Secrets Behind the Legacy of Think and Grow Rich

What is the secret to achieving your goals? Can you really think and grow rich? “Small Business Stacey” interviews Laura Noel to get the answers to these questions and more. #TheSmallBizLife #SmallBusinessInterviews

Episode Summary:

Welcome, everybody. Well, just another day in the life of a small business owner. Welcome. As you know, I’m Small Business Stacey and I am so excited to introduce my guest tonight. She is my dear beloved client, Laura Noel and she is amazing at fixing what’s up here (mindset) by helping small business owners Stretch Into Success, which actually just happens to be the name of her company as well.

So welcome Laura, how are you tonight? I’m fantastic. Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. You’re welcome. And those who are viewing us live, pop in, say hello. Let us know where you’re chiming in from and the name of your business. So, Laura, I could go on 20 or 30 minutes, just babbling on about you and how great you are. We don’t have that much time. So give us the quick intro. Who are you? What do you do? Who do you help?

All right, so I am a personal development and success coach. I also help businesses and I primarily work with business owners or people who are becoming entrepreneurs. Maybe they’ve had a certain level of success in their careers, but they’re kind of like all of us who are entrepreneurs, we’re like, hey, there’s got to be more to life than this. I need to create something on my own. And so I work with a lot of clients in that regard. I help them sort of get up out of their own way, and uplevel their thinking. So many people I work with, they have the tools to actually do the jobs that they want to do. They have the skills and technical knowhow, but you can have the best tools in the world and still not use that. And that the common denominator of success is, is you, you know, sometimes we stop ourselves from really getting to that next level. So I really help people bridge the gap between what they know how to do and what they actually do.

I love it. I love it. So that’s the personal you, but you know what, we’re on Facebook. So people want to know about the real you Laura. So I have some questions for you. Sure. Alright. Soup or salad?

Salad. Okay. A salad girl. I know you’re healthy. So I had to kind of have two healthy options in there. I love it.

Massage or facial?

Oh, that’s a tough one. I have to say massage.

Okay. And modern or rustic.

I’m leaning more toward modern. I changed.

I know. I can never tell from your background. You have a little bit of both.

I want it all.

She does want it all and she can help you get it all guys. All right. So Laura, we’re talking today about you know, Think and Grow Rich. Now we all know Napoleon Hill wrote the book and if you’ve read it, have a copy on your bookshelf. Go ahead and chime in on the comments and let us know.

Alright, got it right there. So you know we’re coming into Q4 and small business owners are really sort of thinking the home stretch. How am I going to achieve my goals this year and going into next year. So you know the name of that book Think and Grow Rich. Can you just literally do that think and grow rich at the end of the year, they’re going to be rich.

Well, it’s interesting because I like to say that success in your business and your life and your relationships, I’m gaining that momentum. It’s 90% mindset, honestly, and 10% the doing.

What I find is a lot of people, particularly at the end of the year, they work harder. They’re striving more and they’re frustrated because it seems like the hard work and they’re doing more and they’re getting stressed, but it’s not panning out when really they need to step back and really get into their mind and get a vision, a clear sight on what it is they want to create. And that’s really what thinking grow rich, the essence of it is really all about. Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 of the most successful people.

He was working with Andrew Carnegie in writing this book and Andrew Carnegie had him focusing on a goal statement and how he was going to, Napoleon hill, was going to be passed by him at the grandstand. Napoleon hill thought, well that’s crazy. But yeah, he kept everyday repeating that statement, having the vision of his goal in the forefront of his mind. That’s really what you’re doing, and it doesn’t really say it specifically, but you’re kind of reprogramming your habitual behavior, you know, your mindset.

Okay. Take on different activities than you normally would. So really it’s so important, more important to get the vision right and to really work on the mindset piece. The rest will follow. Don’t fall into the trap of, staying really busy and doing more and working harder, working smarter is the key.

Well, you sort of share how you’ve applied this in your life, in your business because you have a very interesting backstory. So how have you applied this into your business?

I was in the military for, gosh, 28 years and I did well. I had a great career and as you can imagine, you know, when you’re serving in the military, there’s a group paradigm, group beliefs, and a group image. And so I was aligned to that. I wasn’t aligned to becoming an entrepreneur. That’s not right. What my mindset was all about is that’s not how I grew up. And I met Mr. Bob Proctor. He’s now my mentor and I met him at a personal development seminar. I was looking for my purpose, looking to figure out, well, what do I want to be when I grow up? I have to retire at 30 years. I’m at the top-ranked the top echelon. I can’t get promoted any higher. It’s, I’m done after this.

He recommended that I get into coaching. He thought I’d be really good at that. And within a month I just said yes. Immediately, I was in the material within a month. Within three months, now I was planning on leaving my career in three years. Within three months I submitted my retirement and I went full force in becoming an entrepreneur. My goal that first year was to be in the six figures, and donating to charities that resonated with me and I’m doing this full time. And I did that. And I don’t say that to impress anyone because I don’t think that in and of itself is impressive. But I just want to impress upon anyone that I didn’t have the technical skills or the background to build and grow a business. I did exactly what the book Think and Grow Rich said. But my mentor said so many people, they read that book and they don’t know how to apply it, that the principles sound really interesting and they end up, oh wow, that’s really cool and that doesn’t work.

And so what Bob Proctor really understood was, and he realized, that it was him coaching and mentoring me, that repetition of a new idea, his vision for what he envisioned that pushed me forward. And that’s really what catapulted me into doing that within the first year. And then getting into multiple six figures, working half the time. That was my vision. That was my goal because I, you know, life is about living. It’s for me. I don’t know about a lot of the entrepreneurs here, but I think a lot of us, the common theme is we want to have freedom. We want to enjoy our minds, people, time with our families and travel and be creative and creatively express ourselves and share our gifts with the world. And when you have your sights on that vision, you could absolutely get there. That’s a place for you. This literally has changed my life. So from entrepreneur, from military service to entrepreneur, my life has done a complete 180.

Laura, you’re so right because you can either have a business lifestyle where those are the people working in their business, not on their business. Or you can have a lifestyle business and too many people sit there and wonder how do I get that freedom? How do I get that freedom? And you have a, I wrote it down here because I really want your opinion on it, you always say, we attract who we are not what we want. And what is your insight on that?

Well, all of our results.  Whatever we have in our lives now, as awesome as as it is, or even if we don’t want these results, everything is a direct reflection of what’s going on inside of us. And so our self-image is a part of that. And so we can never outperform our self-image. So just take for example, a simple example of somebody going on a diet, right? They know what need to do. They have a trainer, maybe they know what to eat, they’re reading the magazines, they’re following the guy for about two weeks. They start to lose weight and then slowly over time they backslide. It’s because they just changed their behavior, but they didn’t change the underlying cause of their behavior which is their thoughts, their thinking, their deep-rooted beliefs and their self-image. So we, you know, if you think about even the law of attraction, everything’s energy.

Our bodies are energy. The chair, I’m sitting in has energy, all made up of molecules vibrating at a high frequency. And so our, our thoughts, so we attract things that we’re in harmony with. So the law of attraction really works perfectly. You know, it’s not philosophy, it’s physics, it works perfectly. I am science of that. So if you want to change the results we’re getting, we have to change our thinking. We have to understand how we’re wired in our subconscious mind, how we’re programmed and we change our thinking. When we change our thinking in our beliefs on a deep level, then we’ll start to notice we’ll be more creative. We’ll start, taking on challenges that we never would have thought of before. People will come into our purview that we didn’t notice before, but they’re there to help us. And it’s the very thing we need to take our business to the next level. They’re all around us anyway, but it’s when we start really elevating our thinking, we start to notice them and take advantage of those opportunities.

You alluded to the person, the example of going to the gym or wanting to lose weight, right? And so it’s like a small business owner. It’s these ups and these downs, in these ups and these downs, and let’s face it in small business so many crap moments, right? It’s easy to get down on yourself because some of the people in my community are solopreneurs. They can cry to their dog but their dog’s not really going to help them through, and they’re sort of embarrassed to talk to their employees about it. Because employee just wants a paycheck. So how can you get through these crap moments when there’s nobody there to support you?

Yeah, you just brought up a really key idea here. If there’s nobody there to support you, one of the top mistakes that I’ve made initially and that I see a lot of entrepreneurs making is doing it by themselves. I mean they’ll invest in the tools and the technical know-how and the skills and the training, but their objects, right? Then they’ll find, well this isn’t working. I’m going to try this. I’m going to take this online course and do this. And what they’re not doing is they’re not investing in how they think and they’re not getting that coaching or masterminding, that support of likeminded people. I mean, you can only go as far as your level of awareness will take you. So think about it. If you’re an entrepreneur, I mean congratulations because there aren’t many people out there who are making it happen like you are. And so that’s an awesome thing. So your paradigms, your beliefs, your self-image got you to this point in your life, but your way of thinking that got you here is going to keep you stuck likely at some point. That’s why masterminding is so important because you’re leveraging the talents of likeminded people. And when you do that and when you get that coaching and support, you can literally skyrocket your results because you’re not just relying on yourself. We all have blind spots, right? And we all need that support.

I would say, you can probably push yourself to a certain level, but then you plateau and sometimes you need that kick in the rump or you need some that outside perspective from a coach or the challenge of a mastermind who’s gonna give you some tough love and maybe make you think of things from a different perspective because a lot of times you’re too close to it in your own business.

We, we tend to, I’ve done this in the beginning when I first started working with this mindset material, I was getting coached by the best, I can’t think of anyone better than Bob Proctor. There were moments where it looked like my external circumstances when I first was retiring from the service, my husband was going to get an assignment far away from me for only seven months and then he was gonna retire. So it looked like our pay was going to take a huge, a huge cut. And we were living in a high cost of living area in Hawaii at the time and I just had not planned on that. I invested a lot in working with Bob and in my business and I was afraid, and I think we can all identify with this too, but in the midst of my freaking out, I was in a tailspin.

I was writing down all these horrible financial scenarios. This would be the worst that could happen and then all right, but then this could happen and I was trying to like think of scenarios of how I would deal with it. That’s the worst thing to do, by the way, thinking of the worst-case scenario, but in the midst of all this. Then a couple of cards of other people’s declined and I’m like what? What’s going on? And I had to shake myself and my mentor, I was like what are you doing? My mentor suggested that I sit down and close your eyes, think about what you want to create. I had to shut out all the noise. Remember your results are a direct reflection of what’s going on inside of you. I was creating all that drama and it started with me, but when I got really centered, how do I want this to pan out, within two days I had two clients say, what do I owe you? And it was a few grand here and there and they’re like, can I just meet you for coffee and pay you? I’m like, okay. Yeah. And then the, my husband’s assignment, which should not have been canceled, got canceled. It was like all these things I didn’t see how they would possibly happen. They did. But what we do is we get so freaked out in the day to day with what’s in front of our face, and we think of all the solutions, how it’s gonna pan out with. The truth of the matter is, that’s the mechanical side. But there’s a whole another element that you want to call it, the spiritual side. We can’t box that in. There are so many ways in which your abundance can come to you and you can’t possibly know all of the steps as to how you’re going to get there and how it’s going to manifest. Your job is to just focus on what you want opposed to the clear cut case of when I was letting circumstances impact me versus let’s just focus on the end result. What do I want? And then the how just worked out. I didn’t see it coming.

Hmmm. So a small business owner, they really want to scale, but there’s this thing up, here again, you know, the mindset that that holds them back. Where should they start there journey? Do they work with a coach? Do they join a mastermind group? Maybe all of the above. But if, if they’re having some issues up here, where do you start?

Yeah, well, honestly, with the realm of possibilities, hire a coach, get in a mastermind of people who think like this. If it’s not, then I would start with allowing yourself to dream. Get out of your logical mind. Stop trying to pinpoint how you’re going to get from point A to Z, and then that’s not the right goal for you. I need you to think bigger. Think of it as a dream. So just get clear and create a fantasy in your mind of what you would your business to look like. How would it feel to scale to that level? What person would you need to become? How would you dress? How would you walk? How would you talk? And I need you to start being that person right now.

That’s a good starting point because when you can live from the end result of your goal, instead of thinking of it as a destination, energetically, you’re already in that space. You’re in harmony with your goal. Your job is to stay there. That’s why the coaching and mentorship so important because you’ll have freak out moments like I did. So your job is to stay there. But when you make a decision to reach a goal that puts you in harmony with it, and when you start acting like the person you want to become, but that doesn’t mean that you go out and buy a Lamborghini right now if you don’t have the means to do it. But if it’s part of your vision and dream, maybe you go test drive one, maybe you go look at one, maybe you go look at the home that you want to be in and feel what it feels like to be on the property.

So you start doing things that are in alignment with your vision. And when you do that, it’s kind of like if you want a red car and you can see any on the road and then you decide you want one, then they’re like all over the place, right? So that is true. That’s true. Same thing with your vision and your goal. When you get clear on what you want, don’t try to worry about the how. Just make a committed decision on what it is you want, right? And the side that you’re going to go for it. You’ll be in the grocery store and maybe somebody in line and back of you will be talking, you’ll overhear and it’ll be the exact thing you need to move you forward or you just, it’ll just open your awareness up to the possibilities that are around you and the avenues that you can take to get you to that next level. Yeah. If you want to fast track your results, hire a coach that deals in mindset, get in a mastermind and get there much quicker.

Sure. Absolutely.

Well, Laura, this is your brilliance. This is what you do. Can I put you on the spot and ask you to share an example of maybe a client who you’ve taken from here to here and your coaching and masterminding has helped them?

Yeah. when I was in Hawaii, I was on a news show and the girl that actually worked on the sales team there, she was Miss Hawaii 2015 I had no idea, but wow. Just stunning, wonderful person. And we met for coffee and she enrolled with my coaching right away. And within three months, she wasn’t even sure what she wanted to do. She had some things that she enjoyed, but within three months she left her job and she started her social media company. Within the first year, she was in six figures and already hired three people on her team. Her sister was one of them, also what she wanted was the freedom to travel around the world. So she has a style blog is as well. So she’s an influencer. It was crazy. It happened really fast, another client, Don and Jen, their business in real estate exploded. They didn’t really have that going on when we started working together. No, they were trying to find their way and figure out what they wanted to do. And I think they have off the top of my head over at 1.4 million in backing and the business had exploded. Oh really? Well and within a year, most importantly when you work with me, you’ll realize it’s not about the hustle.

It’s about getting a vision for the lifestyle. Like who wants to work? Nobody at the end of their days and think, geez, I wish I would’ve worked more.

You’re right. No, it’s about the lifestyle. It’s about why do we do this? It’s about enjoying life and really serving the world, sharing your gifts with the world in the best way possible. Not beating yourself up into the ground in the hustle. I like to say honor the hustle. So you got to put in the time and the work, but you’ve got to have that. You’ve got to have those things that you enjoy in your life too. So if there’s a couple of examples right there where I have a recent client who also transitioned out of a job and she’s always traveling, doing consulting. So it’s exciting. It’s exciting when you, when you get clear on your vision and you understand your paradigms and beliefs that are holding you back or keeping you stuck and do you understand that energy and you get that guidance, that’s when you make quantum leaps.

You’ve created such amazing transformation with your clients and it really all just starts up here (mindset). So as I understand it, you are launching a new program. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, actually I primarily work only with one with clients, but I wanted to offer something a little bit different for people who might not want the one on one coaching for an extended period of time. So I’m having a mastermind of it starting in September and it’s going to go for three months and we’re going to hit on a group call every week. It’ll be live, we’ll have Q and A’s. But the cool thing about it is I’ll take everyone on the process that I use, and that my clients use to take them from their goal and discovering to really what that vision is, to figuring out what their paradigms are, rebuilding their self-image, and getting in alignment with their goal. Working on their leadership and teaching them how to mastermind so that in three months you’re going to have tremendous results.

So it’s going to be a small group of people. I don’t want more than 12 in there because I want to have that open dialogue, but I will include the link here and share it with everyone. Um, it’s bit.ly/MastermindNow now with a capital m and a capital n for now, who knew that it was case sensitive link in there. But I’m really, really excited because it gives people an opportunity to work with me on a level if they’re not ready to do the one on one coaching, of course that’s an option too. So I’m inviting people to click on the link and so book a call with me so that I know that it’s the right thing. I want to make sure that we had the right fit of people in the group. I want to make sure that it’s what you and you’re willing to do the work and to be coached. And then of course, you know, you can always upgrade later if you want to do some one on one coaching.

Thank you for sharing. And to everybody out there, my group knows I’m always preaching the power of the mastermind. I belong to a mastermind group. I invest in myself.

And if there was only one tool I could have in my marketing arsenal, it would be the mastermind group. It really is that powerful. I can tell you Laura being my client. I hear her success stories every day. She is just transforming businesses and lives. So I really want to invite you to go to that link bit.ly/MastermindNow.

Okay.

Have a call with Laura. Let her know that you came from me and my group and she will gladly have a conversation with you. Now, Laura, when is this starting again?

It’s starting September 16th. However, I will say if this does interest you book a call now because I’m literally going out of the country on September 4th, so I want to get on call with you before I leave if possible, because my schedule is very wonky. I’m traveling and doing speaking engagements the entire month of September. And I wanna make sure that we have time to connect. Yeah. If for some reason you’re not able to book on my calendar, I want you to email me as well. So if you remember Laura@stretchintosuccess.com you can also reach me that way, but just book on the calendar. We can have a conversation, there’s no obligation. You’ll know what to expect. We’ll know if it’s a good thing and then we’ll get you rolling and I’m excited.

Awesome. Well thanks Laura for coming on. I want to give you the opportunity, any additional secrets of the Legacy of Think and Grow Rich that we missed that I forgot to ask you about.

Okay. No, I mean, I think the key is to not go it alone. Really. There’s no, there’s no glory and say no, I did it all by myself. It’s much more fun when you’re leveraging the talents of the people around you. And you can go much farther, much quicker. So don’t go it alone. You don’t have to be a lonely soloprenuer. There’s no excuse for that, so don’t do that.

That’s right. I always say one is the loneliest number. Yeah, checking in over here. Thank you everybody for tuning in. Hey Lindsay. Hey everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So thank you Laura for your brilliance and coming on live with everybody here today. We’re going to go ahead and sign off.

So this is Small Business. Stacey, your Small Biz Marketing Specialist here to help you get your marketing into action and help you become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz.