002: Creating A Life By Design

Thanks for coming back to episode 2 of the Made For This Podcast.  If you haven’t listened to episode 1, hit the back button to hear the story behind the rebrand of this podcast.  Then you’ll be all caught up!

This past week has been wild.  First, thank you for all of your sweet comments & messages about my big career pivot & the new podcast.  You never know how things are going to be taken when you go against the grain & it’s scary to do something new, right?  Well, I couldn’t be more blessed to have you guys as my cheerleaders & support.  It’s always nice to have somebody in your corner.  I appreciate you.

Brian & I have 2 houses that hit the market 2 weeks ago, so that’s always a roller coaster of emotions when you have a showing or get feedback or an offer or no offer.  

We spent a few days in Florida with some amazing new friends, circled around a table all learning & discussing ways to build systems in our businesses.  It was awesome!  We came back & went straight to work implementing what we learned. 

Then, of course, we took a few days off to enjoy the holiday with friends & hang out on the lake.  

And we have 3 birthdays in our family - all back to back to back.  July 6th, 7th & 8th, so we are doing lots of celebrating!

It’s just been a really good week here & I hope you have had a great week too!

Ok, so let’s get into this topic of creating a life by design.

There’s this quote & I’m sure I will butcher it, but it goes something like “you’re not a tree, you’re not stuck, you can move”.  

And  yet, we do get stuck.  I was stuck for years & years.  I didn’t think there was another way.

We get stuck in these patterns of believing that there is only one way to live life & create money.  And that’s not true at all!

For most, that’s working a Monday - Friday 9 to 5 job.  Dinner, play with the kids a little bit, binge some TV on the couch, get ready for the next day & do it all over again.  Then spend the weekend running all over town trying to get ready for the next week & maybe getting to recover a little bit on Sunday afternoon before it all starts up again on Monday morning.

For another group, the small business owners, the crazy entrepreneurs, there is no such thing as 9 to 5.  You started your business based on the idea that it was going to give you more freedom & it did - freedom to work all hours around the clock.  

If there’s an unhappy client, it’s on you.  If something is broken, it’s on you. If there’s a deadline, it’s on you.  

I’ve lived both of those lives.  And while I absolutely loved my small business, the ultimate freedom I was looking for just wasn’t there.  I delegated & outsourced with the best of them too.  I had systems on systems on systems.  But something was missing & I went on a mission to figure it out.

What was missing was that in my particular business, my life was dictated by the needs & seasonal demand of the clients I was serving.  And I say serving because that is exactly what I did.  I loved & still love every one of my clients.  I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.  

That business built me.  I learned so much from running that photography business & I am so thankful for the season of my life it filled.  But as you grow, and I said this in the last episode, the vision for your life grows too.

I wanted more freedom.  I wanted to pick up & go on a quick 3 day getaway.  I wanted to go to the grocery store (yes, I still like to buy my own groceries - I don’t like to outsource that) on Tuesday or Wednesday morning instead of on the busy weekends like everyone else.  I wanted to be able to work from anywhere & to create recurring income.  I wanted to wake up to deposits hitting my account that I didn’t have to put any hours in the day before to get them.

So that’s exactly what I created.  It started with a little $27 course.  Looking back on it, it wasn’t all that great - or at least it doesn’t meet my standards today 😂But so many people bought that course & learned so much from it.  Some of those same people, I am still coaching today!  They watched me grow, continually develop my skills & that has helped them along the way too!

The life I wanted to design looked like creating multiple revenue streams that would allow me to work from anywhere, just a few days a week, that allowed me to take my kids to school every day, to be at their sports practices & games, or whatever else they had going on.  

For me that was business & life coaching, flipping houses & holding real estate as rentals.  All of that was created intentionally.  It took some time & it’s not perfect, but we are learning & growing & morphing it into exactly what we want day by day.

Here’s the really cool thing.  Your dream life could look absolutely nothing like mine.  You get to create exactly what you want to create!  

In fact, the women I have lined up to interview, their dream lives don’t look like mine.  And I love that.  They have different gifts & dreams, which means they are serving different clients & their lives are designed the way they want them to be.  I cannot wait for you to learn from them too!  

If it’s possible for me & it’s possible for them to create a life by design, I hope you will begin to believe that it’s possible for you too.

SO WHAT DOES CREATING A LIFE BY DESIGN REALLY MEAN?

It means taking control.  It means being intentional about the decisions you make.  It means shifting your identity & becoming a woman who has the audacity to go for it instead of letting things just happen along the way.  It means dreaming big, being proactive instead of reactive, taking chances, fighting through the fear, making some really bold moves.  But on the other side of that, is this beautiful reality of the picture you had in your head of what you wanted your life to look like.

Nothing beautiful is created without pain. We don’t get rainbows without the rain.  Think about childbirth.  I’ve had 3 birth experiences of my own.  And it was a horribly painful process.  But on the other side of all that pain, was exactly what I had dreamed of.  It took 9 long, hard months & hours on hours of pain at the end, but I birthed 3 amazing boys.  How beautiful is that?  

That is a little bit of what it’s like to create a new life by design.  It’s gonna take some time.  There are going to be long days, heartburn, exhaustion, and some pain.  But it’s gonna be so worth it because you will birth this new, beautiful life for yourself & your family if you choose to go through that process.

PRACTICALLY, WHAT DID IT TAKE & STILL TAKES TO CREATE A LIFE BY DESIGN?

I want to get into what this looked like practically for me & what it still looks like & then I’ll wrap up here today.

I’ll bullet point these for you to keep this short.

And I will always start with mindset because I believe it is the majority of the battle.

I chose to believe this was an option for me.

Because I really started this process around the time of my divorce & right there when the world shut down, there was probably a little bit of “I don’t need a man” & “I’ll prove them all wrong” in me.  I do have a bit of a stubborn streak.

So it takes some gumption, a little bit of “hold my water” attitude.  I don’t drink beer, so there’s that.

The second thing . . . I lived & still do, live well below my means.  I believe in short term sacrifices for long term gain.

I cut out things that weren’t necessary to go all in on my dreams.

Because I did that, I was also able to invest in myself & my education because I knew it would get me there quicker.  I hired the best coaches & mentors.  I spent time with people who had already created the life I wanted.  I put myself in programs & rooms with like minded people, where opportunities could be created.  I poured into myself & only focused on what I wanted.  I cut out the distractions.  There was a period of intense focus & growth.

I saved up an emergency fund that would allow me to take this bet on me.  It was the safety net I needed to have a little bit of comfort should things take longer than I wanted them to take.

And this was the process I repeated again & again - because I’ve continued to tweak this design.  I got married to the most amazing man & we were able to make the decision to bring him home from his 9 to 5.  And then we repeated this process when we bought our first property to flip & our first rental.

None of that would have happened (none of those steps it took) without the right mindset & without taking action - those are the 2 things I coach on now.

If you want to work with me to start creating your own life by design, we can do that in a few different ways - private 1:1 coaching is always an option.  It’s going to be the closest proximity coaching & custom designed around your needs & what you want to create.

I have a 6 week passive income mastermind that is designed to help you build your first digital product, whether that be a mini course, an ebook or coaching program of your own, if you want to move into that online business space. 

And the one I am most excited for - my new coaching membership, Made For This.  This is a year long experience, designed to get out of your own way, to learn how to coach yourself when you get stuck & to take massive action around creating a life & business you absolutely love.

If you’re listening to this in real time or shortly after I drop this episode, you’re one of the lucky ones who have the opportunity to be one of the founding members inside Made For This.  

What does that mean?  That means you get a seat at half price, 497 for the year (and for any of your renewals as long as you’re an active member), instead of 997 which is what it will be very soon.  And as I add value, I will raise the price over time, but you will stay at that founding member rate.

If you’re ready to change your reality, to create a life by design, to take action on your dreams, click the link in the podcast description or if it’s not there (depending on which platform you listen on), go to www.jenagoldencoaching.com & then click “work with me” to learn more about all the options I just talked about.

I’d love to see you inside Made For This as a founding member.  I’d love to coach you.  I’d love to watch you create your life by design.

My free masterclass, Unstoppable You, is also in the description & on the website.  That’s one you don’t want to miss!

I’ll see you soon!