Episode 200: If I’ve Taught You Anything…

Lessons Learned In Life: If I've Taught You Anything... Wow - 200 episodes- of lessons learned. 200 episodes of me (hopefully) providing you value, nuggets of wisdom, and lessons that you can take and apply into your business. It's been an honor to record, produce, and publish this podcast for you all every single week for the past few years. On this episode, you'll find that it's a bit different than the usual format. From my heart to yours, I want to share with you some lessons learned over the past several years in business and in life. I hope you enjoy it. Lessons Learned In Life Show Highlights [6:45] - Ever feel like life happens to you? [8:00] - Whether you like it or not, you're a leader! [10:00] - How can you be the most impactful towards family & friends? [12:30] - Don't compare yourself to anyone else! [15:30] - Leadership vs. Avoidance All of which are life lessons learned, and shared with you. Let's Connect! Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’' Are You New Here? Welcome, I am so glad you are here. If you are a dog walker, dog sitter, cat sitter, doggy daycare or kennel owner, then you found the right place. Jump Consulting is the one place on the internet to get all the resources you need for your pet care business. Can I give you some freebies to generate sales and increase revenues for your business? Grab your freebies below. Are you starting out? Been in business for less than two years? Get your startup resources here. Do you own an established pet care business and you want to take it to the next level.? Get Your builder resources here. Transcript: This is episode 200 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Wow, you guys, wow. Have you ever started something in life and had no idea how you were going to actually complete it? You had no idea how it was going to work out—you just knew that you had to start stepping. You knew you had to take that first step, fake it till you made it, do it scared, do it wrong, do it not perfect. Guys, this is my 200th episode. And the very first thing I need to say is—how in the world did we get here? I have some plans for you for this episode. In fact, last week, if you’re an avid follower of this podcast, you know that I actually skipped a week because I didn’t want to rush this. I took a minute, took a breath, and tried to really figure out what I wanted to say to you. Because the fact that you are listening to this right now and giving me your time and allowing me into your head—I hold that as a huge honor. I don’t want to just talk into this microphone in my office by myself just to hear myself talk. At the end of this, I want to provide you so much value and things for you to think about. But wow, I’ve come a long way from doing this on my laptop in my bedroom closet because it was the only place that actually had carpet. I want to thank you for taking this journey with me. I want to thank you for all of the reviews that you’ve left on iTunes. I started this way back in 2014, and it is now 2020. It took me a little bit to get consistent and publish every Thursday, but wow, I’m really humbled and shocked. For today, I’m just going to rap with you, and I hope that’s okay. I’ve got about seven or eight major points that I want to make, and this is going to come from more of a motivational standpoint. What you may not know about me is that I have a desire burning in my belly to be a motivational speaker—around sales and leadership. And I will do that. I’m going to put it out there and say, I am a motivational speaker around sales and leadership. A lot of things I take the stage for right now are Facebook groups and building online communities because that’s been the backbone of my career—from the pet world and also here on this podcast. Building communities is what I do. And it’s been a really interesting time around COVID, because as those communities online have flourished, face-to-face communities have diminished—and I’m sure you’re all feeling it. I remind myself that I’m not alone. I remind myself that there are other people out there fighting depression, anxiety, loneliness. Sometimes the loneliness is so deafening. You might not realize that about me until you listen to the podcast, but it’s true—from my heart to yours. I want you all to know that you’re not alone. The way that I overcome things and rise above them and fight back is by doing things. There’s a really great client of mine—I won’t out her—but we were on a coaching call last week, and I said, “You’re doing so much right now.” And she said, “Yeah, Bella, because if I stop, I’ll sink. It’ll be like quicksand.” And I told her, “Girl, I get you. I totally understand.” To combat that loneliness, I’ve recently made a transition in the last year to single momhood. So I find myself literally alone in my house sometimes. And oddly enough, I’ve gotten on TikTok. I always said I never would, but it’s honestly become a platform where I am laughing out loud. I’ve made a best friend locally—she lives 20 minutes away—and I’ve also built another relationship with someone in another state who speaks life into my life. Though we’ve never met, it helps so much. TikTok, once you get to a thousand followers, lets you go live. I’m approaching 5,000 now, but what’s interesting is that their live streams are different from Facebook or Instagram. When you’re done, the live disappears. A lot of my followers there aren’t pet business owners or even business owners. There are a lot of moms and dads, 30- and 40-somethings—I’ll be 38 this month—so it’s been really interesting. It posed an interesting question: what do I say on these lives? I’m not afraid of going live, so I took out my notebook and wrote about 13 different paragraphs—different topics I could talk about. Then I’d ask my audience, “Pick a number between one and 13,” and I’d talk about that topic. I’ve done it three or four times now. The beauty is that every live is seen by different people, so I’ve gotten to practice, and I thought I’d share some of those with you for my 200th episode. They’re motivational—words of wisdom that I hope resonate with you and stay with you after you listen. Consider them a gift from my heart to yours. There are about eight of them, in no particular order. The first one: ever feel like life happens to you? Like you just can’t catch a break? Maybe you feel like you’ve always had bad luck, or that’s just the way life is. Maybe you’re not in the relationship you want, or you don’t like your job. Maybe you don’t have the money you want in your bank account. Well, I have news for you—it always starts with how you want to see it. Just like social media filters, we can choose what to filter in or out. So what in your life are you going to filter in or out? Start with what makes you happy—not anyone else. You get to choose the filter you put on. Think about the lens you see your life through, and remember—you can change that lens anytime. Number two: we’re all business owners, and whether you like it or not, that means we’re all leaders. Ever feel like “No one does it as well as me”? Spoiler alert—they won’t. But if you do it right, they’ll eventually do it better than you. Now is the time to sharpen that sword and never stop learning how to be the badass leader your business needs. Books that have shaped me include The Untethered Soul, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Power of Now, Atomic Habits, The E-Myth Revisited, Rising Strong by Brené Brown, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord, and Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. Always be learning. Use downtime—folding laundry, doing dishes, driving—to listen and grow. Leadership starts with leading yourself first. Next: to be impactful to those around you—family, friends, team—don’t just say things like “You rock” or “I love you.” Take it a step further. Tell them why. “I love you because you’re always there for me.” “I miss you because I love our long conversations.” Adding why makes your words meaningful. Try it. Be intentional and impactful—especially now when the world is hurting. Another: no one can tell you what you can or can’t do—unless you let them. You have the responsibility to accept or reject those words. I’ve heard from many clients, “My spouse didn’t think I could do it,” or “My parents said I couldn’t.” Mine told me I couldn’t start a pet sitting business—and look where that got me. Ask yourself: are they qualified to speak into your life? Do they matter? If not, cut that noise out. You are meant for amazing things. Next: don’t compare your first chapter to someone else’s twentieth. I see this constantly. People just starting out feel small compared to veterans—but you can’t compare. They’ve had years of effort and failure beneath the surface. The only person you should compare yourself to is you. My daughter taught me this when she was born at 12 ounces and spent 183 days in the NICU. Doctors said she wouldn’t survive, but she did. If I had compared her milestones to “normal” kids, I would’ve crushed myself. Nobody’s walked in your shoes. Nobody’s had your struggles. So only ask: am I better than I was yesterday, last week, last month, last year? Leadership and avoidance—avoiding issues never helps. Whether it’s health, relationships, or business,