You are listening to My Freedom Grove podcast with Gretchen Hernandez, episode 98.

Welcome to My Freedom Grove podcast. The all inclusive podcast that teaches mindset and business tools. We'll help you rise as your authentic self. Be unshakable with your emotional freedom and unstoppable in achieving any goal and living your purpose. I'm your host, Gretchen Hernandez. If you want to put your mental health first in life, relationships and business, you've come to the right place.

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Hello, my strong friends. Hey, this episode is gonna become one of your most favorite episodes ever. Go ahead and download this to your phone right now. Anytime that you're feeling a little bit of a dip in your energy, feeling your negative critic starting to really beat up on yourself. This is gonna be the so you wanna listen to. I promise you. By the end, you are gonna be just bursting with love and happiness. It's gonna be your go-to. So go ahead and download it right now.

 

So you may find yourself always focusing on helping other people, helping them with their projects. You might even see them as a project. Do you ever find yourself feeling like there's nothing left for you?

You do all this stuff for other people. You're hoping that you're gonna get some energy coming back, maybe some appreciation from those other people, and it just doesn't happen. And you find yourself getting more and more low in your energy.

The problem is we keep putting ourselves on the back burner. When you find those shifts to allow yourself to be on the front burner, to take care of you first, you start to feel self-love. Oh my gosh. Yes. Self-love is aloud. It took me decades of my life to realize that that was okay. It wasn't a bad thing. That self-love is actually a good thing.

In this episode, I wanna introduce you to LeAnn Austin. She has this amazing program called Lovin Me that helps you to get past all of those roles of even allowing yourself a little bit of self-love. And it helps you to move even further so that you actually are feeling self-love. This is gonna help you in your life and in your business.

So again, download this episode, but start listening right now.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Hi LeAnn. Thank you so much for joining me today.

LeAnn Austin:

Thank you, Gretchen. I'm happy to be here.

Gretchen Hernandez:

We had the pleasure of getting to meet each other in Texas in November at the Fearless Business Workshop. And you know how, when you meet people, there's sometimes like you click and sometimes like you don't. But you and I, I was like, okay. Instant click.

LeAnn Austin:

I totally agree. Yes. Yes

 

Introducing LeAnn Austin

Gretchen Hernandez:

You were so fun. So please tell everybody all about you.

LeAnn Austin:

Ah, okay. Well, I'm LeAnn Austin, like you said. I live in Georgia, and I've lived here for the past 22 years and I love the south. I'm the mama of four boys and two daughter-in-laws and I have a husband and a dog and two grand doggies

Gretchen Hernandez:

I love at the grand doggies. It's so cute!

LeAnn Austin:

You know, I'm a life coach and I certified at the life coach school with Brooke Castillo, and I coach part-time for the Life Coach School. And then, I have my own coaching business where I help my clients become experts at loving themselves.

Gretchen Hernandez:

I love that topic. So one thing I hadn't shared with you was back in 2017; I was like having this horrible time in my life. And I decided that instead of doing all of these projects for everybody else, because I was a coach in biotech. So I was always doing tons of improvement projects, that I was gonna do Project Me. And so your Loving Me Program when I saw that, I just lit up because the amount of things that I've worked through for Project Me, I mean, it's been going on four or five years now, and I'm still working on Project Me, and it's been the best project of my whole life.

Gretchen Hernandez:

I love that name, Gretchen that's awesome. Project Me. I love it. So cool!

Gretchen Hernandez:

So one of the things that I like to talk with my clients about is how you can take any of your life obstacles, and you can turn it into diamonds. And I am curious if your coaching and your Lovin Me Program, did that come from obstacles in your life?

LeAnn Austin:

Yes. So I spent a large portion of my life believing that if I did more or I looked a certain way, or if I was better at something, then I'd be more valuable. But then, after learning about and becoming a life coach, as well as some Christian upbringing that taught me that, Hey, we're a hundred percent valuable and lovable all of the time/ no matter what we're doing or we're not doing.

LeAnn Austin:

I intellectually understood that, but I still constantly thought I gotta do better. I gotta weigh less. I gotta accomplish more. I gotta be smarter, and all these things. I started also becoming aware of some of my friends and how they talked to themselves, and they weren't really nice. They were really mean to them.

LeAnn Austin:

And I realized that I was doing the same thing, things that we wouldn't say to other humans, we were saying to ourselves. And I noticed that we were really good at loving and taking care of others, but we weren't very good at doing this for ourselves.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah.

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah. So that's kind of where I honed in on my coaching business. Hey, let's, let's focus on loving us because when we do that, it changes everything else.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Absolutely. Does. I'm curious - if it's okay, if I go down this route with you - when there are times in your past, when you were doing a lot, because you're like, oh, I have to do this. I have to do more. I have to do more. Once you did more, did you find that then you felt valuable?

LeAnn Austin:

Mm, that is a great question. No, because it was like never enough. You think it will be, but it's like just a little bit more just I should have done it this way or whatever. So yeah. Very good question. Yeah.

 

Learning to Love Me

Gretchen Hernandez:

So what were things that you tried along your journey? Because like, I know that it's not just one modality that we try. It's not just one exercise that we do in coaching. So what were some of the things that you tried along the way?

LeAnn Austin:

Well, for the weight thing, I tried every diet under the sun, because I was sure that, you know, Hey, thinner was better. Which thankfully, I know that is completely not true. So I'm glad I learned that. So I, you know, try different, different diet.

LeAnn Austin:

I've done some great things, but I would try in like leadership or organization or whatever. I would run myself ragged, not taking time to care for my needs or slow down. I would just keep trying to be better. And not that I had to be better than anyone else. I just felt like I needed to be better to feel like I was enough.

 

Dropping Judgement

Gretchen Hernandez:

Let me reframe my question a little bit. So what are things that helped you to get out out of that? So let's start with like the weight loss thing. So you tried a whole bunch of diets and then you found that wasn't giving you the feeling that you wanted for yourself, which is probably loving yourself. So what are some of the things that you started to do around weight loss that started to change how you saw yourself and your weight?

LeAnn Austin:

I started just being nice to me. I've had lots of experience with binging, so when I would have a binge, I would beat myself up for days, and I was always like really talking mean to me and saying, what's wrong with you. You can get other stuff figured out. You haven't figured out this. So I was just not very nice to me.

LeAnn Austin:

And that's one thing I'm like, I'm not the gonna talk to me. And still, my brain will go there now and then. But it's like, no, I'm not gonna say stuff like that to me because I just, I just don't operate that way anymore. So I think that was a big thing as far as weight loss. When I kind of dropped the judgment and realize that we're all beautiful, whatever we look like, and there's no correct size or shape or anything.

LeAnn Austin:

And so that to drop things for me and you know, like the judgment as far as that goes. And then just understanding the whole model that they teach at the Life Coach School, that my thoughts create my feelings, which fill my actions, which create my, I mean the whole thing. It was mind-blowing to me to be like, wait, my thoughts end up in my result line. I was like, who knew that?! So that whole concept was really kind of a life-changer for me.

 

Being Mean To Yourself Will Not Get You Where You Want To Go

Gretchen Hernandez:

I'm thinking if you're having any negative thoughts about yourself in weight loss, and I don't know if your thoughts were like mine because I definitely had the weight loss thing going for a long time too. I would hate myself. And I would say mean things like, you know, you're disgusting, or I'm trying to think of like some of the exact things because it's been so long since I've thought those things. But, I had recognized at point that with my binging, it was me punishing me as opposed to trying to feel better.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Because I remember going to a therapist, and I was talking to her, saying, why is it when I'm eating this food? It's like, I'm putting it in my mouth. Like I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. And she was like, oh no, people eat food for comfort.

Gretchen Hernandez:

I'm like, this is not comfort.

New Speaker:

And so, I don't think that she had ever experienced that. So when I'm having a thought of, you know, I hate you. I'm so disgusting. You know, any of that, my result is I'm taking the actions of punishing me. And my result is that I am showing myself a lot of anger and hatred by doing this, not love. And so one of the things I learned during the life coach school also was first to start with, I have a body. As opposed to like, I hate my body to I love my body. It was, I have a body. And it was like, okay, yeah, got one of those!

LeAnn Austin:

Then it's like, wait, all the things the body can do! Then did you notice that? I know with some of my clients, then it's like, I can see, or I can hear, or I don't know what your next step was, but that's fascinating. Yeah, yeah!

Gretchen Hernandez:

So it's like all of those little micro steps of, of course my body is doing this because of what I put in it, and I'm grateful my body is still moving and getting along and that it has put up with all of the stuff that I've put into it for a long time.

LeAnn Austin:

Yes. Yes. They're pretty miraculous. If you think about it, I mean, I know the way I've treated mine, it's like fact that you're still functioning after shoveling that much food in is amazing.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And so then, so the binging, so what kind of thoughts did you have that now make binging not even a thing.

Speaker 2:

It's kind of almost to in the moment I would go mindless. Like it was like some just like a relief to not think and not feel almost. Cause I would just keep eating and eating and almost go numb. So I don't know that consciously; I really understood the thoughts and things going on, but it was just kind of a mindless thing. But the beat-up really came very quickly after, you know?

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah. Yeah. So as soon as you decided not to beat yourself up anymore.

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah. Then it was like, wait, okay, this isn't what I wanna be doing. And the whole loving yourself instead of hating yourself there. Because I've had clients say, well, wait a second. I'll just have someone call me every day and tell me how fat I am. Well, you know, we can't operate like that. You know, that's not hating yourself. You know, when she said that to me, I was so surprised.

LeAnn Austin:

But she really thought, well, that would work. That would give me incentive. If someone's telling me every day, how fat I am, then that'll make me get thin. So it's just realizing that hating ourselves or being mean to ourselves is not a way to get us where we want go. At least not long-term. Now once in a while, you know, you have a mean coach or something like that, sometimes that works for people for a minute, but really not long-term. That's not what we want.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Absolutely not. Yeah. I found that any kind of self-hatred would just drive more of my depression. And then when you're depressed, sometimes you do turn to food for comfort. It's like, yeah, it might be a motivator to try not to be like that. But at the same time, you're causing mental health challenges for yourself, which will then relapse.

Gretchen Hernandez:

So, but I love your approach. You come at that with love and love for yourself. There's no depression that comes from self-love. There's celebration, but then there's other ways to celebrate, not just food.

LeAnn Austin:

Right, right. And it's fun to discover what those are.

 

Wearing Yourself Out Is Not Love

Gretchen Hernandez:

So you had mentioned also like leadership things. Can you tell us more about that?

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah. I do some community things in the area. We have a nativity thing here every year. And so I was in charge of that for five or six years, and I would just pour my heart and soul into that, which I love. But I also noticed I would just exhaust myself. And it's like almost too much to the point where you know what I'm gonna love me and take care of me and kind of set up boundaries where I'm not doing what everyone else wants me to do. I'm doing what I can do. And so just figuring that kind of out. Being gentle and loving with me and, you know, that kind of thing.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Because wearing yourself out, that's not love.

LeAnn Austin:

Right. Exactly. And sometimes we don't think that, especially when we think we have to do more and more and more, you know?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah. And you're pouring all of that effort in because you're showing everybody else so much love, and then your cup empties. Because it's like you're hoping that, you know, when we pour all the love out to these other people, they're gonna give love back, and it's gonna fill the cup.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't, but overall you know that you're depleted of all of your energy. There's no love there. You're exhausted. You might be falling asleep earlier and not being able to do the things that you really wanna do for yourself.

LeAnn Austin:

Yes! Yes, exactly. Yeah. Well, and sometimes you don't even know what you like either, because you're always so busy trying to do things for other people.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah, absolutely. One of the great things about us as coaches is that we're multifaceted, and we can bring all of our previous experiences and passions together to create our own unique offerings. And I notice something that was unique about you with your certifications.

 

Faith-Based Coaching

Gretchen Hernandez:

Not only do you have your life coach certification through the Life Coach School, but you also have a faith-based certification. So can you share what exactly that is and how you use that in your coaching?

LeAnn Austin:

Yes! Yes. I had the opportunity last year to take advanced coaching certification with Jody Moore, and she specializes in Christian values, which I believe in as well. And it was such an amazing opportunity to work with her clientele and learn from her. And she taught us a variety of tools to take our coaching to the next level, as well as not letting our beliefs or biases interfere with our coaching.

LeAnn Austin:

So I simply just hold space, allowing my clients to experience and see whatever they believe and that the way that everyone interprets religion or doctrine or chooses to live is a personal matter. And the way I coach my clients can help empower them to make these choices from a clean place, not from guilt or obligation, or resentment, which sometimes comes up in religious upbringing. You know?

LeAnn Austin:

My favorite takeaway that I learned from Jody in this training was the equation she taught. And for math brains out there, it's awareness plus acceptance equals empowered. And I love love, love that. And I use that in all my coaching it's that awareness and the acceptance. Often we have one or the other, but to have awareness and acceptance, that's when we have the power.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh, that is so good. I love that you can help people from any type of background, any kind of belief. I haven't gone through Jody’s program, but I made assumptions that I had to be in the same church that she was in, in order to have her coaching.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And so you've just opened my mind because I believe in diversity and inclusion, and so everybody's allowed to believe whatever they want to believe. I just wanna help them to not suffer. And in a lot of the religions, there is suffering involved.

LeAnn Austin:

Exactly, exactly. And she will coach anyone as well and me as well. It doesn't matter if you believe in God or the universe or creator or none of those; it’s just the opportunity to strengthen your emotional muscles and to really become aware of and accept right where you are.

 

Love Others AND Love You

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh wow. Okay. Now I feel compelled to share another little something just because in case somebody else out there is struggling with this too. I was brought up by a mom that was brought up as Catholic, but they had a falling out with the Catholic church.

Gretchen Hernandez:

My generation was allowed to pick any religion that we wanted to. But of course, there's some fallback, right. With, with my mom of like some of the things that she would say, like, you know, praying or whatever. And so sometimes she would pray, sometimes she wouldn't, but it was still something I was aware of that people pray to God for things. And so, going back to the loving me thing, I always thought, why would I take up his time asking for my stuff? There's people out there that need help so much more than I do.

Gretchen Hernandez:

So I felt that it was selfish of me to pray for anything. And so I also, I'm more of like the follower of the universe as opposed to believing in God or, you know, following any of that. But I thought that was something that definitely falls into the realm of this. It would be selfish of me to pray and want anyone to help me because other people out there need help more.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Even when I was at my worst point and I was feeling suicidal at that point, I was kind of praying, but it was because I knew that I was helping so many people, which was part of why I got to that point is I was so overloaded on my plate, and there was nothing left for me. That then, in that hour of desperation, I was praying. But it was like, am I praying to God or universe? I don't know; to me, they're kind of the same thing, but it was only in that absolute worst moment that I was willing to pray.

LeAnn Austin:

Interesting. Interesting. Well, and I think too, for those who do believe in the basic commandments of the Bible, you know, love God and love neighbor as thy self. I'm Christian, and I believe my basic thing is love God, love others, love me. But I think that's the key part, right there?

LeAnn Austin:

God does want us to love ourselves. He does whatever form or whatever you believe in praying. It's not selfish. That loving ourselves comes first because then we are able to love others and to love whatever religious or non-religious thing we believe in.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah. And where I started to have a turning point when it came with that was when I started doing all of the Project Me, and I was looking at Townsend and Clouds books on boundaries. And I don't know if you've looked at those ones at all. They have several different versions of it, very Christian-based in everything that they talk about. And so at first, it was a bit of a turnoff for me, because I'm like, well not, that's not my religion, you know? Like I've I wanna talk about the universe, not that!

LeAnn Austin:

But it was so pivotal in what they were saying because they were like, yes, God wants you to help other people, but not at the expense of yourself. He wants you to help others and you. And just putting it that way. It was like, oh, because everything that I had read or heard through, you know, whether it was on TV or you know, Christmas carols or whatever, it was always help others help others help others help others.

Gretchen Hernandez:

So I got it in my mind that it was a sin or something really bad to help yourself. And so then when they were saying that of no, God wants you to help others and you. It was like, oh, it was like giving me permission that that was okay. Because I didn't believe that it was okay. Because that's not how I had been hearing it.

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah. And it so is! It's like love us and love us first basically and nourish and love us because the effects of that transforms everything.

Gretchen Hernandez:

I love that you're able to bring life coaching and faith-based coaching together.

LeAnn Austin:

And the beauty of coaching is it doesn't matter what you believe or don't believe in. I mean that's so I think unique is just that space for everyone to just figure out their own thing. It doesn't matter, you know, what your coach or whatever believes, because they're just there to hold that space and to help you see what's going on in your mind.

 

Before LeAnn Worked For Life Coach School

LeAnn Austin:

So you weren't always an entrepreneur, correct?

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yes, I wasn't correct. Yes

Gretchen Hernandez:

So can you share, what did you do before you were an entrepreneur and before you worked for Life Coach School.

LeAnn Austin:

Okay. About 25 years ago, I taught elementary school. And I taught elementary school first, second, third grade for six years. And then after that, I stayed at home to raise my boys. And when they were in high school, that's when I started learning what a life coach even was. I'd never even heard of a life coach before.

LeAnn Austin:

And then I dived into getting my own being certified, all of that kind of thing. And I'd really never thought about an entrepreneur before. It took me a long time before I could even say that word! I'm like, sometimes I stumble over entrepreneur.

LeAnn Austin:

So after I certified at the Life Coach School, and then I was watching how other life coaches were sharing, and the amazing tools that they were doing, and how me focusing on my mental and emotional health was changing my life. I'm like, I gotta share this. This is awesome.

LeAnn Austin:

So, you know, I got a job at the Life Coach School, teaching the coaching the scholars part-time. And then I observed through those clients, like really the lack of so many of our problems is self-love. That's at the root that's, you know?

LeAnn Austin:

And so I'm like this, I love this subject. I love teaching loving ourselves. I just think that just rings true to me. And so I knew that that was what I wanted to do. So that's kind of how I started my own thing.

Gretchen Hernandez:

I love that because there's been times I've thought about working for the Life Coach School, too, just because it really changed my life significantly. I didn't know about the life coach industry either until 2017, when I was having a really, really rough time in life.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And I found Brooke through a Facebook ad, and at the time, I never was getting Facebook ads in my feed, but I was there like, please, I was at my wits end, and I was like, there has to be something like, please help me. I'm I'm ready to just like check out of this one world. Please give me something. And all of a sudden, ads for the Life Coach School were coming up, but it was for a book that she wrote. That was called If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?

New Speaker:

And at the time I wasn't trying to lose weight. I was just trying to manage everything because I was giving to everybody else and not giving enough love back to myself. So that's when I started to read it and I was like, life coach, like what the heck is a life coach? I didn't know that either.

Gretchen Hernandez:

So it's been a wonderful journey. And so I've thought many times about working for the Life Coach School, but at the same time, I'm like, but I wanna do things my way. And I have everything that I learned from going through Project Me that I wanna give back to the world because I'm now a person that lives without depression. I never thought that was gonna be the case for me. I was diagnosed at 19, but I also have over a decade of experience with business coaching.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And I was like, okay, I can combine both of these and teach my way because there's stuff that I do that the Life Coach School doesn't do, and you wanna honor your employer and make sure that you're teaching their methodology, but there's all of that. That's so good. But we each have something else to offer. And so I love that you decided to do that too.

Gretchen Hernandez:

It's like you started with Life Coach School still there because it's such a great experience, but you have more to offer. And with your teaching background, it's an obvious choice. You have the skills to do this, and you have all of your experience behind you.

 

Learning Entrepreneurship

Gretchen Hernandez:

But with entrepreneurship, what's everything you had to learn?

LeAnn Austin:

Oh my goodness. Well, and I love how you, Gretchen took your unique things. I think that's the beauty of life coaching. We all have everything unique and authentic that we bring to the table, and it's like, we all get to do our own way, you know, whatever that may look like.

New Speaker:

And I have the perks of being able to do both the Life Coach School and my own thing, but I love, yes. I love how we can all take our unique thing. And I love that you've created from that.

LeAnn Austin:

But the biggest challenge for me, well, there was a lot. I'm responsible for everything. I don't even know what everything is, you know, to be responsible of. So that was kind of like what? My son helped me create my website and my program. So he's doing all the computer stuff and I try and pretend like I know stuff once in a while.

LeAnn Austin:

And I was quite a perfectionist. I have been. There's still a few little tendencies now and then, but so for me to wrap my brain around that, everything didn't have to be a plus and I had to get real comfortable with just doing B work. You know? B- sometimes just putting it out there is better than nothing. So that was big for me.

LeAnn Austin:

And then just putting myself out there, you know, just being vulnerable to people knowing what I'm doing and, and just kind of putting my life out for everyone to see was something that is really been a challenge. So, very rewarding!

Gretchen Hernandez:

That's a big one for a lot of people. So not only the people that I coach but also in the different communities that I'm in, I see it all the time. People not feeling comfortable being visible. So I think that's where that self love also comes in. There used to be a time that I didn't wanna put any of my pictures up, because when I'd look at my pictures, I couldn't stand how I look. And now I can look at a picture, and I'm like, oh, I love me.

LeAnn Austin:

I love, love, love that Gretchen. That's awesome.

 

Getting Comfortable With Being Visible

Gretchen Hernandez:

So how did you get comfortable with being so visible?

Speaker 2:

Oh, it really has just been practice. It's just like, let's just throw it out there. And I know this is kind of how we connected a little bit in what I started doing, and I'll just mention this. I had to just tell myself I'm going to do something, whatever it may be. And I thought I gotta get used to being on screen. And so I thought I'll do this. I'm not really tech savvy and not very comfortable doing spontaneous videos or showing myself on camera.

LeAnn Austin:

And so, about a year and a half ago, I decided that I wanted to get better at social media and get better in front of a camera. And I love acronyms. Like I love acronyms. I love writing words and I thought a good way to commit to doing something would be Teaching Tidbit Tuesday.

LeAnn Austin:

That's what I came up with teaching. So I value, you know, consistency and growth. And I'm like, okay, no matter what, every Tuesday I'm gonna do just a little video to make myself be in front of a camera and just to do it. And so I started doing this for a while, and I was then, where I met you, going to some coaching events.

LeAnn Austin:

I started going, and I thought maybe some other people would do a Teaching Tibit with me. Maybe that would; we could connect that way. And then they could teach my audience some awesome things that they were doing in their coaching business. And this was something that, again, just pushed me outta my comfort zone. You know, I know discomfort is the price of growth.

LeAnn Austin:

And so I'm trying to always look for ways to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And this was a way to do it.

LeAnn Austin:

So I just started wherever I was at asking other coaches, like you saying, Hey, you wanna do Teaching Tibit with me? And I'd stand next to them and hold my phone up. And you know, I still haven't mastered my approach when I talk to them, but I just keep asking. And most of the time, coaches are just thrilled to help me out and share something that they teach their clients.

LeAnn Austin:

And I love that everyone gets to learn more about coaching. And that pursuing connection to me, with others and with myself, I think that's just a beautiful opportunity to do both of them,

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh, I absolutely love that because there's so many aspects to that that helped you to grow, helps your audience helps other coaches. I mean, that's a beautiful thing.

Gretchen Hernandez:

But let's focus first on how it helped you to get comfortable. I think this is an amazing experiment that you decided because, yeah, it's hard to get in front of a camera. It's hard to commit to it. It's hard to know what to say, and it's just, it feels awkward. And so you decide to just give yourself that challenge and then you found like another little twist on it, of bringing in these coaches.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And so it really resonated with me because in the very beginning, when I started my business, I started my membership and I didn't really believe that people out in the world would want coaching with me as like, like that would be the diamond that they were looking for. I know this sounds really strange. Like now that I'm looking at it, like, this is so silly.

Gretchen Hernandez:

So I focused more on talking about, well, you'll get the community, and you'll get all this other stuff. Oh yeah. And then you get me. And what I found was that people would come into the membership, and they weren't interested in anything except for the time with me. And it was like, what?

LeAnn Austin:

I love that!

Gretchen Hernandez:

And I had had that experience in corporate. Like they weren't interested in any of the other stuff. It was just, they just needed me to show up and be there with them. And then all the magic happens.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And so with you, it's like you were doing the same thing where I was where it's like, okay, well it's the community or it's this other thing, but it's enough because it's like, it's getting you out there. And eventually it evolves where you're like, oh my gosh, no, I was the diamond the whole time that everybody's looking for.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And you're teaching tidbit. You're my favorite part out of all of 'em. Even when you do the interviews with other people, the way that you're like, hi, y'all I'm like, oh, I just binge watch like all of 'em! Like anytime that I'm starting to feel a little bit ehh I'm like, I'm gonna go over to LeAnn's Instagram page, and I'm gonna watch all of these Teaching Tidbits, and it's just, Ugh!

LeAnn Austin:

Ah, thank you. That's so sweet. Yeah. They're, they're fun. And it really, it's just a matter of me putting myself out there and getting more comfortable with that and knowing that some of them, as you can see, I look terrible. I've got rain going on. I got everything, but it's like, people don't care. We all just wanna connect and be human. We don't have to dress up, be perfect all the time.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Exactly. It's life. Yes. Right? Yeah. You know, we're life coaches. We coach in all aspects of life. And so sometimes we role model what life looks like. Yes. Sometimes you get caught in the rain. That's just part of it. That's part of life.

LeAnn Austin:

Yes. Yes. So true. I love that.

Gretchen Hernandez:

There was another growth opportunity that you gave when you were doing this to me. So when we were there at the fearless business workshop, and you're like, Hey, Gretchen, would you like to do one of these teaching tidbits with me?

Gretchen Hernandez:

One of my challenges is being succinct, and you're teaching tidbits are small. You're like one minute or less. Right? And so I had to quickly go, okay, can I actually do this? Can I deliver something in one minute or less? And have it be something that helps people. So I really appreciate that you gave me that opportunity because afterwards I was like, yes, I did it. I did it. So it was like this total victory over one small video. It was the impact that you have is huge. I wanna thank you for that!

LeAnn Austin:

Oh my goodness. Thank you. And thank you for doing it. It's so fun. I love that.

 

Being An Entrepreneur Is Just A Science Experiment

Gretchen Hernandez:

In what ways would you consider being an entrepreneur and act of self-love?

LeAnn Austin:

I think just knowing that I can accomplish anything I wanna do. That to me is like really loving me and taking care of me. Just that knowledge. Like you can do whatever you want. It may not look exactly how you think; it may take longer. You may be all over the place, but that is one way; I think it's a huge act of self-love.

LeAnn Austin:

And then also just, just learning that being an entrepreneur is just a science experiment. It's just like, let's just try this. We don't know how it's gonna go, but that's okay. Yeah. It's like not making it mean anything about us. It's just, let's just try and tweak, and we'll figure it out.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh, that is so good. I just wanna hug you right now. One of the things that I've talked with some of my clients about is that it's a choice too. Being an entrepreneur is a choice that you make for yourself because everybody's so worried about failing. And well, what if I put in the effort and, like, it doesn't work out. So it's like, no, it's a choice that it's going to work out, and I'm willing to do all of those experiments to figure out how it's gonna work out. It's already predetermined. It's it's a given that it's gonna work out. We just don't know exactly what that final combination looks like.

LeAnn Austin:

Exactly! And we can just love ourselves while we figure it out. Yeah!

Gretchen Hernandez:

Exactly. And that was one of the huge things that I got from when I first started with Brooke. I had never thought I was going to be an entrepreneur coach. I had a six-figure position in corporate as a business coach. So why would I wanna go be an entrepreneur?

Gretchen Hernandez:

Why would you give up the golden handcuffs to go and do something like this? Where it's like, you don't know how long it's gonna take. You don't know all of the different experiments. You don't know all of the knowledge on how to do all of the stuff, but I thought I wanna do this for me.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And when I first started my why in business was a lot on, I wanna do this for other people, everything that I got of Project Me. I wanted to give that to other people. I wanted them to have project them so that they could get out of any struggles that they were having. But then I realized along the way I was doing this for me too, because to learn how to be self-sufficient is incredible. That is one of the biggest gifts that you can give to yourself.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Now you're no longer dependent on other people for employment or for your livelihood. You know how to go out and do this stuff.

LeAnn Austin:

Yes, yes. I love it.

Gretchen Hernandez:

So it's interesting that in a business, the why behind the business because can be because you wanna love yourself that much and do it for yourself.

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah. And don't you even just, I mean, the fact that you've done all of these things, your own business, doesn't it just make you love yourself even more? Like, I don't know. What do you think?

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh absolutely. Oh my gosh. Yes. The amount of pride that I feel for myself of everything I've figured out along the way, it's like, yeah, there's still more that I have to figure out. Like I really wanna get really good at bookkeeping. Like I have enough where it's like, okay, everything works, but I wanna get really good at it where it's like totally dialed in, you know?

Gretchen Hernandez:

And it's like, who would've thought something like that. I'd be like, oh, I'm so proud of myself. And I love myself for doing this. But yeah, like every year I get further and further away from any depression, and it's like, that gap has closed, and it's all about gain the amount of self-love. I never thought I would have all of this for myself.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And one of the things that I worried about in going down this journey, especially with getting visible, showing pictures of myself, was other people, people considering me to be a narcissist, right? Because if you have a lot of pride in yourself, a lot of self-love, we've seen so many people out there that are labeled as narcissists. It's like, well, I don't want people to think that about me.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Is that something that you've had to delve into in any of the work that you're doing?

LeAnn Austin:

Not a lot, but sometimes, I mean, typically, when people are working with me, they want to get better at loving themselves. But I think that's interesting that sometimes that perception of, well, wait, if you love yourself, then you're whatever conceded and stuck up and all the, you know, all the things. But really when we're just aware of what's going on and we want to just up-level ourselves, that's not a negative thing.

LeAnn Austin:

Self-love is the root of all love; self-love is the basis. And when we love us, then we're better able to love all the other humans around us. So that loving ourselves helps us improve our relationships with everyone else.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah. I can definitely see that. And yeah, it feels so much better to be able to love freely

Speaker 2:

<laugh> yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Yep. One of the things that I use to try to help myself get over that hurdle too, of like, well, wait a minute, are they gonna think I'm narcissist? The folks that I see that are not entrepreneurs that were posting tons and tons and tons, a few of them became my clients. And what I found was they were posting over and over and over and over again because they were trying to find self-love. They didn't actually have it.

Gretchen Hernandez:

It was like, you're practicing, trying to act as if you do. So that you, you could eventually get there and learning that part, it was like, oh, okay. That's, that's something. I'm thinking, oh, they must be totally into themselves or whatever. That's not it at all. They were having a lot of depression and self-doubts and all of the inner critics and everything. So they'd put out these pictures thinking, okay, maybe this one I'll start to feel good about myself.

LeAnn Austin:

Right. They were looking for that external validation. It's like, Hey, when really it's wait a second. If wejust look inside and figure out inside and love us inside, we have everything we need right there.

 

The Lovin Me Program

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Can you tell me more about your Lovin Me Program?

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah, I'd love to. So I created this just because a few times I had some consults of clients who they wanted to work with me, but they weren't able to pay for the one-on-one coaching. So I'm like, I need to figure out something where I can get whoever is interested in practicing loving themselves. And that encompasses almost everyone really. In some way or another, but what could I do that everyone could be a part of?

LeAnn Austin:

So making it a membership was a perfect way for me to to reach a wide range of incomes and empower more clients with that.

LeAnn Austin:

Part of my Lovin Me Program is once a week; we do a weekly coaching. And this is where I coach individuals one-on-one, but we're in a group setting. They still get that individual coaching, but other people are able to learn from that. And that is my favorite way to coach and to be coached.

LeAnn Austin:

Because when I have the opportunity to see someone else and learn from them, even if the situation isn't exactly the same, I can grab things that apply to wherever I'm at in my life. And then, my clients always have the option to remain anonymous, to turn their camera off. So they're able to coach with me one-on-one, but in more, everyone gets to learn from it.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Love that.

LeAnn Austin:

I think it's a great way to coach! The program, we have a course on the model. So I teach the model from the Life Coach School, just little short, two to five minute videos with worksheets. So you really understand circumstance, thought, feeling, action, result. That gets really solidified in your mind. And that's kind of the foundation of all this emotional and mental strength.

LeAnn Austin:

So I like clients to be able to have access to that whenever they want and go back and look at that. And then there's also in there, another course on just loving yourself and ways to strengthen and love yourself. And then we have Ask A Coach. You can ask me questions anytime. There was a private Facebook membership for those who like to do that kind of stuff you don't have to.

LeAnn Austin:

And then some bonus content that I throw in there now and then. And then the one other thing too, in the weekly coaching every month, I'll teach a new concept at the beginning of the month. Which I love doing I'm being a teacher, you know, and finding and discovering new concepts.

LeAnn Austin:

Like this month, we did listening. And I love, you know, the best way to love someone is to listen and anyway, super, super fun stuff. So that's, that's my program, and it's only $29 a month or $299 for the whole year. And so it's just a great opportunity and affordable to everyone.

Gretchen Hernandez:

That is the best because I love the... There's so much, that's the best about that!

Gretchen Hernandez:

The affordability of it is huge. I also have that same type of approach with life too, is that yet some people, they really do wanna have that one-on-one, but costs should never be a barrier. And having these membership models is a way that people can have that access for as long as they want to. It's something that's affordable. It builds into their regular monthly routine of expenses. And now they have that extra support.

New Speaker:

And I love that you've broken it up. So they still get that one-on-one. It's just now in a way that's affordable. And then I completely agree with you about what a wonderful experience that is to be in a group setting. Even though you're doing the one-on-one, but to be there with other people, because I've been in those settings too, where someone else is getting coached, and I'm sitting back, oh, this doesn't apply to me.

Speaker 1:

It might be a completely different circumstances. Like they might be talking about, I don't know, taking their dog out for a walk or something. I mean, something like random, and all of sudden, I'm like, oh my gosh, this explains my relationship with a boyfriend from like, when I was in high school that I was still suffering from! It's like, what, how does that happen?

Gretchen Hernandez:

So having that group experience, it's great because you never know what's gonna come up because stances do lead to those thoughts. And those thoughts, we might be having those same thoughts that came from a different circumstance. But now, when you can see it of how it can pop up in different places, you're like, wait a minute. What is going on?

Gretchen Hernandez:

And then they get to watch you on how you help to coach that person out of that, into something that works for them. And that may be the exact same shift that that person needs for getting over. The thing that happened with their boyfriend back in high school.

LeAnn Austin:

Yeah! Exactly. Yes. Yeah. It's a group one-on-one. Togetherness is a beautiful thing.

 

LeAnn’s Favorite Breakthroughs

Gretchen Hernandez:

Yeah. It is. What are some of your most favorite breakthroughs that you've had with clients?

LeAnn Austin:

Okay. This one, this one, really hit home, and I'm trying not to get teary about it, but I had a client fairly recently that she was sitting in her vehicle with a gun in her lap, ready to commit suicide. And she had one friend that she thought I'm just gonna call her before I do this. And thankfully, that friend picked up the phone and talked to her. And that friend is a good friend of mine. And she said, listen, I don't know how to help you, but I know LeAnn could help you, and I'm gonna connect you with her.

LeAnn Austin:

And so we live in completely different states, you know, it just amazing. So we were able to connect, and I talked to this sweet lady. She could not tell me one thing she loved about her. It took a week for her to just one thing.

LeAnn Austin:

She was so in a place where she couldn't even go there. And after a week, she started figuring out some things that she loved about her. And it was interesting just a few weeks ago, in our conversation, she's like, I love me. I love me.

LeAnn Austin:

So yes, watching that transformation from her to where she was at to where, you know, where she is now. And it's just simple things that we do that, you know, just solidifying the love for us.

LeAnn Austin:

I know my favorite thing to teach my clients that I love that if you get nothing out of this podcast, I hope you remember. This is every time you turn a light on, tell yourself something you love about you. So I get up in the morning, and I turn the light on, and I'm like, LeAnn, I love your beautiful smile.

LeAnn Austin:

Or I walk into my office, and I turn the light on and say, LeAnn, I love how you showed up for that client today. Or I'm outside. And I'm looking at the sun, and I'm like, oh, LeAnn, I don't know about how you talk to that adult child, but that's okay. I love you anyway.

LeAnn Austin:

So it's not that I'm doing things perfectly, but I'm constantly through that little light switch or seeing the sunshine, reinforcing all the things I love about me. And teaching that to my clients and watching them incorporate that however they do in their world and just emphasizing all the amazing things about 'em that is just so rewarding for me.

Gretchen Hernandez:

This is life-changing stuff you're doing. And I love that you were able to come up with that one simple thing because we do turn on light switches every single day. To incorporate that as a daily routine or multiple times a day, something that simple, although it sounds simple, right. You know, the flipping on and off of a light switch is simple.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Getting used to saying something that you love about yourself. It can take a while, but they have you to help them get there. And then they're probably gonna be looking for light switches all over the place. They're like, yes, I love this and this and this and this and this and this.

LeAnn Austin:

Yes, exactly. And I tell 'em too if you get frustrated, you just go stand by that light and you turn on and off and on and off and on and off. So sometimes it looks like that, but it's amazing.

 

Connect with LeAnn Austin Coaching

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh my gosh, that is just the best, the best ever. So how can people meet you and find out all about you?

LeAnn Austin:

Just go to my website LeAnnAustin.com. And there, it has all the information about my Lovin Me Program. And there is a free email I do every week. What's Up weekly Wednesday that you can get, if you wanna just kind of see little tidbits I share every week.

LeAnn Austin:

And also, I follow me on Instagram and Facebook. LeAnn Austin Coaching. You can see all my start out videos. I'm Teaching Tidbits; they’re all there. And you can see Gretchen on there, and it's super fun to see, you know, just learn little tidbits that'll help you become better at loving yourself.

Gretchen Hernandez:

That is so good. And I'm gonna put all of the links on the webpage for this episode so that it's super easy for people to get right over to you.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And as a final question for you, how can loving yourself help you as an entrepreneur?

LeAnn Austin:

I think probably just remembering to start small, just one thing at a time. So we don't have to do everything all at once. That's an act of loving ourself. And then also, no matter what you're doing, if you love yourself all along the way, it's gonna work out beautifully.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Oh, so good. So good! For anyone out there who has a New Year's resolution to do something like Project Me, you have to go get into LeAnn's program. Because you can do this on your own, but it's so much easier when you have someone that can guide through all of it and has all of this as extra experience and all of these tidbits and tricks along the way to help you get there.

Gretchen Hernandez:

2022 can be the year that you just absolutely fall in love with yourself and fall in love with your life. And it can be the best year ever, huge turning point in your life. So please reach out to LeAnn.

Gretchen Hernandez:

And LeAnn, I wanna thank you so much for coming onto the show today. And, I'm so grateful that I got to meet you.

LeAnn Austin:

Awe, same to you Gretchen. Thank you. I appreciate it!

LeAnn Austin:

I'm curious. How do you feel now that you have listened to this whole episode of the conversation between myself and LeAnn? Don't you feel so full of love and hope right now? I bet it's a marked change from how you felt at the very beginning of this.

Gretchen Hernandez:

This is why I'm saying this is gonna become one of your most favorite episodes ever download it to your phone; make sure you listen to it a lot. In fact, if you know other people who would been benefit from having this feeling that you're feeling right now, please share this episode with them. In fact, put it out on social media. Just copy the link to the URL for wherever you're listening to this, throw it into your Facebook page or your Instagram page. Share it with other people.

Gretchen Hernandez:

Other people need to feel this kind of love. Now make sure that you go and check out LeAnn and her Lovin Me Program. Go to her site LeAnnAustin.com. You can also find her Instagram. She's at LeAnn Austin Coaching. So you will want to reach out to her program. Sounds amazing.

Gretchen Hernandez:

My friends, I wish you tons and tons of self-love. I hope you have a wonderful week and I will talk with you next week. Bye-bye

 

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Thank you for listening to My Freedom Grove podcast.  I can't wait to work with you directly. I'll help you to be your authentic self, to have amazing relationships and to live your purpose. I invite you to check out Unshakable Men and Unshakable Women. The Unshakable programs will give you all of the tools, the coaching and the community to help you rise in life, relationships, and business. To learn more, go to my freedom grove.com/workwithme. I can't wait to see you there.