

you become just so fucking unemployable

16:12

. Like you're like I don't know

16:14

. You're like , no

16:16

, not gonna deal with this shit . No , no , sorry

16:18

out . Like , yeah , do you want me to do what

16:20

I am not available ?

16:21

Yeah , if I'm picking back that to my corporate

16:23

days and just like the

16:26

highlights of it , I'm like , nah

16:29

, no , no , no

16:31

, yeah , I can't hang anymore

16:33

, oh no , well , like because

16:36

of capitalism and money , I do work in

16:38

live events , sometimes like I set up for

16:40

concerts and things like that , and I

16:43

can't be on

16:45

my feet that long anymore . And

16:48

I also like a lot . I've cut back

16:50

on this a long time ago , but I don't like working at night because

16:52

then you have to come back in after the concert's

16:54

over and take it all down and like for years

16:56

I've been like that is my bedtime , I'm

16:59

not available , like

17:01

I don't want to do that .

17:02

Yeah right and it's

17:04

just so important

17:06

with the intention

17:08

behind it , right , like it's just a

17:10

different . If you have the intention of getting up at six o'clock

17:12

in the morning because you know it as your most productive

17:15

hour , or

17:18

you know you want to do I do

17:20

an ice bath , which I'm like how

17:22

could anyone ever ? But I mean

17:24

, if that's , if you know this is how

17:26

it helps supporting you and feeling better and

17:30

bringing you back into

17:32

your alignment , then do that

17:34

right , instead of but

17:36

really pause and reflect

17:40

and ask yourself , well , why am I doing

17:42

certain things ? Why am I

17:44

taking this to

17:46

be like the silver bullet

17:49

, like I always ask

17:52

? Sometimes I have clients where

17:54

they come with like , oh , I

17:58

don't know , I've seen

18:00

at one point or another , I've always come

18:02

and talking about like online , like education

18:05

, and should

18:07

I do another program

18:09

or course or whatever , from

18:11

doing a PhD down to like a $44

18:14

online course , and it's

18:17

always kind of like well , why do you want to do it Right

18:20

? Do you want to do it because you

18:22

have you're attaching hope

18:24

that this thing will

18:27

save you ? Or

18:29

are you doing it because I know it sounds fun

18:32

, you're curious , you're whatever , and

18:35

just really think about that why

18:37

you're doing certain things or why you're signing up , regardless

18:39

if it's a small investment or a big investment . Yeah

18:43

, so

18:45

, yeah , I really I can totally relate . So

18:48

let's go to circle back

18:50

again . You said you started your business

18:52

in 2020 . So

18:56

you have a couple of years now , I

19:00

mean in your backpack , all the COVID

19:02

years which were , yeah

19:04

, anyway , let's not get into that . But

19:06

hey , what advice

19:08

would you give someone who is

19:10

also thinking about starting

19:13

your own business or an early

19:15

stage entrepreneurship , and

19:17

who want to adopt a similar approach

19:19

to

19:24

doing , a more kinder approach to

19:26

business , but kind of

19:28

fear the financial

19:30

caught back or instability of it ?

19:34

Yeah , I

19:36

think , at least in

19:39

relation to what we've just talked about in

19:41

regards to how I spend my time and energy , I had

19:43

to have some trust in myself . Part

19:50

of this is building trust when

19:53

I listen to my body and I hear what it's asking

19:55

for and I give that to myself

19:57

. That is building trust , and then in the next few years

20:00

I'm going to have

20:02

to have to have some trust and then another . The next part

20:04

of this is trusting that

20:07

the energy and inspiration

20:09

will come and

20:14

so noticing when that does happen . I

20:16

do this with stuff around the house that

20:19

I pile up the dishes all day and I feel bad about it

20:21

, and then at the end of the day , in like 10 minutes , I

20:23

just go through everything and put it all in the

20:25

dishwasher or whatever , and I'm like I knew

20:28

when it was time and I did it all at once , like it happened .

20:31

And it happened in that way . It happens

20:33

faster than if you would force

20:35

yourself , because that's how you can

20:37

kind of like bend the perception of time as

20:40

well . So , yeah , I

20:42

do this all the time , Like

20:45

small things from dishes to big things

20:47

, like I

20:49

don't know , like decorating an entire

20:51

room or something right .

20:52

It's just sometimes , there's

20:55

always a time and

20:57

it's like the idea of like

20:59

procrastination , which I

21:01

use that word like , without judgment

21:04

of it being right or wrong , but

21:06

knowing that it's happening for

21:08

a reason . So I

21:10

would encourage people to get in touch

21:12

with how you feel when you sit down to do

21:14

your work or whatever . Whatever

21:17

you're sitting down to do , and

21:20

noticing if you're feeling resistant to it . And

21:23

sometimes I'm sitting down to design

21:25

something and I'm like , oh , I have no idea what to do , I don't

21:27

wanna do this . And I'm like , oh , okay , I'm

21:29

not in the right creative space to

21:32

do this , so I'm not going to make

21:34

myself do it , I'm going to and

21:37

some of that takes some work to find

21:39

out when is your best energy and how do you

21:41

give yourself the best chance , cause sometimes we

21:43

are avoiding things that we again procrastination

21:46

is happening for a reason . So sometimes we're avoiding things that

21:48

we're not ready to do , but

21:50

we are also like I think we're I

21:55

don't know what to call it like our wisest leader

21:57

or whatever . We know what's right for us , so we know

22:00

when it's like , okay , I keep avoiding this , I'm ready

22:02

to stop avoiding it , I'm gonna make an appointment with myself

22:04

. So this is something that I try that I would suggest

22:06

people like making an appointment with myself , that

22:08

at this time I'm sitting down to work on that

22:10

thing . And because I've built up self-trust

22:13

by , when my body's asking for something

22:15

, I pretty much always give it to my body

22:17

, to myself . So I'm gonna sit down and

22:19

do this thing and I know that if

22:22

it's not coming I can change my mind

22:24

. And that's the self-trust

22:26

. It's like I feel like this with like a kid and again , I'm

22:28

not a parent but it's like you're

22:31

not forcing them to try things

22:33

, and so they know that they have the option

22:35

. And then when you give them the option to try something

22:37

and they know that they can change their mind , they're

22:39

a little more likely to give it a shot , and then they

22:41

know that they can change their mind .

22:42

So making an appointment 100% , not give it a shot

22:44

If you tell them they have to try it . Yeah

22:47

, you're like , we are the same . Yeah

22:50

, no , of course , Like I mean . I

22:52

mean , yeah , Plus

22:54

we're treble brains anyway , we're like no

22:56

, yeah . But

22:59

again , maybe I think this will be also

23:02

super useful for anyone thinking about

23:04

figuring out how to do

23:06

this online business thing . I

23:09

remember , like back in the days when

23:11

I started I think it was 2017 , there

23:16

were so many things there's still so many

23:18

things you could do , should do , must

23:20

do , at all costs . And

23:22

you said before right , Like

23:25

at the beginning , well , you really got to focus

23:27

on what is like we're not focusing

23:29

on productivity for productivity's sake , Well

23:33

, so okay

23:35

for saying that we kind of have

23:37

to figure out what is really

23:39

moving the needle in our business and

23:42

what doesn't . And they ask that

23:44

to cut out mercilessly . So

23:48

how did you approach this when you

23:50

started that ? How did you test

23:53

, experiment , find out what is actually

23:55

moving the needle for your business , what

23:58

marketing activity or what platform or ?

24:01

all the things . A

24:08

more vivid idea

24:10

of this is when I was freelancing

24:12

in live events , because I would try everything

24:14

. I think I did this in my business too . I

24:17

would try everything and say yes

24:19

to things and then I

24:21

would gauge if it was working for me or not . So

24:23

, like , you're sure I'll work for this new company , try it . And

24:26

it's like , oh , I don't like that company , I'm not going to work for them

24:28

again . And I think in my business too , it's like , okay

24:30

, people want to have meetings

24:32

with me and people said I should do this and this

24:34

and that . And I try that . And it's like , oh

24:36

, I don't like how I felt that day

24:38

when I had all of these meetings and

24:40

they were like good things , like coffee chats

24:42

to connect with people , like networking stuff . That

24:45

is an important part of my business , but

24:48

I didn't like how that felt that day

24:50

and so I'm not going to do it again . So

24:53

I think it's just like you have to try things and be

24:55

open open to

24:57

whatever comes of it and then gauge

24:59

if , like , it's working for you . You go back and assess

25:02

instead of just doing

25:04

the same thing again and again because someone

25:06

told you you're supposed to be doing that . I see

25:08

people who , like their schedulers , are like open all

25:10

day , every day , and

25:12

I only let people schedule with me two days

25:15

a week , like , yeah , that's

25:17

what I'm like I don't . I

25:20

already know that that doesn't work for me . And

25:22

even if that's what other people are doing , or other people say you

25:24

should do , or they have this mindset of like , well , what

25:26

if they can't meet those days , what are they going

25:28

to do ? Like they're going to ask you hey

25:31

, I can't get those days .

25:32

Let me know that they have a problem and

25:34

maybe you can fix it . Or

25:37

you're willing to be like yes , okay , let's do

25:39

another day . Or you're like no sorry

25:41

not going to .

25:42

I was trying to connect with somebody who lives in Australia

25:44

and I'm just

25:47

outside of Boston in the United

25:49

States and we were like , oh , this won't

25:51

work . We were like it was so nice to try to meet

25:53

you , but this isn't going to work and we just decided not

25:55

to talk because both of us were unwilling

25:58

to be up in the middle of the night or whatever .

26:00

Yeah , yeah , I always choose about

26:02

when I have Australian guests on the podcast because

26:04

they usually like I'll bed like four

26:06

o'clock in the morning or something and I'm like

26:09

so

26:11

sorry , but

26:13

I know I love to record

26:15

, though these conversations

26:18

in the evening , just

26:20

because I don't know , it just feels like a

26:22

good end to my day , whatever . And

26:26

I know I don't want to have to be in the middle of the day because

26:29

I don't know . Yeah , just

26:32

without me , and yeah . So

26:34

sometimes it works , sometimes it doesn't

26:36

, and whatever comes your way . And

26:38

that's again trusting one

26:41

, trusting yourself and trusting whatever

26:46

you believe in , like

26:48

God , greater power

26:50

, timing , karma , whatever

26:52

it is that it will all

26:54

like show up on your doorstep

26:56

and the most perfect timing of

26:58

all .

26:59

Yeah , I think that's what this comes back

27:02

to is I talk a lot about like

27:04

, oh , I don't have an alarm and I don't let

27:06

people schedule meetings with me and all of these things

27:08

. It's like , okay , but are you making money

27:10

? And so I

27:13

mean I think that I'm having slower

27:15

growth than I might if I was hustling

27:17

, but also , on the other hand , I would burn

27:19

out and not be growing . So

27:22

I think this is more effective , but

27:25

also I just it

27:27

comes to trusting

27:30

that I can I know

27:32

it's a little buzzwordy but be my authentic self

27:35

and honor my energy .

27:37

That's really the bullshit , big old buzzer here . I

27:39

must have a physical buzzer where I can be like yeah

27:42

.

27:42

Well , okay , so my business is authentic vision media

27:44

, so I'm trying to use the word .

27:47

I know For me .

27:48

I mean authentic branding , I

27:50

mean I do for me you'll be just like being

27:53

who I really am , not pretending

27:55

I want things that other people want or that they say I want

27:58

, and not pretending I feel one way when I feel another

28:00

way . So that to me like waking

28:02

up really early when I don't want to and for no

28:04

really good reason . That's not

28:06

authentic to me . So

28:09

now I forgot what I was saying because you called me .

28:15

No , you is CD correct . Because you're

28:17

like oh , look a little bird . And

28:20

then you're like but yeah , we're

28:22

fine , we're like , yeah , like . I mean I

28:24

also could not tell you right now what we were

28:26

talking about , but hey .

28:28

I think , wait , it was about like

28:30

trusting and growth and stuff .

28:32

No , no it is . It was about trusted . You want

28:34

to have to trust yourself and be to have

28:36

. You have to trust in

28:38

whatever you believe

28:41

, in , god's spirituality

28:44

, whatever to kind

28:46

of like deliver

28:48

everything to you

28:51

at the right time , which is not saying

28:54

you're not doing anything Right

28:57

. And I also wanted to add , like

28:59

you said , well , you're kind

29:01

of like you're at peace with

29:03

a potential slower growth that

29:05

if you were to be to hustle . But

29:08

that's the thing . I think

29:10

that's built on

29:12

the

29:15

assumption and the premise

29:17

that the more I hustle , the

29:19

more successful I will be . Because

29:21

this is what what Kevin does and tells us

29:24

the harder you work , the bigger your

29:26

reward . And

29:30

for 99.9

29:32

of all people , this is just not fucking

29:34

true . You're not

29:36

more successful , or most

29:38

likely you will not be . So

29:40

rather like

29:42

, not like work yourself

29:45

to the ground and

29:48

really focus on hey

29:50

, how can I do this ?

29:59

I mean , this is also

30:01

like the shitty bus bingo buzzer , like

30:03

work smarter , not harder , right . Like , yeah , because

30:05

it's still prioritizing work , which I'm like , yeah , saying

30:08

that work is

30:11

not that work is like bad or wrong . But it's like saying it's like it's

30:13

like noble , like obviously everyone wants to work , right

30:15

. Or like can you believe that person ? They don't

30:17

want to work . And I want to center

30:19

in my life , like experiencing

30:22

joy and having the rest I need and

30:24

connecting with people I love and doing

30:26

things that light me up . And so

30:28

, yes , I will have a slower

30:30

growth in my business . Maybe in

30:32

some ways I will have slowly be , but

30:38

why was that the priority ? To grow my business

30:40

? And it all comes back around to . You know it was capitalism

30:42

, but yeah it always

30:44

does .

30:45

Late stage capitalists . It's amazing , it's fine , but

30:49

yeah , no , but it's the same thing . Right , like

30:51

you , you're , we're

30:53

getting this like this work harder is

30:55

kind of like dangle in front of us like a carrot

30:57

with the premise of oh

30:59

, there will be great riches if you work hard

31:01

. And maybe

31:04

that was true for boomer parents , but

31:06

most of us

31:10

, and definitely Gen Z , like they

31:12

know , it's just not fucking true . Right

31:14

, there's and saying so

31:16

is just neglecting that so many people

31:18

in all parts of the world hustle

31:21

to , the , hustle their body to death and

31:23

not get anything for it . Yeah , right

31:26

. So

31:29

in that , as said , right , you just you'd

31:31

never know right . And

31:34

also like the term slower growth you're at

31:36

the growth you're at and

31:39

you don't know if it could be faster

31:41

or slower or whatever . You just

31:43

you don't know right , whatever , if

31:47

you could hustle more , sure . And

31:49

but also I'm always thinking of okay

31:52

, if I

31:54

. That's also kind of like . One thought of

31:56

the scenic route is like , okay , I could

31:58

take the highway to

32:01

get to point B instead

32:03

of taking scenic route , but

32:06

I would hate the entire drive

32:09

there . The entire way of going to

32:11

point B would be just a pain , so

32:15

why would I bother ? Yeah

32:18

, and I mean

32:20

, oh , this is not just occurring to

32:22

me , I'm interesting . I think of of

32:25

that having a

32:27

religious upbringing

32:29

, right

32:33

, I mean , I

32:35

grew up Roman Catholic , not

32:37

a super religious household , but still

32:39

and

32:42

it's more

32:44

of a Protestant work ethic of the things

32:46

like , oh , the harder I work

32:48

, the greater

32:52

the paradise will be . It's

32:54

not like a monetary reward , but it's kind of like the

32:56

reward of spirituality

32:58

and or being a good Christian

33:01

and getting entry to paradise

33:03

, whatever it's kind of like dangled in front of us . What

33:09

do you say ? Is this something that is

33:11

really deeply ingrained

33:13

to from a

33:15

religious point of view

33:17

?

33:19

Yeah for sure . And it's kind of like I said

33:21

, about the mind over matter stuff

33:23

. It

33:26

was taught in my upbringing to

33:29

deny yourself pleasure and

33:33

good things and just all

33:35

of this brainwashing about that good things are actually

33:37

bad . And then

33:39

it's like and your soul or whatever ? Yeah

33:44

, some of this is about the sex before

33:46

marriage stuff that teenagers

33:50

are taught and stuff like that . That's bad

33:52

. So it's like , this thing that sounds

33:54

pleasurable it's actually bad . So

33:57

you can't trust yourself . So , really , purity culture

33:59

at its best . And

34:01

then also this is not necessarily a religious

34:03

thing , although definitely intertwined

34:06

in that is food . If

34:08

it tastes good , it's bad . Or

34:10

you're like , oh , this is my gutsy pleasure , I'm going

34:13

to indulge in this chocolate or something

34:15

, and it's all of this not

34:17

trusting yourself and

34:20

that things that you think

34:22

are good you should feel bad about . So

34:24

if I want to sleep in , I should feel bad about that

34:27

. It permeates everything that , everything

34:29

that feels good or

34:31

that my body's asking for or that

34:33

I want or I'm afraid to want . Actually

34:37

, it's all according to my

34:39

upbringing . Actually , that's all bad for you . So

34:41

if you want it , it's bad for you .

34:43

No , but I love that you brought up food , because it's so

34:46

true . We do it with all these

34:48

little silly things of labeling things

34:50

guilty foods or guilty pleasures

34:53

or whatever and you're like , no , actually

34:58

, why are we denying ourselves

35:00

the things that bring us joy ? And

35:04

part of that is a part of the answer

35:06

is , at least like I mean , I come from

35:08

a sociological perspective is

35:10

that shame is

35:12

such a great fucking mechanism

35:17

of control . If you

35:19

shame people into

35:21

how

35:24

they feel about their body , how they feel about

35:26

their religion , how they feel about themselves

35:28

, you

35:31

have way more means of controlling them and

35:34

selling them whatever kind of shit they don't

35:36

need . Right , oh , you feel bad

35:38

about your body . Okay , I told you that

35:40

eating this guilty food is bad . So

35:43

now you feel bad about eating the guilty food and you'll

35:45

feel bad about your body . So , hey , now I

35:47

can tell you something that will make you feel as

35:49

bad about your body . So here's the latest diet

35:51

, and it just on and on it goes

35:54

. So

35:56

which ? Yeah , circling

35:58

back to what you said before , what

36:01

you touched upon too , right , there's nothing

36:03

, ever , right

36:08

, you know your body

36:10

knows there will never be like an external

36:13

force or

36:15

anything that will tell you

36:17

better , Ultimately

36:20

, what is right , regardless

36:22

of I mean sure

36:26

you can . It's valuable to taking consideration

36:29

of people who have walked before you , of people

36:31

who are expert in their fields , like

36:33

I don't know , going from copyrighted

36:36

to medical doctors but

36:38

at the end of the day

36:41

, it's your lived experience and you know

36:43

, oh , this

36:45

makes my skin crawl , or this is

36:47

actually making me feel good .

36:49

And this is another thing . This is another way

36:51

that in my business that I like de-center money

36:54

and try to be anti-capitalist

36:56

, is trusting that people do know

36:58

what they need and what's best for them . And

37:01

of course I bring my experience and expertise or whatever

37:03

, but I'm still not here to tell them what's

37:05

best for them . And I think that when

37:07

you realize that it really changes

37:09

the way you market and on

37:11

honestly , like I have felt so

37:15

much more at ease in any sales

37:17

call like quote , unquote sales call , because

37:20

I'm really I'm not there to like convince them

37:22

or to touch on their pain points

37:24

or to what's the other

37:26

term about like whatever

37:29

, like blocks that they

37:31

have like or they don't

37:33

have enough money , and I can like combat everything that they

37:36

, every issue that they have

37:38

or whatever like I'm not here to convince them , I'm

37:40

just here to like I know what I have to

37:42

offer , I know what I like to do , I

37:44

have my systems like . So you know if they bring

37:46

something to me , I can see if it fits in

37:48

my like , what I offer , in my methodology

37:51

and if it works for them and if it sounds like

37:53

they're interested and I don't have to like get a yes on

37:55

the call or something like that . Or like sign the

37:57

paper on the call . I can be like here's what I

37:59

have . Think it over about

38:01

it Like yeah see how

38:03

it feels .

38:04

Yeah , God , I mean I had people who I

38:06

don't really do sales calls , but I

38:08

remember I had I

38:12

had someone being very like in

38:14

touch , in like DM

38:16

on Instagram

38:19

and stuff , and I mean she bought a year

38:21

later just because that was

38:24

the window , that was good for her , and

38:26

I'm like , yes , so

38:29

at the start

38:31

, yeah , you just also . Yeah , you need to trust

38:33

that everything you're doing is kind of like compounding

38:35

and it will pay off . You never know

38:38

how , because the how

38:40

is ultimately not in your control at all , but

38:42

it's just kind of like gotta do . Gotta

38:45

do , keep bettering what you love .

38:48

That's such like a simple . I

38:51

feel like this is so obvious . But something

38:53

that I feel like I'm learning like deeply is

38:55

like I really can't make anyone do anything

38:57

. I really can't make anything happen

38:59

. I can do what I can do and

39:02

I can try to move in the direction I want to move

39:04

, but I can't make anyone do anything and I can't make

39:06

anything happen , which is like comes back

39:08

to like is hustling going to really make my business

39:10

grow faster ? Like I can't really make

39:12

success happen .

39:14

Like yeah , I

39:16

mean yes , ultimately like , yeah

39:19

, you can use all the shady tricks

39:21

and a dirty playbook , but

39:23

God , it's not a trick

39:26

that people have like never seen or

39:28

heard of . And yes , we're

39:30

still receptive to

39:32

certain psychological triggers

39:35

and things , but ugh

39:38

, I mean seriously

39:40

that all those things just got to go fucking

39:42

go Like . I'm like no .

39:45

And I've had that too , where I've had people like

39:47

I had somebody

39:49

sound like very excited and

39:51

sound like a yes on the call , and

39:53

then I sent them a proposal to like

39:55

make the first payment and let's move

39:58

forward , and they ghosted me and

40:00

then they like we touched base again

40:02

later and then they were like , oh my goodness

40:04

, like you know , they had a couple hangups

40:08

around it or whatever , if you can call it that . But also

40:10

they were like then I got busy over the summer and I was like you know

40:13

what ? I didn't want to do this over the summer either . So

40:15

are we ready now ? Like , and we like

40:17

re-scoped the work and talked about whatever was

40:19

misaligned and then we started and it was like

40:21

this timing was way better than if

40:23

I had like forced it , pushed for it

40:26

, like pushed for it , or tried

40:28

to get her to say yes or something

40:30

like you know , say what I wanted , or try

40:33

to make her to like want to pay

40:35

the money that she didn't want to pay , or what if I tried to

40:37

cut my prices ? Or what if I tried to offer her like

40:39

all of these like manipulation things to make

40:41

it fit which , again , if

40:45

I wanted to make

40:47

those choices . They are choices I could

40:49

make .

40:49

If you wanted discount your work because

40:51

you want to make it more accessible , then

40:54

fucking do it .

40:55

But like you have reasons and you know

40:57

when you know like it

40:59

feels like the right choice and not

41:01

this like buzzword

41:04

again , scarcity mindset of like if I

41:06

don't do this , it's not gonna work , like

41:08

I don't want to do things . From

41:10

that motivation of like I don't do this , it's not

41:12

gonna work , but instead being like you know what

41:14

. Actually , in this situation , I feel like it would make

41:16

sense to like I have

41:18

the boundaries in place and then I get to choose

41:21

. If it's the right situation , that I

41:23

want to do something different , but if I didn't have

41:25

those boundaries , then like what

41:27

would be happening ?

41:30

Oh yeah , I mean , I've always buzzed down

41:33

to boundaries and like

41:36

setting them and enforcing them time

41:38

and time and time again , because otherwise

41:40

it's just oh

41:45

okay . I loved

41:47

how we touched on a lot

41:49

of things , especially when

41:52

someone thinking of starting out and

41:57

giving this online business thing a shot . I

42:00

loved how we cursed

42:04

capitalism in every second sentence Always

42:06

here for that . So

42:09

if anyone is like listening

42:11

and starting out , where

42:14

I want to like hear more

42:16

of you , leanne . Where can they find

42:18

you ? Where you're hanging out ?

42:21

Yeah , I'm pretty active on Instagram . I

42:24

think that's a great way to get into my world . My

42:27

handle is authenticvisionmedia

42:29

. I also

42:32

am hosting every month a graphic design clinic and

42:35

this is for like people starting out DIYing their stuff and

42:38

then we'll come in a very , very

42:41

like chill , relaxed , supportive way , like

42:43

we'll look at stuff and see how you can be , have

42:46

more brand consistency and have more of yourself , which

42:49

I know you're kind of , jennifer have

42:51

more of yourself showing up in your branding

42:53

graphics . Oh , I love the graphic clinic

42:55

. I love that . Thanks , yeah

42:58

, actually it's thegraphicdesigncliniccom

43:01

, so good

43:04

one .

43:04

you forgetting that URL

43:06

. I love it and

43:08

we're also gonna link it in the show notes . You

43:12

brought them to Branded Entity Assessment . Do you wanna briefly

43:15

tell us something about it ?

43:16

Yeah , so that is like a PDF

43:19

you can download and get on my email list and

43:22

it kind of just takes you through this assessment

43:25

to see like what are kind of some of the missing pieces

43:27

in your like visual identity

43:29

as far as like the visuals for your marketing and

43:31

the elements of branding and things like that . So

43:33

you can just kind of walk through that and see what things

43:35

you have and what things you might be missing . So

43:38

you know where to go from there . Perfect

43:40

.

43:41

So before I let you off the hook , I have

43:43

three rapid fire

43:45

questions . You ready , Yep ? What's

43:48

a dream or goal you have ? You've always

43:51

had , but you haven't pursued yet . Well

43:54

, I'm .

43:56

I can't think of anything . What

44:00

came to mind but I have done this a little bit is

44:02

I want to do like a van trip vacation

44:04

. But I've done it a couple of times and I just wanna do it again

44:06

and do it better and do it bigger yeah

44:09

, like a little longer . And go to more places

44:11

yeah , because

44:13

then I for like opening . Yeah

44:16

, I've done it for like a week and it's good

44:18

.

44:18

I feel like I'm a baby step person , so like I

44:21

tried it and now I can do it Well , I mean , imagine

44:23

you're booking like a six months van

44:25

life trip and on day three your

44:28

real estate is not the life .

44:30

Right . No , you want some experience to

44:32

see , like , what things you couldn't

44:34

have thought of . So I would like to do that for longer

44:37

and cover more distance . So I think we're test your trial

44:39

person . I like it , yeah . So

44:41

my rapid fire answer , though , is a

44:44

road trip across the country , because I've never done

44:46

that . Yeah , we had to get there , though we

44:48

had to get there from the van trip thing .

44:50

But yes , if you could have any dinner

44:53

, like if you could have dinner with any historical figure

44:55

, who would it be and why ?

44:59

I don't know . I

45:01

feel like I'm not a big history person .

45:03

Well , I mean it could be anybody , any kind of celebrity

45:06

or actor , or musician

45:08

, or writer , or I

45:11

mean you could invite baby Jesus . I mean for all like

45:13

.

45:15

I think like okay , saying maybe

45:17

Jesus kind of made me think like maybe like

45:19

like

45:22

Mary in the Bible or something , and be like

45:24

legit what was up , like

45:26

what really happened , because no

45:28

one actually took your perspective .

45:30

Yeah , yeah , what Something is missing

45:32

. Like give me the tea ? Yes , oh , I would love

45:34

that I would read that book and I would

45:36

also like play Mass at that thing . Okay

45:38

, last one , and if this

45:41

one , you know , maybe that it's coming . What book

45:43

are you currently reading ?

45:45

Oh , okay , I just started

45:47

reading . I think this

45:49

is right . How to Do Nothing by Jenny

45:51

O'Dell . Oh yeah , I

45:54

think that's right . There's a few books of like similar names

45:56

and things like that . Yeah , but that's how her is called . Yeah

45:58

, yeah , I just started reading

46:00

that , so I'm very excited that

46:02

sounds good , okay , that's gonna

46:04

.

46:04

Yeah , I mean I know it's good , it's on the Sydney

46:06

Group podcast reading book club

46:09

list or figure already . So

46:11

, yes , enjoy , that's a good one . Hey

46:14

, leanne , thank you so much for being on

46:16

the Sydney Group with me . It was great

46:18

to have you . Thank you so much

46:20

.

46:21

Yeah , thank you so much for having me . It was so great to

46:23

chat with you .