Transcript: How To Create A Business You Love with Amy Porterfield

How To Create A Business You Love

Whitney (00:04):

Welcome to Spiritual and Ambitious. I’m your host Whitney McNeil. I’m a certified medium and spiritual teacher, and I help spiritual and ambitious souls just like you live your life purpose through your career and attract abundance by connecting into your intuition and spirit guide. Let’s get spiritual and ambitious.

Whitney (00:31):

So today you are in for a treat. I have Amy Porterfield on the podcast and just so you know, Amy helped me turn my teaching and my in-person workshops of how to connect to your spirit guides and intuition into an online course. She was actually the very first investment I ever made in online business. So I remember just kind of like footing in my credit card details over in the portal and thinking, can I do $97 a month? Well, that investment has definitely paid off and I’ve grown my business into a multi six figure business from moving into the online space and fully stepping into my purpose and teaching full-time, and she has a brand new book out called Two Weeks Notice, and she is talking about how to say goodbye to your nine to five and actually start your business which I think is so needed.

Whitney (01:28):

You are probably familiar that I have a program, Spiritual Business Incubator, but one of the big hurdles is can I really do this? I’m afraid, I’ve got money anxiety, will I be able to make enough? Do I really believe in myself? What do I do? So she’s going to share with us some tips to finally say yes to your dreams of being an entrepreneur. Now, if you’re not familiar with Amy, Amy is an ex corporate girl turned online marketing expert and CEO of a multi-million dollar business. During her corporate days, she worked with mega-brand like Harley Davidson as well as Peak Performance Coach, Tony Robbins. And after one fateful board meeting and witnessing the lifestyle, financial and work freedom and online business has to offer, Amy developed her nine to five exit plan and never looked back. Through her bestselling courses and top ranked marketing podcast, Online marketing Made Easy, she has helped hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs turn in their two weeks notice and trade burnout for freedom, income, and impact. She’s been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, CNBC, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and so much more, so listen in to the special episode and I also have a message at the end.

Whitney (02:41):

Amy, thank you so much for being on the Spiritual and Ambitious Podcast. Welcome.

Amy (02:46):

Well, thanks for having me. You know, I love you so much and I’m such a fan so this is a treat.

Whitney (02:51):

All our listeners are in for a treat. So I know personally too, that you help people create online courses and build an email list, but you have a brand new book coming out, Two Weeks Notice, that helps people quit their nine to five and embrace entrepreneurship and this is so perfect. I think this is a perfect timing. So many of us are wanting to live our life purpose and we’re ready. We’re feeling that call, but there’s some fear. So I know that you used to work for Tony Robbins, but you had a dream of being your own boss. So can you give our listeners some advice? How did you know your corporate career wasn’t cutting it and how did you feel ready to quit?

Amy (03:35):

Hmm. So when I was at my very last job, like you said with Tony, I love the job. I actually was a really good employee. I liked to get a paycheck every other week. I liked that security. I liked the fact that I could go on vacation and get paid for it and have benefits and also have a boss so that I didn’t have to do it alone ‘cuz I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I could manage things on my own, so I was a really good employee. I also liked to get promotions and rewards and be validated externally is what I know that is now ut at the time, I just thought that was part of life and so I loved all of that. But there was one meeting that happened when I was still in the San Diego offices where Tony had brought in a bunch of online business owners and they went around the table and they talked about what their businesses look like, how they ran their businesses, and all I heard was freedom.

Amy (04:26):

Like these guys, they were all men. They were calling the shots, they were doing their own businesses in a way that they could be as creative as they wanted. They worked when they wanted, where they wanted, how they wanted. They were living a life that I hadn’t even ever even dreamed of. But I saw it in front of me and I thought, I don’t know what you guys are doing, but I want a piece of that. I want the freedom more than anything. And it was that moment in my life that I thought, I gotta figure this out. So it was from that point till a year later that I actually left my nine to five job to start my online business. In that year I built a roadmap for how I was going to do it. Where did I wanna get extra education? How much money did I want to save? What was my exit date? I started to put together things, so, and I started a side hustle so I can bring a little money in to figure out how I might do this. So I did a lot of work in that year and then went out on my own, and so that’s kind of where the path was for me in terms of stepping into entrepreneurship.

Whitney (05:26):

I love that. So when you felt ready, did it come in as, oh my gosh, I’m jumping into this. Did it come in as a gut feeling? How did that feel for you? I mean, it’s scary, right? I’ve been there.

Amy (05:40):

I was terrified every which way I would turn to say like, okay, I’m gonna do this. I think, do you really have what it takes or really that nasty voice in my head was, who are you to think that you can do this? Come on. And I really was fearful at every step, but people ask me, okay, if you were so afraid, Amy, if you were so insecure about going out on your own, then how did you do it? And I always say, and I had to really think about that years ago when I started to write the book and started to think about sharing the story, I was really clear on my why. I, and it was simple too. I didn’t want a boss. I didn’t wanna be told what to do, how to do it, or when to do it, and I didn’t wanna be on someone else’s time or someone else’s dime. I was done with that. And so, because that why was so clear in my head and I felt it in my bones, when the worries came up, when the insecurities came up, my why was just like this much bigger, tiny bit bigger than my worries, and that is literally what walked me out the door a year later but I still did it with all the fear and all the insecurity.

Whitney (06:43):

Hmm. I think that’s so important because sometimes people think, oh, I’m just going to know and I won’t have any more fear and I’m just gonna walk out the door and that really doesn’t happen. It’s increasing that trust or faith and also that why, why am I doing this? And really for me, I’ve looked at it as, you know, why am I here? What impact do I wanna create in the world? So I love hearing that from you and that’s so inspiring. But I know that one of the big fears is money, like, ugh, I’ve got anxiety, I’m scared. So what do you tell people when they’re saying, you know, I’m scared if I quit, I’m not gonna earn enough to support myself. Do you have any advice

Amy (07:21):

That is so normal, like of course you’re afraid of not earning enough money. That is a very valid fear. So one, you’re not alone. And two, this is where we need to get honest and really real with our situation. So what I tell my students is part of your runway of leaving your nine to five job is getting clear about your finances. That means you gotta sit down maybe with your partner if there is one, and have a really honest conversation and an in-depth look at where you’re at, and the goal of that meeting is to find out how much money do we really need to make every single month to pay the bills and live our life. Now, your first year of entrepreneurship, you are going to sacrifice. You’re not going on vacations, you’re not remodeling the house, you’re not buying that car, you’re doing none of that because the money you make will go to bills or back invested in your business.

Amy (08:12):

So it’s a lean, scrappy year that first year out but you’re in this for the long haul. I know that people who lead their nine to five job and start their business aren’t going to do it for a few years and then go back to their nine to five job. They want to do this for the rest of their life. So start thinking in terms of, okay, this is a long-term game. What am I willing to sacrifice or do in the first year or two so that I can get to where I want to get to? So looking at your finances, being real with them and then re-engineering a plan of how you’re going to get there is exactly the way to ease some anxiety. You’ll always be a little nervous. There’s no guarantee that right out of the gate your business is gonna work. My first year was so rocky which is why I wrote the book Two Weeks Notice to help others not have such a rocky year out but I was scared at every turn I wouldn’t make enough money. My first launch I made $267 where I thought I would make a hundred thousand. So there’s definitely going to be setbacks, but I knew where my financial situation at so that I could just course correct if need be.

Whitney (09:12):

Hmm, that’s so helpful and practical. So many times we shy away from numbers or we just are going to trust in the faith and we really need to get clear and I really believe it’s about using your intuition and also setting a plan, like we actually have to deal with the real world kind of stuff which is so important. That’s really helpful. So now if I know anything about you, Amy, I know that you like sticky notes.

Amy (09:36):

I love a good sticky note, who doesn’t, right?

Whitney (09:40):

Right. And I know our listeners love affirmations and things like that. So in your book you mentioned that you’ve got to write down your intentions, but include a date, and I’m quoting here, it says, all the good intentions in the world don’t matter if there is not a date and time assigned which I love. So can you tell us a little bit more about your story with writing the date you would quit your job and how that really helps you?

Amy (10:05):

Yes. So I had that one fateful meeting where I realized, wait a second, I want freedom and I don’t have it. And so in the next six months after that meeting, I started exploring what might I do? What might I create? I listened to podcast and bought books and just kinda had an exploration of six months. And then I realized, okay, I really want to do this. I am serious about quitting my job but I knew I would never do it if I didn’t declare it. And so what I did is I said, okay, from this point on, when do I wanna leave my my job? And I gave myself six months from that point. So I gave myself six months and I wrote the date, June 19th, 2009 on a post-it note. Put it on a mirror where I could see it every single day when I was getting ready.

Amy (10:45):

But I didn’t just look at it, I saw it and I would ask this question every morning, what do I need to do today to move me closer to that date? It might mean I need to make a phone call to a friend, ask for some support. I might need to listen to a podcast or buy this book or get a digital course to get some knowledge I wanted to get but I knew I was sticking with that date. The way you get self-confidence is that you keep the words and the commitments you made to yourself so I knew this is my first big commitment I had to keep no matter what. Now in order to keep that commitment, I couldn’t do it alone so I told three people and three people only. I told my husband who believes in me wholeheartedly. My mom who thinks I could land on Mars tomorrow and my best friend. People that really believed in me and saw my gift. Now what I didn’t do is shout it from the rooftops or start talking about it at work and telling all my coworkers because I knew not everyone deserves to hear my dream because they can’t hold space for it. They will hear me say, I wanna quit my job and start my business and tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t do it because they’re too scared to do it as well. It’s a total reflection of them. And so telling too many people, you’re gonna get too much negative feedback so be careful who you tell.

Whitney (12:00):

Oh, so great, especially for our listeners who feel like I just don’t have a supportive community or I’m afraid to share this about myself. We find this when we talk about intuition, but also in entrepreneurship, not everyone has that entrepreneurial spirit or knows how to support. So it was really, really smart of just sharing that with that group and so helpful for everybody. So when we come back from this quick break, I wanna talk about some more tips for starting your own business, so hang in with me. We’ll be right back.

Whitney (12:33):

This episode is sponsored by my free spirit guide masterclass. Inside you’ll learn the five Cs of spirit guide communication, your role with your spirit guides, two proven effective strategies to stop second guessing yourself and your intuition, and the single most important step to understand your intuitive guidance, along with four ways to perceive your spiritual intuitive messages. You’ll also be getting a workbook to go through this class as well. You can join at messengerspirit.com/freeclass.

Whitney (13:09):

All right, thanks for hanging in there with me. I am here with Amy Porterfield and she is sharing her best tips from her new book, Two Weeks Notice, all about how to quit your nine to five and move into entrepreneurship. So I know Amy that sometimes we’ve got ideas, we’ve got ideas of starting our business or turning it into an online business but tell me a little bit about how they do that. Do you have any tips to share? Do they need a business plan? I get a lot of questions like this.

Amy (13:40):

Yes. So when you’ve got this idea for starting a business and in my book Two Weeks Notice, if you don’t have an idea, I help you formulate an idea ’cause a lot of people aren’t really sure what they would do, but they want to do something. But once you’ve got that idea, a lot of people think, okay, I’m gonna need a lot more education, maybe some certifications a lot more time because I need to put together a whole business plan and really work all this out and right away that’s where I stopped people in their tracks. But when I, while I was writing the book, I called a lot of my successful peers in the online business space and I said, did you have a business plan? And they all pretty much laughed at me because most of us start with just being scrappy and just figuring it out as we go.

Amy (14:20):

And I love that. I think action creates clarity. When I first started out, I did social media for small businesses, meaning that I had a service space business and I also did audits of Facebook pages for $300. So I’d audit your Facebook page, tell you what’s working and what’s not working. That’s how I made money in the early days. I hated it. I did not like working one-on-one with people. I did not like doing their social media for them. So I did it for two years and realized this isn’t the business I want but I had clarity ‘cuz I, we did it. I took action and thought, Hmm, this is not how I wanna build a business so I course corrected and changed things up to have a different business model. So today, if you look at my business, it looks dramatically different but I wouldn’t have the business I have today if I just didn’t get started.

Amy (15:05):

So you do not need a business plan. Sure. You need to know what your starter idea is, who you would want to serve, what kind of content you might create. In the pages of Two Weeks Notice, I do a huge chapter of content creation, how to come up with ideas, how to plan, how to really formulate good strategy so people start to come into your world. So content is king, but you definitely do not need to have a full-blown business plan. You don’t need a fancy website. There’s three things I know you do not need, a business plan, a fancy website, something really simple, and I sound so old when I say this, but back in the day when I started, you needed a programmer and a coder for a website. Today there are amazing software and websites that allow you to get it up like that without a lot of bells and whistles and not too expensive.

Amy (15:52):

You don’t need a fancy website. I built a million dollar business without a fancy website in my early years, and then finally business cards. That’s another thing that people, it just stops them in their tracks, like what color, what size? I created a business card and it was like metallic, it looked like foil pressed on it. It was square ‘cuz rectangle was too ordinary so I had to be different in square. I worked for weeks on this stupid thing, spent tons of money, started handing it out and realized, oh, my business card looks like a condom wrapper. That’s wonderful.

Whitney (16:23):

It’s so cray.

Amy (16:24):

I was mortified when I started handing out and people kind of looked at it. So I spent time on things I didn’t need to spend time on because I was focusing on the wrong things. So Two Weeks Notice, I wrote it to help people focus on the right things and let’s stop wasting time.

Whitney (16:38):

Absolutely. So I have a program called Spiritual Business Incubator and I will see so many people get stuck in that place of logo or website and it’s like, let’s move forward but this is such a great question about the business plan, and so it’s great that you provided that clarity and I agree like we don’t need the business plan. We just need a couple of the steps that we need to take to actually move forward.

Amy (17:02):

Yes.

Whitney (17:03):

And one thing that I feel that’s really important to talk about is authenticity. So our listeners really believe in being authentic. And I think so many times when we get called up in starting a business, we think about what am I supposed to do or I’m, it’s supposed to look like this. And one of the things you talk about in your new book, you said, the days when my post didn’t land were the days I’d fallen back into my people pleasing patterns, fearful to put myself out there and not be accepted. But when I would show up as myself, my people responded. So can you talk about that a little bit more with authentic?

Amy (17:44):

Yes. So social media, I’ve had like a love-hate relationship with it since day one. I’ve never felt totally comfortable on social and kind of I needed to find my way. Now that I’m in my forties, I’m a little bit better at saying I’m only doing what feels good to me and I know that’s gonna translate the best. But there’s older videos of me of doing the, okay, I’ve never done the dances, but pointing at things in videos and being kind of silly or whatever and I hated every minute of it. So I stopped doing that. And when I started just to do what felt right to me which is share my knowledge and share behind the scenes, that started to translate well ‘cuz people could feel my heart. But also there was a point where my audience kept saying like, you’re always so buttoned up and polished.

Amy (18:29):

Like when you get on video, you do your hair and your makeup, like we like to see you more casual, like behind the scenes. And I get that that works, that people feel like they know you more when your guard is down but that is not me authentically, like I was raised with a mom who didn’t even go to a grocery store without getting ready, like this is in my blood since I was really young. I like to look presentable. I’m not gonna be the messy chaotic person online and I’m teaching business so I feel like that’s very weird to just be like, let’s talk about your webinar marketing strategy and I’m just like a hot mess. So I don’t like that and I’m not gonna do it and I did try it for a while and I thought, I’m literally acting like a character right now, like an actor versus myself so it just went back to my roots and I don’t always have to be perfect and polished, I get that, but I am gonna be who I am and this is who I am. And when I started to lean into that, my audience started to grow. I’ve seen massive growth over the last few years because I am absolutely who I am. I’ve also seen people not like me which kind of breaks my heart. So I’m a people pleaser to my core. I try to work on it every day, but when I see a negative comment or I see someone that doesn’t wanna do business with me or whatever, I’m crushed for a minute but then I realize I’m not for everyone. I write a whole chapter about this in the book, you can’t be for everyone and if they don’t pay the bills, they don’t get an opinion, and I really need to remember that. I’m building my own dream, my own legacy.

Whitney (19:52):

Hmm. That’s so great because we’re not for everyone. And I feel like especially those who are really sensitive can feel like I want everyone to like me and I, I call it, ‘why don’t they like me’ syndrome? We can get stuck in.

Amy (20:05):

Yes, I got it.

Whitney (20:06):

Yeah. But the great news is really understanding that you are going to attract your authentic aligned person that you need to help, whether it’s through your book or through your courses and knowing that the more we stand in our authenticity, and what’s really great about this too, Amy, is it’s showing people that you know what authentic looks different for everybody. So sometimes people might even say, Hey, why aren’t you just relaxed? And you’re like, I am relaxed. I have makeup on though and this is presentable and this is me. This is my authentic self. So I think that that’s so great to listen to as well.

Whitney (20:40):

And knowing that people can build a business in alignment with themselves and doesn’t have to look like what everybody thinks that she should look like.

Amy (20:46):

Amen.

Whitney (20:47):

It is so important so thank you so much for sharing that. And one of the things I wanted to share too, so everyone that’s listening, I’m pulling a card from the Messenger of Spirit Oracle deck. We’ve got the protector guide, which is time to set boundaries and I feel like this is perfect. Set boundaries with yourself and others and just be you. So Amy, I wanted to ask where can everyone get a copy of your book?

Amy (21:13):

Well, thank you so much for asking. Anywhere where you buy books online, Barnes and Noble, Target.com, of course, Amazon, any indie store, hopefully they’re holding the supply. I just am really excited for this book to get into the hands of the people that need it most so they can discover a life they didn’t even know was possible for them but I like to thank people for buying my book. So I put together some really good business building bonuses. So if you go to twoweeksnoticebook.com and put in your order number for your book, I’m gonna send you some bonuses, so twoweeksnoticebook.com.

Whitney (21:45):

Awesome. Thank you so much. And is there anything else you would like to share before you go?

Amy (21:52):

I think the last thing I’ll say is and your audience would really understand this, trust your gut. Go with your gut. If there’s a knowing in you, if you feel it on your heart that there’s something more for you waiting out there, you’re in the right place, you have the right guided, and of course you to really understand that your life is short and you absolutely deserve greatness, but you have to go get it. It’s not gonna find you. You really have to go get it. Listen to your gut, listen to your heart, go after what you want, and Two Weeks Notice will absolutely help you do that if what you want is more freedom and to start a business in a life by your own design.

Whitney (22:30):

Mm. So good. Thank you so much, Amy, for all this wisdom and thanks for being on the podcast.

Amy (22:34):

Thank you my, friend.

Whitney (22:36):

Thanks for listening to this episode. I feel like it was so inspiring and if you found some great ahas, I’d love for you to reach out to Amy on Instagram @amyporterfield, and of course I want you to message me too. You can find me @messengerof spirit, but I do have some final messages I wanted to share with everybody. So I pulled some cards before the interview and I shared one inside, but one of the first cards was Crown Chakra and strengthen your spiritual connection. My advice to you if you are wanting to start your own business is to really strengthen that connection with your spirit guides and your spiritual support team so your angels, your spirit guides, your intuition. And the more that you can rely on the spiritual connection that you have, the more faith, the more confidence you’re gonna have in yourself to actually quit your job and move full-time into being an entrepreneur.

Whitney (23:25):

That’s what hugely inspired me into starting my own business. I worked with my guides, I asked for opportunities and I actually asked them to force my hand on it because I was too afraid to actually quit my job, and one day I just got up and walked out. I would’ve never done that logically, but my guide said, it’s time. I, you’ve had enough. And it worked out so well because that company actually asked me to work from home for the rest of the year and I had already started my part-time business. So by starting my part-time business, I actually had some income coming in and so I had asked them to help force my hands so I could move into full-time and it was as if overnight it happened. I had all these limiting beliefs, it’s not gonna work for me, nobody’s gonna come get readings from me in the middle of the day.

Whitney (24:13):

They’ve got work. Those are all just excuses I made up in my mind. I attracted the right people and I was seeing four to five clients a day, and I got to choose how often I worked. I was actually at one point working six days a week which I say is a little too much, but I was just so excited that I was doing it. Now you also got the protector guide which is it’s time to set boundaries with someone and this means choose the right people that you’re sharing your message with and also set a timeline for yourself of when you want to move into your job. And finally, the Deer card, and this is slow down and give yourself grace. We don’t give ourself enough grace. We have negative chatter in our mind and it’s time for that to end. Give yourself grace, love yourself, focus on your why and know that ultimately you can do this.

Whitney (24:59):

All right, so if you love the cards and you haven’t ordered your deck, you can find those at messengerofspirits.com/cards, and I’m putting all of Amy’s links in the show notes so that you know where to order the book and find her. All right, thanks for listening to this episode, and I’ll be back next week with the brand new one. But until then, here’s to staying in spiritual and ambitious.

Whitney (25:18):

Thanks so much for listening to this episode, and if you loved it, would you please share it with a friend? I would also love your review and a reminder to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can find me at messengerofspirit.com and you can take the four intuitive languages quiz and find show notes there too. If you wanna connect on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, you can find me @messengerofspirit. I’ll meet you right here next week. Here’s to staying spiritual and ambitious.

Speaker 3 (25:56):

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