IAM395- CEO and Entrepreneur Focuses on The Importance of Spiritual & Emotional Health

Stephanie is a three time CEO and Entrepreneur who dropped out of the 9-5 grind after her intuition went from a soft whisper to a loud roar. She created Free Earth Photography in 2014 where her work was featured on platforms such as The Weather Channel, Travel Channel, and Air BnB. After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease shortly after, she reversed her illness by herself and went on to become a Holistic Health Coach at her Private Practice, Evolve2Health where she published a book helping thousands of people to this day, Thyroid First Aid Kit. Through working 1:1 with clients, she quickly realized the importance of spiritual & emotional health, and Lightworkers Lounge was born…

• CEO Hack: Going out and living
• CEO Nugget: Everything you learned about 9-5 lifestyle is untrue
• CEO Defined: Being an example, a leader not a manager and bringing joy to the world

Website: https://lightworkers-lounge.com/

Instagram: @lightworkerslounge and @stephanies_destiny
Thyroid First Aid Kit: https://www.amazon.com/Thyroid-First-Aid-Kit-thyroid/dp/1979604215/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=thyroid+first+aid+kit&qid=1564789471&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today Stephanie Powers of Lightworkers Lounge. Stephanie, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Stephanie 0:39

Thank you for inviting me to Gresh I'm so excited to be here. I'm ready to share nuggets of wisdom with your audience.

Gresham Harkless 0:46

Awesome. I definitely appreciate you. Before we jump in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Stephanie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Stephanie is a three-time CEO and entrepreneur who dropped out of the nine-to-five grind after her intuition went from a soft whisper to a loud roar. She created free earth photography in 2014, where her work was featured on platforms such as the Weather Channel, Travel Channel, and Airbnb after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease shortly after she reversed her illness by herself and went on to become a holistic health coach and her private practice evolved to health where she published a book helping 1000s of people to this day thyroid first aid kit. Through working one-on-one with clients, she quickly realized the importance of spiritual and emotional health, and Lightworkers Lounge was born. Stephanie, are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO community?

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Stephanie 1:38

What a cool introduction I felt so special.

Gresham Harkless 1:42

Exactly. I was waiting and I feel like I should have had like intro music and everything and lights and all of those things. They introduce you to doing awesome things.

Stephanie 1:51

Thank you. That's awesome.

Gresham Harkless 1:54

Well, I wanted to kick everything off, I hear a little bit more about your CEO story. And what led you to get started?

Stephanie 2:00

What led me to get this, it's just crazy that I can be labeled as a CEO, to be honest. But now that I think about it, I've always kind of had the CEO drive in me, I have a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership. And going into college, I thought I wanted to do something with music or something with video production. I was always drawn to the arts. But I ended up getting an organizational leadership degree, which is a degree based on how you keep your employees happy. Because you can only have a successful business, the people who helped grow your business are satisfied. So that is really what started it. And then as you read in my bio, it was just a series of life events. That led me to my purpose now as being the CEO and running my own business.

Gresham Harkless 2:46

Nice. Well, I definitely you know, sorry. You know, everything happened with you know, the disease, autoimmune disease, but it's great to kind of hear you know, how, like you said, you kind of look back at your life and look back at all the things you go through and you can kind of piece stuff together to see like who you are for one and also like some of the steps you should take.

Stephanie 3:03

Yeah, as I always tell people, everything happens for you not to you know, we see that as you're in the midst of grieving or anger or frustration, but in hindsight, you will see why it happened.

Gresham Harkless 3:17

Absolutely, so I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Can you tell us a little bit more about like work Lightworkers lounge and tell us what you're doing?

Stephanie 3:26

Well, you know, Lightworkers Lounge just happened so organically. I just fell into it. I had a blog called Free Spirit Fun that I started in 2013 just documenting my adventure and sharing some of the life lessons I learned in my 20s. And blogging was fun, but I wanted to reach my audience on a more personal level.

I want them to hear my voice and see my body language. So Lightworkers Lounge was started in January 2018 as a hobby, just as an outlet to release my thoughts and my creativity because at the time, I was a holistic health coach at my own business, but I still wanted to be creative. Like I said earlier, I'm drawn to the arts. So I started Lightworkers Lounge as a hobby, and my intros used to be freestyles. I have a whole freestyle Zodiac.

Gresham Harkless 4:17

Okay, cuts to extra content.

Stephanie 4:21

I suppose that but it was just so fun. And then that summer I went through a divorce and it was really tough. And I was grieving and going through a lot of motions, and I kind of lost my fun. Let's freestyle my intros side of me and I became more serious. Financially, things weren't good either after my divorce, so I thought well, I can keep doing lightworker signs on the side as a hobby, but it's definitely not going to be my job. I gotta go get a real quote unquote, real job bills. So, Gresh, I applied for hundreds of jobs. I showed up in places with my resume I applied online, but nothing panned out. And for someone with a bachelor's degree and five years of corporate experience, that's just odd that I couldn't even get an entry-level job.

So one day, I was just so frustrated waking up and applying for jobs I didn't really want. I just wanted them to pay my bills that I said, you know, what, what do I really love? What do I do without being told to do it? Light Workers Lounge. So I thought you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to wake up and I'm going to pretend that Light Workers Lounge is my full-time job, I'm going to pretend that it is my nine-to-five and that I make a full salary off of it. And I literally, like clocked in said, okay, my lunch break is from noon to one, and I'm gonna close my laptop at five. And ever since that day, Lightworkers Lounge has grown 1000 followers per week, on average.

Gresham Harkless 5:47

Nice, I absolutely love that. And I love the progression of everything. Because I think sometimes we have to become who we want to be before it actually happens. So like what you mentioned with now Lightworkers lounge, like, a lot of times, we want to make our side hustle into our full-time job, or we have this vision of transforming, you know, this part of our life or whatever that might be. But we have to get our mindset and then we have to change our actions and have that kind of environment so that that starts to happen. So it's great to kind of hear that happen for you.

Stephanie 6:17

Thank you. And it's incredible. I haven't had to apply for a job since.

Gresham Harkless 6:22

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that.

Stephanie 6:24

Yeah, so for anyone listening, I think that can really help them just focus, and pretend that your side hustle is your full-time job. Don't worry about the money. Because when you focus and you are in alignment with your purpose, you feel happy and like you're on the right track, the money will show up when you least expect it.

Gresham Harkless 6:42

Absolutely. And I feel like there's a lot of people who sometimes have things that they're working on, and they kind of feel like there's not a way to, you know, make it into a full-time hustle or full-time job like do you have like anything that you maybe went through? Or can speak to how you were able to kind of change that perspective?

Stephanie 7:03

Well, you won't have one stream of income. You know, if you come from the nine-to-five world like I did, you are so used to getting a paycheck every other week, and it's the same amount of money. You have to be okay with uncertainty. Not knowing if you're gonna make a lot next week, or if you're gonna make $50 You have to be okay with that and just keep going where it feels right.

Gresham Harkless 7:28

Nice. Wow, I definitely love that and appreciate that. I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you or your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Stephanie 7:40

You know Gresh I get daily emails from people asking me how did you grow Lightworkers Lounge? Like do you hire a marketing agency? Do you have robots? Are your followers real? Because we have so fast. My secret sauce, you guys. Just being myself is just going on my podcast going on our Instagram and just pretending like I'm sitting at a cafe with a good friend. And never you know if I am really sad, but wow, there are 133,000 people looking at what I'm saying what I'm doing, then I wouldn't be authentic. I wouldn't be myself. Yeah, so I just really pretend like they're all my family. Like, I've said this on a podcast before I feel like I don't call on my followers that was just weird to me. I call on my Instagram fam. All my cousins are all my brothers and sisters.

Gresham Harkless 8:34

There you go. Yeah, definitely. I love that. And I think that that's been the beautiful thing about like, all these different tools and this technology is that you get the opportunity to really delve down deeper and see more into people and people get to express themselves and use different platforms like Instagram, or blogs or podcasts to have that kind of relationship and that extended family.

Stephanie 8:54

Yeah, I love it. They are my Instagram fam. And I think that's why we keep growing because I'm just me, I don't try to be anybody else. I don't try to impress them or be you know, I don't get on there to inflate my ego and feel like oh, I've got this many followers. That's why I don't like that word. No one's following me. They're joining me we're all sitting at the same round table.

Gresham Harkless 9:10

Exactly. Definitely appreciate that. And let me ask you this. So do you find that? How do you balance between seeing people that are successful, and emulating what they're doing? And also being authentic? Or do you feel like you should do one or the other?

Stephanie 9:20

Oh, Gresh, My intuition is sharp. If I mean, I'd be lying if I said I didn't try and do what really successful people do, but I'll feel it in my gut. I'm just like, This is not me. And people are here to see me and that's the most popular message I get from my listeners is stuff I love how authentic and real you are. So the moment I veer away from that my intuition will tell me I literally feel nauseous and then I'll just like Alright, get back on track. You This is why people are here.

Gresham Harkless 10:00

Yeah, absolutely no, I definitely love that. And it's always important to kind of, you know, have that space in that time. So you can also listen to that because I find that and I don't know if it's the same with you. But I find sometimes when you're Go, go go all the time you're doing so many different things, you, it's harder to listen to that quiet voice that's telling you what to do or not to do.

Stephanie 10:18

Oh, yeah. And I can feel that. And I'll have to take breaks. And just like I said, I live here in Telluride, Colorado. So I'll just go out in the mountains by myself, get grounded, spend time with friends and family with no internet, no cell phones, no social media around, that really pulls me back down to earth, like, Okay, this is who I am. Now I can go back on.

Gresham Harkless 10:37

Exactly, yes nothing like nature to give us that clarity. And that time to do that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Stephanie 10:53

I say my CEO hack would be going out and living and putting my face out of the books and out of the podcasts and the Instagram and just going out to a coffee shop and striking up a conversation with a stranger.

Gresham Harkless 11:07

Absolutely, no, I definitely love that. And I appreciate that perspective. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Stephanie 11:22

Good and hungry? Talking about nuggets?

Gresham Harkless 11:25

Exactly. Have you put them all together and made something really special?

Stephanie 11:29

Yeah. If I could go into a time machine, go back to my younger self, like how old are we talking?

Gresham Harkless 11:37

Well, I don't know, when was the first entrepreneurial thing that you did?

Stephanie 11:45

Starting my blog, I started that while I was still working a corporate job. So you know, I'd work from nine to five, and then I'd work on this blog, from five to eight. And I just loved it though. And if I could go back and sit next to that girl who's sitting at the laptop eating dinner while typing at the same time. Yeah, ain't no secret sauce. I would just look at her and be like, hey, everything you've learned about the nine-to-five life is untrue. You this isn't the only way to survive.

You see that blog that you're writing, like, I would just sit over her shoulder and be like, you know, look how passionate you are about this blog. This can make you money, there's absolutely no reason why this can't be your full-time job. Because I was still so deeply conditioned that unless you have a nine to five with a 401k and health insurance, you're not going to be successful. And that's just so untrue. You can love what you do for a living, you can.

Gresham Harkless 12:50

Absolutely there's definitely an opportunity out there. And it's a great reminder, you know that you've been able to do that, and you know, letting us in reminding us of that possibility as well, too, because I think you are sometimes your environment. So if you grew up, you know, only seeing people go to nine to five and only people, you know, saving for their 401, k's and all those things. And that's reality. But hearing you know, your story and hearing about your success is definitely a great reminder to us.

Stephanie 13:17

Yeah, I love that.

Gresham Harkless 13:19

Yes, definitely. And I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So Stephanie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Stephanie 13:30

Being a CEO, to me means making people love coming to work, it means bringing joy to the world. It means being an example for people that you don't have to believe everything you are conditioned to believe about work and what we do for eight hours a day. Being a CEO means inspiring people doesn't mean that you're better than anyone doesn't mean you're higher up than anyone. It just means you're a leader, not a manager. Telling people the way you are shining a light for others.

Gresham Harkless 14:03

Love it and as a leader, not a manager, that's definitely a great reminder, for us, and Stephanie, I truly appreciate you. I appreciate your time and all the awesome things that you're doing. I wanted to pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course how the best they can get ahold of you.

Stephanie 14:21

Yes, I want everyone to listen to this. I want them to know that if you want to run your own business and you want to be the CEO of your life, not just your job your life. You have to be your biggest cheerleader. You have to always tell yourself that what you're doing and the ideas you have is right and it will work because even your most loved ones, your best friends, and your parents.

Sometimes they will look at you like okay, yeah, good. Good luck with that, right? Good idea. We'll see how that goes. But you must understand that that is just coming from a place of love, and they're not knocking on you to make you feel like you can't do it. They just don't want to see you struggle because they love you. But being a CEO, you will struggle, but I can tell you from experience, it's so worth it. So keep going and be your biggest cheerleader.

Gresham Harkless 15:14

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I truly appreciate that appreciate the grind that you're reminding us to continue to work on it and the people who want to follow up with you on what will be the best ways.

Stephanie 15:24

Yeah, so you can find us on Instagram at Light Workers Lounge you can also find us at www.lightworkers-lounge.com And of course the podcast please come out with us every Wednesday we have a new episode. You can find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Pod Bean really wherever you get podcasts, just search Lightworkers-lounge with Stephanie Powers. And there we are coming out every Wednesday.

Gresham Harkless 15:51

Awesome. Well, we'll definitely have those links in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you, Stephanie. And as you mentioned, if you're listening to this podcast, definitely search for lightworkers-lounge as well. But thank you so much, Stephanie, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Stephanie 16:05

Thank you Gresh I'll chat soon.

Outro 16:07

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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