I Heart NY!

Have you ever been to New York City? 

A bit of advice: wear comfortable shoes!  Getting around the city is like walking a marathon.  But there is so much to do and see that you don’t realize your feet are wrecked until you finally collapse at night and wonder why you are so tired!

But I digress....

I was going to NY to attend the Flourish & Thrive LIVE conference for jewelry designers who are running their own jewelry business.  I have been taking classes from this community for the past year and my business has been growing with all that I have learned.  I was really excited to come to NY to meet the founders and coaches of the Flourish & Thrive Academy (F&TA) in person, as well as to meet face to face with fellow students that I have interacted with inside the Facebook group. 

The two-day conference was packed full of great speakers and panels focusing on different aspects of the industry.  From Brittany Hennessey, author of the book #Influencer, to Ingrid Hilke of Butterfly Revolution, I gained insight, know-how, and inspiration from all who spoke on stage.  Seeing fellow Thrivers on stage talking about the progression of their business was also amazing; they talked about where they were before joining F&TA, what they were struggling with, and what they have learned and overcome since joining. 

Boiling two days of jam-packed information down into a few highlights is pretty hard, but here are my Top 3 Takeaways: 

1. Community and Collaboration Over Competition—this is the belief that F&TA was founded on and one that I have always believed in. While it is not a new idea to me, it was so inspiring to really see it in action.  Every attendee was so willing to share ideas and know-how with everyone they connected with.  All of the trainers were happy to listen to any questions and give you one-on-one support.  The founders, Tracy Matthews and Robin Kramer, made every effort to meet and connect with all of us and give us their undivided attention.  Tracy even screeched and gave me a hug when I introduced myself—“OMG, you’re Holly B.!”  (We had connected online but had never met in person.)  When Robin found out my family lives near her, she told me to reach out next time I’m home so we can get together.  How amazing is that?  I will in turn look for more ways to incorporate this mindset into my business in order to pay this attitude forward.
2. “Our perception of reality is what is holding us back.”—This quote by Tracy Matthews really hit home for me. I have been doing a lot of mindset work over the last year to create a more positive reality and to identify and shift negative thought patterns that have been holding me back.  Hearing Tracy discuss this exact concept reinforced the notion that we all have the power to change our circumstances by changing our beliefs.
3. Your business income is like food; Focus on the veggies, and if you have extra eat some steak and potatoes!—I know, I know, this sounds ridiculous, but it’s true! Ingrid Hilke taught us about the Profit First method of running a successful business.  In other words, if you aren’t paying yourself first, you will never have a successful business.  So many of us are born into the idea that profit is somehow unmoral or greedy and therefore we mentally limit ourselves as far as what we think is okay to achieve. Changing your concepts around money is essential to understanding that the more you profit the more people you can reach and the more people you can help.  With this point of view, she discussed that in business, when money comes in, pay yourself first; this is like getting a veggie-rich diet full of the nutrients that you need in order to survive and flourish.  The money left after paying your salary (and employee salaries if that applies) goes towards taxes and operating expenses; when there is money leftover you can splurge on steak and potatoes—or buying materials and supplies!   

After the conference Lex and I spent some time with friends at a quaint AirBnB in upstate NY.  It was so nice to spend time with good friends and to get out of the city to see the incredible lush beauty of upstate.  Being from San Diego, we don’t get much exposure to the rich green and incredible plant life that the woods have to offer.  We went on a gorgeous hike which led into MA and ended at an incredible waterfall that reminded me of Hawaii except for the lack of palm trees! 

But the coolest thing was our incredible find at the river which ran behind our house—Chicken of the Woods mushrooms!  Our friends are very experienced foragers and mushroom hunters, so we felt safe harvesting these mushrooms—obviously don’t go picking mushrooms if you don’t have someone with you who knows what they are doing. 

If you ever have a chance to try these mushrooms, do it!  They are very hearty in texture with a mild flavor.  The texture is so similar to pulled chicken breast that it is a great “meaty” vegetarian option.  We coated ours with a gluten free batter and fried them to make “chicken” nuggets.  They were incredible!  You would hardly know you weren’t actually eating chicken!

Well, now that I am back home, I am so excited to put everything I learned at the conference to use! 

If you are interested in learning how I started changing my mindset as I talked about earlier, sign up for my Circle Newsletter for lots of mindset hacks and other ways to uplevel your life!