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This week on the Intuitive Entrepreneur Podcast we’re talking about why and how burnout and exhaustion happen, and some practical steps you can take to avoid it or deal with it if it hits.
My amazing guest, Libby Crow, found a whole new way of doing business after experiencing burnout during her successful startup years. Libby is a global mentor for entrepreneurs helping them grow their businesses and their minds. She’s the founder of LC International, a marketing strategy company for digital consultants, and Co-Founder of The Daily Shift, a personal development company for aspiring and accomplished entrepreneurs alike. She’s dedicated to helping entrepreneurs see the journey as a bridge to raising the vibration of the planet and then later as a portal for giving back philanthropically.
So, you can imagine that Libby wouldn’t be able to achieve all this in a state of energetic depletion. It was wonderful to chat with her and find out exactly how she moved from burnout and exhaustion to a state of creativity, flow and joy.
This is a truly inspirational episode, especially if you’re currently struggling with the “hustle” and know you need a better way.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this episode:
- How in the early stages of growing her business, Libby was laser-focused on strategy, but at the expense of her intuition and personal well-being
- How hitting rock-bottom with burnout and exhaustion became the turning point for how Libby runs her business now
- Libby’s new definition of success – and it has nothing to do with how much money she makes
- How to create more joy in your work, even when you’ve been doing business for a while
- Why love is the secret to a more balanced view of success
Welcome to the Intuitive Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Brigit Esselmont, intuitive business strategist and mentor. As the founder of Biddy Tarot, I turned my love for tarot into an abundant seven figure business. The secret to my success? Making intuition and strategy my entrepreneurial superpower. And now, I'm inviting you to do the same. In this weekly podcast I'll be sharing advice, tools, and real life examples from some of the best intuitive entrepreneurs to show you how you can trust your intuition, align with your purpose, and create a positive impact through your work. Let's make it happen.
Brigit: Hello, and welcome back to the Intuitive Entrepreneur podcast. Today I'm chatting with Libby Crow, who is a global mentor for entrepreneurs, and she helps them grow their businesses and their minds. Now, she's the founder of Libby Crow International, which is a marketing strategy company for digital consultants. She's also the co-founder of The Daily Shift, which is a personal development company for aspiring and accomplished entrepreneurs, and she runs that company with her gorgeous husband, Scott Oldford.
Now, Libby is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs see the journey as a bridge to raising the vibration of the planet, and then later as a portal for giving back philanthropically. Libby is also the host of the new Behind The Dream podcast, which is a really fabulous podcast that looks behind the scenes of what entrepreneurship is really about. Now, having known Libby for about 12 months now, she is probably one of the most fun and sparkly people I know, always finding an opportunity to goof off and make people laugh.
But, she is also one of the smartest people when it comes to building and scaling businesses and talking business strategy. So, I absolutely love that blend and integration that Libby brings to the table in terms of her fun, her spark, and her joyfulness, but also just able to really dig in and get into strategy.
Now, in today's conversation we talk about how in the early stages of growing her business Libby was laser focused on strategy, but at the expense of her intuition and personal wellbeing. We also talk about how Libby hit rock bottom with burnout and exhaustion, and how that actually became a turning point for how she runs her business now. And in fact, she's now in a place where she's in a lot more of an allowing or receiving mode, and we talk about how that is opening up new opportunities for her.
Libby talks about her new definition of success, and guess what? It has nothing to do with how much money she makes. And it's great to see how her redefinition of this success has again shifted the way in which she's doing business. We talk about how to create more joy in your work, even when you've been doing business for a while, and we also talk about why love is the secret to a more balanced view of success in business. I know you're going to love this conversation, so, hey, let's get straight into it.
Brigit: Well, welcome, Libby Crow. It is super exciting to have you here. How are you doing today?
Libby: I'm amazing because I'm here with you.
Brigit: Yay! It's always so much fun. And in fact, we just had the gift of having a chat yesterday as well, so it's nice to turn the tables a little bit and hear more about you and your journey.
Libby: Yes, I loved having you on my podcast yesterday. You're such a dream.
Brigit: So, let's get straight into it. Tell me what it means to you to be an intuitive entrepreneur.
Libby: Yeah. Well, I will say that I did not start out being intuitive in my business at all, and in my creativity. I will say that it was much more cerebral and strategic in a way where I was following steps that I was told to do to get a certain result, so it was almost like I was sacrificing my intuition and my inner knowing for a prescribed version of a formula for success. Which felt smart to me, and actually felt like the way to go, and it gave me, in a way, spaciousness to be able to tap more into myself because I did get results from doing things in a certain way, but I will say that that did not stir any spiritual enlightenment, excitement, joy, playfulness, all of the things that I feel like make up your intuition doing the more cerebral way of business.
So, for me it was actually in the beginning where I was an elementary teacher and I had left my teaching job, because I did the side hustle thing and my first company was in the wellness world. And I had left teaching, and I was almost in survival because I was like, "All right, gotta make this whole business thing, being an entrepreneur thing, work." I was more in that phase versus, like, "Let me feel the spaciousness of intuition." I hadn't even tapped into that in my life, let alone in my business yet.
And it was through the almost freedom, the financial freedom that I got from business, that I felt like I gave myself permission to go more into the feminine, which I believe is more intuition. So, it was kind of like I was like, "Ah, doing the things, having success, yay." And then it got to a place where I was out of survival, and then I was more curious about myself, and my inner compass, and my trust, and kind of pivoting and moving through not business but life too from that kind of alignment, versus from what I was being told to do. Or, what I thought I should do.
So, for me it's been more of a movement from head to heart, and more movement from outside myself to inside of myself. And it's taken a lot of time and I still actually fall into an old pattern of, "Okay, I should do that." Versus, like, "What intuitively do I know will give me energy?" And I'm in a thing, actually, where I'm like, "Will give me relief and will feel really juicy and fun." Fun is big for me right now, and play, so these are the things that I've moved into more.
And what do you know? It's like that's what resonates most with my audience, and that's what gives me energy and makes me even more creative and successful. So it's been a journey for sure. I won't say that I just popped into entrepreneurship and I was like, "I'm just following my own flow." It was more just like, "Oh, that's a thing. Let me tap into that later on."
Brigit: So, I'm curious then, do you think that you need to have a successful business before you can start integrating intuition into it, or do you think it's possible that you could even start building a business from a more integrated perspective?
Libby: Oh, heck yes you can. But I just didn't even know. It wasn't even part of my awareness, right? Because business, for me, was my bridge to personal development, into my intuition, into all of this magical world that we live in now. But I didn't even know about it. So, say that you were more woke than I was when you started, of course you're going to begin from that because that's your fiber, that's your way of being.
So, for me it was like business gave me the opportunity to tap in, but many a folk are already tapped in, you know? So that's their starting ground, and they would even see no ... no way would they even try to operate without that place of intuition and being more in touch with themselves before they're making business decisions.
Brigit: And so at what point did you realize that intuition, or perhaps a deeper alignment or connectedness, was an integral part of you being a successful entrepreneur?
Libby: Yeah, I'm just giggling because it was like a slap in the face with bricks because my business transition from wellness to more like life coaching, and then of course those were successful, so then people started asking me to mentor them in business. And I was like, "No, that seems really boring and intense. And even though I can do it and I do it well, I'm not that." But then people kept saying, "Be my business coach. Please help me, help me, I love the way you're doing business." So I said yes to that.
And then what I realized is no matter what kind of success I have in any kind of company I run, if I'm doing things that I think I should be doing because they're going to bring me this amount of money or that amount of money, which they brought me a lot of money, yay, I sacrificed so much for that money. And so it was like a dis-alignment and it was ... for me, realizing that intuition can play a more important role was when I just would be burnt out, or I would be immobilized energetically, or I wouldn't feel inspired and I feel like I had a job again.
And so then I'd have to be like, "Okay, this feels like crap. What's the opposite? Oh, the opposite is actually asking myself what feels really, really good. It's taking time, and space, and meditating, and being with my body, and asking myself questions, and processing, and all of that. And that, creating from that place, that's a long term game versus creating from this more short term survival ... or even this more short term, like, "Gotta do this, gotta do that, gotta do that." All of a sudden you build yourself a jail cell called your business. And you might be bringing in the money, but it just doesn't feel good. So, for me, I had to feel how crappy it felt to not be intuitive for me to realize, "Oh, gosh. The pendulum needs to swing because this sucks, and this isn't fun anymore, and it doesn't feel good to my body."
Brigit: And I think burnout and exhaustion is a really common theme that I'm seeing across entrepreneurs in particular and I'm curious, for you, was burnout a one off event and then you switched and you're all great? Or, do you go through cycles where you have almost like regular ... I don't want to say regular burnout patches because that's not what we aspire to, but does it keep coming up for you where you need to realign things again?
Libby: Yeah. So, the way that I've looked at business for a long time, up until at least the last year, was that I was always creating new things. A new retreat, a new workshop, a new group program, a new course. I was always in this creation, so of course there was fluctuation and seasons of input, output, input, output, like that. But there was mostly output. It was like my creative energy, my producer, my helper and supporter, it was always coming out of me.
So of course during those seasons and without the awareness that I needed to put more in, I would get pooped. But I would say that, honestly, for the majority of my life I had been not filling my own cup up, and so it was only a matter of time before, I think, the biggest burnout experience was going to happen. And that went down last year, and for me, entrepreneurship ... It wasn't because I was an entrepreneur, entrepreneurship showed me my patterns more than anything else in my experience of life had.
So, in a way entrepreneurship amplified my addiction to doing, it amplified my addiction to accolades, and success, and all of this. And so, yeah, when I hit burnout, it's exactly what you're talking about. I was like, "Okay, I have to do things differently and I have to do things more aligned, and that means trusting my own inner guidance." And from there I've created my podcast, which is my favorite thing I've ever done in my business. I've turned my high-touch group coaching program into a course, which feels so juicy because I'm not ... it's not relying on me to outpour so much energy. And I started writing my book, which has been ... I just want to be an author, that's really my main goal of life. The next Paulo Coelho right here, you know?
So, for me, I'm able to transition into, to be honest, where I wanted to go when I first started, but I got kind of lost in the rat race of, "Gotta do this, gotta do that, gotta do that," and I came back to myself through the burnout, so it's always gift and I'm always like where everything's love and everything's a lesson, even if it sucks. So, for me it was ... again, that burnout moment a year ago was the biggest one where it was really the puncheroo in the face that led me back to my intuition and myself.
Brigit: And was there anything specific that you did at that time to help you swing the other way in terms of being more in connection with yourself? Because I think we can hit burnout and we can stay there, right? So we could just stay there and it just gets worse and worse, and sadly some people end up in hospital, or having panic attacks, or gets really dire before they're ready to say, "Oh, I've gotta change." So I'm curious, what were some of the tools and resources that helped you shift that a little bit?
Libby: Yeah. Well, it was actually pretty scare because I had never felt that tired or that incapable of doing normal things. I would try to go work out, my body would not let me go through the doors of the gym. I would try to go hang out with friends, I wouldn't be able to move from bed because my body was just like, "No." I would try to get on a coaching call or a call with my team, everything was just a no.
So in a way, I actually didn't really have tools available, except for sitting, and looking down, and relaxing. It feels really weird to say, especially as a high achiever, high performer type personality that I just ... it was like, almost, someone super glued me to my bedroom. And actually, through conversations with other friends that we both know who have gone through this, I was able to start to learn about things that I'd heard. Like, "Oh, that's a cute thing to do. I don't really need to do that though." That maybe I could test, like going to a functional doctor and getting all of my blood work done, or going to yoga three times a week instead of working out hardcore.
Or little things I did, like I started working with my Gene Keys guy who taught me a lot about my own way of being. Started doing more counseling again, and so verbally processing and emotionally processing life. And then I would say the biggest tool that I used, which is kind of a funny thing to say it's a tool, is allowing myself to just be in spaciousness, which was the hardest thing I'd ever done, is just, "Today on my agenda is take a bath." Like, "What?" For me that was just like death feeling, you know what I mean? Because I'm used to being productive and feeling significant from my performance and my productivity. And so my number one thing that allowed me to tap back into my creativity and my joy in being an entrepreneur was time, space, and silence. And that was my medicine.
Brigit: Yes. And, I mean, from a zoomed out perspective it sounds like you've gone from a very dominant, masculine energy of doing, striving, achieving, getting the work done, to a very feminine way of operating a business, which is allowing, being in flow, and that spaciousness. What does it look like now for you in your business now that you've allowed more of this feminine energy to flow through? And I'm also curious if you've brought back some of that masculine to balance it out. So, how does that look?
Libby: Well, the masculine, it's just there. No matter how many feminine things I do, or embodiment, whatever, it's just pretty pulsating through me pretty hardcore all the time. So, it's there. It's never gone away. It's just that I love to do things, and to be of service, and all of that. So it's in my veins for sure. In fact, I just still have to be like, "Whoa," calm down the doer in me. I'm still trying to not give it the megaphone.
So, that part hasn't been as tricky. It's not like I'm just a puddle of mushy sparkle on the beach. I don't even know if my body could ever be that much of an allower flow, spacious, feminine, flow person. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not my fiber. But for me, number one is that I've allowed myself to receive support. So, for me in my life what that looks like is my husband has been like, "No matter what, I've got you. Don't put so much pressure on yourself to achieve, to make money."
So because I'm open to receiving support, which is the first time ever in my life. I've always been a parent to my parents, I've always been a supporter to my clients, I have always been the hero to every relationship I've been in, besides the one I'm in now with my husband. And I have never actually opened, which is feminine, to receiving. So, that's the number one thing that's been different, and then the more specific thing is that I've changed my success goals, what I view success as.
So, for the longest time I thought success as an entrepreneur was making this much money, and having this much profit, and serving this many people, and now my view of success is more around how I can take care of myself, and still give back, and still be of service, but prioritizing me. So, my success goals have changed, and then that means that my monetary goals have changed.
So, in a way I was on this ladder to the top of ... Where are we all going anyway, right? It's such a funny moving target, or infinite ladder that we're all on. And it's kind of like I took a step back from the wheel, the hamster wheel I was in, and I was like, "Okay, Libby Crow, the real you in there, what do I really want? What does it really mean to be successful, and how do you want that to feel along the way?"
Because I was more of a pusher, and like do what it takes, and I used to pedestal resilience. And now I'm really coming to my business from a wiser place, and a more grounded place, and a more harmonized yin and yang place than ever. So, it looked like a few things, but I would say receiving support and redefining success have been huge for me.
Brigit: That's fantastic, yeah. Yeah. And I want to shift gears a little bit. The thing that I love most about you is you are just so fun to be around. I always have such fond memories of us sitting in the Jeep in the middle of South Africa surrounded by 30 elephants, and Richard Branson happened to be in that same Jeep, and all these gorgeous little animal voices coming from you with the whole story of what was going on. It was hilarious.
Libby: I can't pass an animal and pretend it doesn't have a voice or personality. It's just like a tic inside of me. I have to give the hyena a personality or the elephant a name, right?
Brigit: It's classic. So, I'm curious how you bring that sense of fun into your business and how you always use fun to make business successful and fun its own right?
Libby: Yeah. Actually for a long time I lost that part of me because of business. I was so in this hustle mentality that I, sadly, felt so bad that I lost the funny Libby, the fun Libby. So, I actually had to bring her back over the last couple years with the awareness of, like, "Whoa, when was the last time I went to a concert?" Or when was the last time that I did these things in my life that educate how I am in my business?
Because I was almost letting business put me in its place, versus putting business in its place, and I was letting business be me. And so it was an identity thing that needed some alteration, and so I held tight on this identity of, like, "Libby Crow, entrepreneur." She isn't that goofy, or, like, "Will someone respect her or give her money if she's making weird faces on Instagram stories," or whatever. And once I started to reinvigorate myself and bring myself back in more holistically into the way I portray myself online, people started loving me even more.
And they were like, "Oh my god, you're so funny." And people pay you money because they want to be like you, or they see themselves in you. And so the more that you share about your different layers and parts of you, the more magnetic you are. And so I just had to give myself permission to shed a layer of BS identity, that I needed to be something or someone to attract the right people or to make a lot of money. It's like you see, "Okay, that person acts like that, says that. Maybe I should be that, then I'll make the money like they do," and you do this calculation. But I actually had to bring it back in.
But I will say, I never lose my sense of swag, or my sense of silly in that when I would work with clients. Even if we would be touching on something difficult, or challenging, or strategic and cerebral I'll still add a little fun and silly so that it's all light. So it was more of a texture or color in my way of being, versus goofy Libby. So actually, even to this day I'm still, "Oh yeah, be weird. Be yourself on your Instagram, and on your lives and all of that." It's still something I'm remembering to do.
Brigit: Yeah, that's another thing that I love, is that you have that beautiful, fun, vibrant side of yourself that is a bit goofy and super cool. And at the same time, you are so smart in your business strategy and you're so smart in the advice that you have, and how you coach people, and how you do business. It's such a perfect blend that we can still be really serious about what it is that we do in business, and we can have that lightheartedness that goes with it as well. In a similar light, recently on Instagram you talked about, "I want your permission to be more expressive about myself and who I am. Instead of just doing business advice, I'd like to share more about me." So, I'm interested to hear more about ... well, one, what triggered that change, and what's happened since?
Libby: Yeah, this is what I feel so inspired by right now. So, generally what I teach people is, like, "Okay, if you have a business about yoga, if you were to share content on yoga so you can attract your right clients you want to have educational content about it, inspirational content, your personal story, your community building content, your behind-the-scenes content, and you want to make offers and invitations." So, to teach people this strategy and this way to attract people for their business.
So, I felt a little bit funny all of a sudden being like, "Hey, guys, I'm just going to share poetry with you but I'm still a business mentor." Because I want to always practice what I preach. And, I found myself feeling really uninspired around teaching people business stuff or sharing about business stuff. If someone were to be like, "Libby, can you write a post about the five best ways to scale your company?" I can do it in my sleep. Am I bored? I'm bored AF. I just, like, "Oh gosh."
And I think for me, creativity and real aliveness around creativity is new, and edges, and kind of like investigating new areas within myself. And business, in a way that I teach it for people, it is what it is. And so you're kind of repeating a lot of the same things, and that started to feel really gross to me. So in a way what I shared is, "Hey guys, in this whole burnout phase I realized I just want to share of me, not just business Libby." I said, "Hey guys, are you open to more Libby?"
And of course they are, but I just wanted them to understand where I was at in this desire to share the spiritual, the emotional, the playful, these sides of me that have kind of been more tamed because I've been so focused on sharing content around growing your business. And so that almost was a ... it felt like a flip of the coin, or like a ... just a new era where people were on board with all of the Libby-land. And so what has that felt like? It felt like a lot more freedom that I gave myself that's available for anyone, always.
And also, a lot more fun. So, I would consider myself more than anything a writer, and a poet, and a contemplator, and just a human who's curious and loves kindness and love, versus, like, "Libby Crow, the business mentor." Like, yes, that's something I can do. I'm amazing at it, I've helped thousands of people. Yes, great achievement, and it's not who I am. So, in a way I'm transitioning from sharing more about what I do to who I am, and it feels really freaking good to my body and to my mind, and everything is just like, "Oh, yum." I'm not feeling, "Ugh," about creating content right now.
Brigit: Yeah. And I wonder if this is part of the evolution that's happening particularly in the coaching world. So, there's a lot of coaches, and a lot of business programs, and they start to look a little same-same if they're only focused on strategy, or, "Here's the blueprint of what to do." But what I'm seeing more and more of is the more that we allow our personalities to come through, the more that we're more in touch with ourselves, we're more in alignment with who we are, with the purpose that we have here, then we start to create more personality or vibrancy around these coaching or mentoring businesses.
You touched on it earlier. I think people buy into you and your personality. They know that you've got the mentoring side down pat, and the strategy, but they're really looking for is someone that they can relate with. So, I wonder if this is something that as, perhaps for other coaches who might be listening to this, is thinking about how do you bring more of your authentic self into this?
And for me, this all goes back to the intuitive entrepreneur. So, this is very much about being clear about who you are, and bringing that to the table in your business, and seeing that as your unique advantage. So, I'm curious for you. Are you seeing that play out? The more that you bring yourself into it, do you feel that you are ... Well, I guess it's like defining yourself more and standing out from what might be a fairly overcrowded space.
Libby: Yeah. Everyone has their own little personality, and for my personality I really want to honor all people, and all people's place, and their consciousness and embodiment. And so whenever I'm sharing anything, it just happens naturally. I'm not overthinking, I'm just ... I want to make sure all sides, all perspectives, all beliefs, all whatever, are getting seen and heard in what I share. It's just like a natural thing that comes through me whenever I'm sharing or talking.
And what I'm noticing is instead of doing that, which is pleasing people ... and that's just an old pattern, is more me is like, "I have opinions, and you might not like that, and that's okay." And so being more comfortable for me with sharing my opinion, even if it might not be the most popular has attracted more people who are these hardcore Libby-land lifers. Because they're like, "Ooh, yeah. No one's saying that. I love that!" Which is a big part of my whole movement behind the dream. It's about saying what's real about what it takes to grow a company, because everyone has a shiny Instagram and ain't telling the truth about how hard this is and how many sacrifices you make, and that this isn't cute. And it has moments of cuteness, but it's really not cute. It's for the wild ones, you know?
And so I've just been more open with saying my opinions versus pleasing. That's one little micro thing that I've noticed that I'm doing more and sharing maybe what might feel like a more holistic version of myself, or a more refined or even defined version of myself. And, I always want to respect and love all people because that's part of me too. So, for me it's like going to an edge or sharing something from a place of a little more spice. Sometimes people in my audience call it, "Period Libby," when I'm on my period. And they're like, "Oh, Period Libby is coming out," because I have something to say and this is the truth. And so it's activating more of that has been a lot of fun, to be honest.
Brigit: Yes, and it takes courage, I think, to go into that space because you can be taken down in some circumstances, right? So you can be criticized or whatever. There could be some kind of negative consequence to speaking your truth, but there comes a point at which you're like, "You know what? This is who I am. Take it or leave it." But that takes courage, to get into that space. And I'm the same with Biddy Tarot. I think I've always really played the middle ground, and interested in exploring a little bit more about where those edges are. And perhaps this is my new channel of being able to do that through more of, like, business conversations that tarot conversations. But, anyway, I'm with you on this. I think it's something that has a lot of potential.
Libby: Yeah. And you know what I've tapped into too, is there's projection no matter what. Someone's going to project their opinion on me no matter if I play the middle ground or if I don't, so it's like if I can just understand that projection is a gift just like love and affirmation is a gift, then maybe it might perceive as negative projection. And if I just can love it all and appreciate it all, then that's when I can really activate my own truth, my own voice, and be aligned and just let the intuition flow through me.
Brigit: Yeah. So, tell me a little bit more about your Behind The Dream podcast. So, obviously I've been able to experience it firsthand.
Libby: Well, yeah, so the whole movement was born maybe a few years ago where I had a Facebook group full of female entrepreneurs who were in every part of their business. Some just starting, some 20 years into business, but they all were coming to me for support, and strategy, and scaling, and being able to build their team, and being able to understand their marketing, and funnels, and their branding, and their messaging, and copywriting, and creating their high ticket offers, and social media and email marketing. Everything in between, they were coming to me.
And one thing I realized is that there were a lot of misconceptions around what it took, in terms of work ethic, to grow the company. And I kept being like, "Oh my gosh, you guys, no. This takes dedication and commitment and you have to ... No. This isn't ... " Like I keep saying, it wasn't cute. And I'm like, yeah, I love unicorns and rainbows, but that's not what this is right now. If you need to make money and you want to make impact, this is what's up. It's a big pile of work and if you want to knock on the door of work, work's going to answer.
So, it was like a place where I started just sharing the truth about what it really takes, and my own journey of the ups and the downs. Moments where you just cry on a webinar because only 20 people showed up and you felt like a failure, but hey, you made 8K that week and that was four months of teaching salary. So it's these moments where you're just being what ... you're learning to be your own biggest cheerleader through this journey and just sharing a lot about more of the emotional, intellectual sides of business.
And that's really led to the podcast, which is where I interview and I share myself about the journey to building really successful companies, and I get to have amazing people like you on who are just sharing about their own experiences with entrepreneurship. And I feel like we're in a phase, in a season where because of the internet everyone's getting exposed to this possibility. And I just want to keep it real for people so they don't quit their jobs and then expect to be a millionaire, and then they're struggling and they have adrenal fatigue for the rest of their life because they burnt out, because they didn't realize what was in store. So, Behind The Dream is kind of like a little love note. Like, "Here's what happens and this is going to help you get through because you're going to know more of what to expect and more of what might come so you can take care of yourself along the way."
Brigit: Yeah, because I think it's hard if you're starting a new business right now and perhaps some of your role models have established businesses, like of five years, seven years, or what have you. It's a whole different picture, right? So, you're looking at someone else's life and going, "Oh, they've got it all together." But we've missed ... they don't get to see those, like, year one, year two, of the struggle [inaudible 00:32:25] and getting things up and going because it's only your mom and your sister that are watching what you're actually doing at that point. So, I love that you're bringing that greater sense of authenticity, realness, and vulnerability as well through the podcast. What have you learned so far? So, you've done a number of interviews. What's been a personal learning or takeaway that you've got from it?
Libby: Oh, yeah. I think I've done around 35 so far, so I've done quite a bit in the last couple months. It's a lot for a lot of people, I think, to start off with. But I just went, "Go hard." Told you that the masculine's still here. We're still trying to tame it. But, I will say that everyone that I've interviewed so far has had seven figure companies, if not multiple seven figure companies, and all of them are talking about the deeper parts of the journey.
None of them are psyched to talk about their marketing or their numbers, they're all psyched to talk about how they've developed as a person and how they see it as an infinite becoming. And so actually we have, of course, really inspirational conversations around their success, but it feels like the thread line is people continuing to wake up and become more aware and in tune, and honestly create from intuition. And it feels like there's this ... almost like a graph where it's like you start out flat lined. This reminds me of some geometry class or something where you start out flat line, and then there's this huge upswing where you're making money. Because entrepreneurship is often exponential growth, right?
So it's just like go, go, compound, compound, compound, work, work, work, work, boom! And then there's ... It's not overnight because it's been compounded work over time, and it's kind of like you hit this thing and then you have realizations when you're making a lot more money than you've ever had because you have space, and you feel more safe, and you feel more certain, and then you kind of wake up and you change a lot.
So, I will say that one thing in terms of the thread line is I've noticed that when people are making more money they almost go a little bit crazy because they have spaciousness and time more than they ever had in their entire life, and then they're asking themselves, "Who am I, really? And what do I really want? And is this worth it?" And so all of a sudden then they're like, "Do I really even want to be a business owner?"
And so kind of money amplifies someone's questions that they've had inside themselves the whole time, and then they go on a spiritual journey. The business might float a little bit, or change, or pivot a little bit, or whatever, but then they just dive back ... And then it's like their business can come from a more grounded place because they've gone on a little bit more of a journey internally. So, that's something I see, is people hit the success marker externally with money, and then all of a sudden they'd be doing all the inner work trying to figure out what's going on with themselves because they have the time, space, and peace, and then changes happen. And/or they scale the crap out of their company because they're like, "Oh, all I want to do is just hang out, spend time with the people I love. That's what's going to bring me happiness." So it's really interesting to see what money does for someone's inner world.
Brigit: I can really resonate because I can see that's just happening for me at the moment too, where Biddy Tarot's reached a certain level where, in effect, the company can run without me, maybe with me needing to be there for a couple hours a week, right? I can't do sit and rest and chill out. I can't do all of that, just do nothingness. Because similar to you, my brain's active. And I've just noticed that, yeah, I want to create. I either want to take Biddy Tarot to the next level again, or I want to create a new business, which is this.
This is my new expression of myself and it does, it brings up all of those questions of, "Who am I and what am I here to do?" Or even, "What's my next evolution? What's my next part of the path?" Because I think if you've been able to successfully build a business up into the seven figures there isn't really a just, like, ease off the pedal, do nothing phase. Maybe there is for some. I mean, you know Denise and her Chillpreneur. I love it. She can really do that well.
Libby: Well, I think that you're touching on, too, our different coding of our systems. For me, learning the human design and learning more that I'm a manifestor. Do you know your human design?
Brigit: Oh, I have done it in the past but I can't recall it straight away.
Libby: That's been so helpful for me because I'm like, "Why am I ... " I like the creativity, but I actually do like spaciousness and not having to do, do, do, do, do. So, learning about myself in this whole time of, like, "All right, money's cool. Now what do we do?" Has been really transformative because then from there I can create from a place of not ...
So, I in the past would create out of pressure or fear, and then I got to a place of creating out of peace, and now I can create out of joy. And so I feel like these are different vibrations, and almost like vibrations up, almost in the spiral. And creating from joy looks way different in terms of, yeah, how many hours I'm doing it, what it actually is, so I'm with you on that.
Brigit: Creating from joy, I think that's it. Because I think sometimes when you're working in one business on the same topic for an extended period of time, there was all of that joy and then it's the same. It's the same, it's the same, it's the same.
Libby: Yeah. You know what it reminds me of, Brigit? And I use this example for people who are kind of beating a dead horse with their business, that they've done it for sometimes even only a year, that's how I get bored. So it's like if you were an artist and someone told you to paint the same picture over and over again, that would you drive you freaking crazy. Or, if you were an artist and you loved color, which is like entrepreneurs but their creativity, and someone said, "You only get to paint with blue for the next five years." You would go crazy. And it's kind of the same thing happens with us with our service based businesses, is like we evolve, therefore what we create needs to evolve.
Brigit: And yet, it can be inefficient in a business system to keep creating new stuff, right?
Libby: Isn't that the hard part of this all, where it's like, yes, when you repeat, and you scale, and you do these things over time, that's how you're going to have the almost underlining financial stability which allows you to tap into creativity from joy, right? So, it's a little bit of a double edged sword because it's like you want to be creating, but you also want to have that more of stability.
So for me, what I've learned to do ... And probably what you've done too. We haven't talked about this before. But I've learned to have my creative outlets, but not have to have it always be new creative business outlets. So to stay sane, it was like, "Okay, go traveling to this foreign place," or, "Take a new pottery class," or I had to tap into the new in a different way that wasn't business to keep some things stable to scale.
Brigit: Yes, yes. I can resonate with that too. I can't remember the exact framing of it, but sometimes our desire to create can also lead to destruction in that because we're so ... we're wanting to create, we're wanting to create, and if we keep creating in our beautiful business that we have established over many years, we can then start to destruct what we've built up and we become almost annoying. My team are always very happy when I go away for a few weeks because they're like, "Yes, now we can just get on with it."
Libby: Yeah, it's like we become a mad artist, with just so much sploshes all over the canvas and it's muddy and gross looking, like a poop brown color. And we're like, "Oh, but it's art." And everyone's like, "No, this is just too much." Right?
Brigit: Yeah. So having those creative outlets, I think it's a fantastic idea. Now, you and Scott are the most adorable couple, so in love, and it's so lovely how you bring him into your business and just ... I want to say social media profile, but that sounds so sterile. But you bring him into everything that you're doing in that business space, so tell me more about how your dreamy relationship is supporting you as you grow a business. Are you growing a business together? Is there some kind of overlap, or are you keeping things separate? How does all of that work?
Libby: Yeah, when Scott and I met it was almost like I met the person that I had waited my entire life for. So, I dated for 16 years pretty solidly and it was like when we met we were both like, "Whoa," like said, "I love you," four days after we met, the whole shebang, right? Got married six months after we met. We were in it, and we still are. It's what I always knew was possible. So, meeting him in itself, without business included, has been the most transformative experience of my life because I could come into my own compassion, my own worthiness, my enough-ness. I realized I'm lovable regardless of how much money I make. All because of his love was this container.
Because I had always done all the inner work myself, and all the business work myself, like independent Libby. You know? Like badass business babe, inner soulful junkie, I've got this. And that's masculine in itself, right? And then he came in and offered the masculine of support, of love, of safety, of all of these things, and then I could fall into the feminine a little bit more, and allow and receive like I mentioned before.
And what that's done for my business is it's almost like Scott gets me so much that he gets to help me in my process more than I could on my own. So, it's almost like when two people come together they can either pull each other down, lift each other up, or catalyze the shit out of each other and skyrocket towards the ether, right? And I feel like we just ... we catalyze and skyrocket with everything, especially business.
So, for me, having someone ... his company has helped thousands of entrepreneurs scale multiple seven figure businesses. Having him understand my world of business, and strategy, and online, digital, all that, and then having his heart, it's like I could have the greatest mirror possible that allowed me to come to conclusions more efficiently, more in a truth place, and so it's been nothing short of life changing to be in a relationship with someone who understands me and can support me.
And, of course, what you asked, like, do we have a business together? Yeah. We started something called The Daily Shift, which is a mindset company for entrepreneurs since both of us had such cerebral strategy companies, and so we do a really cool mindset program called Shift 365. And that in itself has been really interesting relationship wise, because we were both used to being independent in terms of, like, this is how we create content, this is how we do videos. And coming together and marrying our energies, and being able to flow in video has been so great for our relationship.
It was either going to go one of two ways, right? It was either going to be a hot mess, and we would be like, "Ah!" At each other, or it was going to go really well. And it's allowed us to actually understand each other better and to support each other in terms of ... Even I noticed it when we're having a couples game night or something. He'll talk, then I'll add in. It becomes this almost ball of yummy energy that we can create together now through creating ... we've almost created 300 videos for the program together of mindset videos, which is ... that's a lot. More than 10, you know what I'm saying? It's a lot.
Brigit: My goodness.
Libby: And so we definitely spark each other, and he always says his business has grown exponentially in the last year and half because of me, but I always say the same thing with him. So, yeah, in short it's love. Isn't that all what it's about at the end of the day? So, yeah, our love is inspiring for me in many ways in terms of my creativity.
Brigit: Yeah, it's beautiful and you guys are just beautiful to watch.
Libby: Oh, you know, it's just fun to share him. Like what you were mentioning, with me just bringing him in in my content. It's hard for me not to talk about him all the time because he's a great example of what I feel like the masculine energy is moving into, which is a masculine energy more in touch with themselves, and their feeling, and their heart, and vulnerability, and building a brotherhood of men who operate from that same place of authenticity. And he's just a great model for that, so I love sharing him because I think he's a model for what's possible for men too.
Brigit: Beautiful. So, what is coming up for you over the next 12 months or so?
Libby: Ah! Well, so one thing, and part of this whole, like, "Let's not be so masculine," is that I'm not ... I don't even like to plan that far ahead in general, but I will I say planned four months ahead, right? So 12 months, we don't know. This is to be discovered.
Brigit: That's right.
Libby: And, right now I am beginning to write my first book, and that feels more like I ... my selves just scream with joy because I'm so pumped about that. Like I mentioned, I think above anything I'm a writer. I just love this hermit-like internal place to share, and to contemplate, and to philosophize, and all of that. And so writing my book, and then continuing to produce the podcast. And then of course selling my course, which is a business course, periodically throughout the year.
And then, honestly, I have such a dedication right now to learning how to relax. It sounds so funny and people like, "I got that down." Well, I don't, so congratulations. I'll give you a gold star for having that down. I don't. Though what I'm learning right now, truly, deeply, is about my own body, my own nervous system, my own femininity. Reading books about womb awakening, and reading that book called Pussy, which feels like, "Whoa. A reclamation for me." And I'm going to embodiment retreats, and so I'm just working on more of the physicality of this new season I'm in and this new alignment and intuitive way of being.
Brigit: I love it. And another question, or last question for you, is what new aspect of yourself are you starting to express now?
Libby: Yeah. I would say that honestly I'm bringing back an aspect. It doesn't feel new, it just feels like, "She's coming back from the 2000s," kind of situation. And for me that's this more punchy ... I almost mentioned it before, this more punchy, spicy part of myself. It's still kind, I'm all about kindness and love, but it's more like less refined. So, when I was an elementary teacher I really put on a lot of hats. Like, "I am professional, I am polished, I am Miss Crow, the teacher of your children." Right?
And it's taken me quite a while to shed that skin, to be honest with you, so I'm bringing back this part of myself and I'm so excited to express this part of myself that's just, I would say, a little more grainy or gritty, and a little bit more like, "Ha!" Like, "Ha!" That's the only way I can explain it in a sound. I wish you could see my face right now, but I'm making a gross, like, "Heh," face with my tongue out.
It feels like that's coming back, which, for me, it feels like that inspires a lot of people, my just transparency of just whatever comes through me, so it's less overthinking and more just allowing stuff to come through me. That's what's happening. And to be more specific, that looks like helping people wake up and take responsibility for their lives so we can all raise together, raise the vibration so we can move from humans to humanity as fast as possible. So, yeah, I'm just ... I love that part of me that's coming back. It just feels like 2000s Libby.
Brigit: Nice. I will be watching your space.
Libby: Yeah. I mean, while I'm like, "I'm trying to touch into my womb space," I'm like, "But I'm being spicy!" So maybe it's all in the same, right? Maybe ...
Brigit: I think it is. I actually think it is. So, Libby, where can people find out more about you?
Libby: Yeah! Everything's @libbycrow, so @libbycrow on Instagram, Facebook, and my website. And if you want to, the free community on Facebook is Behind The Dream. So you just go into Facebook and type in, "Behind The Dream," and it's just a free group full of really cool entrepreneurs who are really dedicated to what everything you're talking about, intuitive business and coming from that place of alignment in their creativity, and slaying online. So, that's a cool place to hang out as well.
Brigit: Fabulous. Thank you so much for today's conversation, Libby. I've so enjoyed it. Really appreciate it.
Libby: Ah, thank you. Thanks for your light, and your love, and your dedication to your own business. You are incredible, everything that you've accomplished in the last 20 years, you're such an inspiration. And I'm so glad that you're moving into mentorship of women and talking about intuitive business because you're a master and I'm so grateful that I could be on the show today.
Brigit: Aw, you're a gem. Thank you. Bye for now.
Brigit: Thank you for joining me for today's episode of the Intuitive Entrepreneur podcast. If you loved this episode, please leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. It really helps to get the word out, and of course I read every single comment. And if you want weekly inspiration to help you trust your intuition, align with your purpose, and create huge business success, then head on over to brigit.me and sign up for my free weekly emails. That's brigit.me. See you there.
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Much Love,