In this insightful episode of The One Small Change Podcast, host Yvonne McCoy converses with Patricia Stepler about transformative mindset shifts and personal development for entrepreneurs. Patricia shares a gripping story about her son’s journey of manifesting a full college scholarship, inspiring her to delve into the power of thinking big. Together, they discuss how to overcome fear, improve productivity and profit, and free up time by embracing meaningful changes. Listeners will gain valuable insights on how to shed limiting beliefs and propel forward in their entrepreneurial ventures.

Guest Bio:

Patricia Stepler is a devoted personal development enthusiast and a certified consultant with Bob Proctor's organization. Having transitioned from being a school teacher to a successful consultant, Patricia leverages her experience to support entrepreneurs and business leaders in their journey toward growth and success by unleashing their mindset potential. Her focus is on helping individuals think bigger, realize their capabilities, and take transformative actions.

Key Points Discussed:

1. The Small Change Catalyst (00:00:48) Patricia’s son's declaration to achieve a full collegiate scholarship and how it ignited her journey into personal development.
2. Breaking the Comfort Zone (00:04:14) The significance of thinking big and the fear of stepping outside comfort zones in achieving entrepreneurial goals.
3. The Importance of Self-Image (00:08:51) The critical need for self-image transformation to achieve big goals, including the subconscious barriers established during childhood.
4. Mindset and Action Alignment (00:12:02) Addressing the necessity of combining the right mindset with intentional actions to achieve desired entrepreneurial results.
5. From Stuck to Unstoppable (00:18:32) Highlight of Patricia’s detailed free resource designed to help individuals move from feeling stuck to achieving unstoppable momentum in their goals.

Main Quote:

"You can never outperform the image you hold of yourself."

Links:

Free Gift   https://patricia.creatingtopproducers.com/stuck-to-unstoppable

Monthly Interactive Workshop: https://patricia.creatingtopproducers.com/workshop

Hi. Welcome to the One Small Change. And again, I

am thrilled that you took the time to join me on this journey of exploration

and transformation. And let me come along with you. I'm your host,

Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost 30 years of entrepreneurial

experience and a passion for discovering how you can get growth through the

power of seemingly small change. So I want to thank

you again for spending your time and plotting

out your entrepreneurial journey with me. And this week, we are

speaking with the amazing Patricia Stepler. Patricia,

thank you for taking time to be here with me, and, you

know, I know that what you have to talk about, my

audience can use. So tell me what you do, and what was the

small change that caused you to do it? Well, Yvonne, I wanna thank you

for inviting me. So my small change, I was a school

teacher and was about the time where I could retire,

and my small change came from my son. My

son, when he was 12, told me that he

was going to be a collegiate athlete and get a full scholarship.

And I did not believe him. Even though I did personal development my

entire life, I'm like, nothing like that's ever happened to me.

And so I let him believe his little fantasy.

And sure enough, he finally decide baseball would be

what he was gonna be a collegiate athlete in, and they don't even give

full scholarships because if you're really good, you just go pro.

But lo and behold, he was

went to see some different schools and they started to, you

know, contact him. And when he

got his scholarship offer, he indeed got a full

scholarship. Now in full disclosure, it was not an athletic scholarship.

It was an academic scholarship. But when

he did that, I'm like, I know he caused that to happen.

I just don't know how. So that one

small event that happened led me on my journey to

figure out what he had done because I knew

enough about personal development that he had set this goal, but

I didn't know how he accomplished it. And the school that he went

to was a school we had never heard of.

And it was in the south where he wanted to play. We live in Pennsylvania.

He wanted to play in the south. The school was in Georgia. Like,

everything was falling in place for him, and I

had to figure it out. And so that journey led

me to, Bob Proctor, who

showed me, as soon as I saw Bob Proctor, another small change.

The minute I heard him talk, I knew that he was the one that had

the answers to the questions that I had.

And so I quickly joined as a consultant with his group

because I had to figure it out. It was like, if he could do

it, as amazing as I I think my son is, I know

that other people can do things just as amazing. And so I had

to figure it out so they could share it with the world. So that

was small step. Maybe it seems like a really big step

because a full scholarship is pretty, pretty big deal. But you

know, at the time it, it was like, okay, I have to figure this

out. So, so how did that bring you to

working around, productivity and profit and freeing

up people's time? I mean, to me, it sounds like first

you have to set the intention. Mhmm. But, you

know, in terms of entrepreneurs, you know,

that's what we're into. We're into production and profit and, you

know, I jokingly say as an entrepreneur, you have the freedom to

work 17 hours a day. Sometimes I do.

Yeah. So what I learned from everything that,

you know, we have to think bigger. And so I kept using my son as

the example because he thought bigger. He just he never

let any discouragement get in his way. And he did have

roadblocks. He had things that went wrong.

But in the end, he kept thinking big. And, you

know, so many of us, we we don't

we don't wanna step outside of our comfort zone. And so if we

think too big, we're like, oh, I don't know how to do that. Well, he

didn't know how to do it. He just kept saying it and

affirming it and believing it. And so that's

one thing that, you know, I help people and businesses because I

particularly like working with business owners and entrepreneurs because they want to

see results. And you can really start to see results when you

start to put these things into action. So first, you have to think

bigger. You have to know where you want to go. And a lot of people

don't really know. They they have a wish maybe, but they don't

really know how to how to go about and take the steps.

So that's the first thing I think that you need to do.

So why do you think we don't think bigger? I think

because we're afraid. And sometimes

we, you know, I know a lot of people say, you know, someday I'd like

to do this. Someday I'd like to do that. And it's really just a

wish. And I think the the whole

the whole problem that people don't wanna think bigger, because if they really start to

think bigger and they start to go after something, a lot

of times, other people will try to discourage you. Even people

that love you will try to discourage you because they wanna keep you safe

and your own mind wants to keep you safe. It doesn't want you

to stretch beyond what's comfortable. And,

and so, you know, sometimes there's other people, even though

they, they do love you and want to keep you

safe. They also, I think, subconsciously think,

if they go off and they think big and they do this and they do

that, they're not gonna be my friend anymore. They're not gonna need me

anymore. And I don't think it's a conscious thought. I think it's just

something that that happens. Well, I think, you know, what I

say about that is 1, your fam

you're absolutely right. You know, as children, right,

left to our our brothers, we you know, it would be amazing if we actually

grew up. And so, you know, you know, there's like, don't

cross the street, don't, you know, migrate, be seen

and not hurt. I mean, these, all these kinds of expectations. And then when you

grow, you know, you get older, those those things that kept you

safe as a child do not serve you as well as an

adult. Right. And they are subconscious so many times.

Right? I just remember, you know, when I

was in junior high and I ran for president of the student

council, and my mother said, I don't want you to do that. And I

was like, why? And she goes, you might lose. And I go,

there's 5 people running. I mean, there's an 80% chance.

So so yeah. I mean, I think that that, you know, I think I I

remember the first coaching group I was in. We had to

write down our 3, 5, and 10 year plans. Mhmm. And,

I remember that one person, their their you know, for

their 5 or 10 years, they would they wanted to own their own island.

Right? And, you know, all this stuff. And

I was like, I wanna be able to take 2 vacations

here. There's something wrong here. Doesn't

it? You know? Okay. So I just so that we have time to hit

some more points from you. Yeah. So, you

know, with with my son thinking bigger, he just

he constantly had the thought in his mind. And and, you know,

when you're talking about discouraging, he never knew that I did

not believe he would get a scholarship. I never I

never allowed myself to say, come on, Danny. You're

dreaming. That's never gonna happen. You know how few people get

scholarships and how few people get to be collegiate. You know, I never said any

of that. I just let him believe it was a little fantasy until till the

bubble burst. And even the day when he he got his letter,

I reminded him that the school had told us he could only expect a

third to half. And then when he opened it, it was like a full scholarship.

So thinking bigger and constantly keeping your

focus on what it is that you want, even

when roadblocks get in the way and discouragements come, is super

important. And then I think the next thing you have to realize is

the person you are today is not the person

that you need to be to accomplish that big goal. You've

gotta change. You've gotta be willing to change. You've gotta work on

you. You know? And and that is something constantly we

constantly have to work on our self image because as you were saying, you

know, a lot of our self image is input when we were

small and we didn't even have the ability to filter it

out because everything just went into our mind. And

so we have to be able to be willing to change

because if you don't change, you would already have that

goal. Right. If you think everything that you see in front of

you, everything that you have today

is because of the person you are today. Well But to go to that next

step, you gotta change. One of the things that I always say to about people

is think about the characteristic that your family hates

the most. That's probably the thing you're actually the best at.

Yeah. You know? I mean, because it didn't fit into their

norm. Yeah. Yeah. It seemed like it was a bad thing.

But it's actually the thing that is your natural your

natural persona, kind of. And and and I think the other

thing is that change is

constant. So whether you make a conscious

decision to change, you will be changed by things that

are going around you, or if you don't change at all, you're gonna stagnate.

And you as a business person, that means that you're not relevant.

And so I think that, you know, as an entrepreneur, we have to say

we have to be aware of the changes that we need to make because,

you know, unfortunately, our education system is such

that it's meant to get the right answers,

follow the instructions, that kind of stuff. You're in an entrepreneurial world

where you get to make the rules kind of, you know, or some of the

rules. And if you can't take what

you do, I mean, people don't need more information.

Right? Because it's everywhere. What they Exactly. What they need

is someone they relate to that can help them

implement the information that's right for them.

And so if you can't figure out how to, you know, not

not do what you do, but customize it

somewhat for what people need, which we you

know, it's not it it's changing in small increments, tweaking.

Right? But I think change is uncomfortable. I

always you know, my my my big thing is I've never been this

miserable before, so I must be making a great change.

I love that. You know? Yeah.

I don't wanna stop you. Yeah. So the next thing that I I

started to realize is that you can have that dream and you

can visualize the person you wanna be and pretend that you are

that person, But if you don't take the action,

it's not going to happen. And that's where I think a lot of entrepreneurs

or coaches miss out because they're not taking the actions

they need to take with the right mindset. Because it's

not just the action, but it's doing those actions in a certain

way with a certain thinking that will give you the

results. And if No. Go ahead. Then I'll ask

my question. I'm sorry. Yes. So, you know, a lot of times we

we have something that we want, but on the flip side, we don't think

we're gonna get it. So that's conflicting. And

so you just have to start moving forward and taking actions.

Even if it's a small step, just make a tiny step each day

towards your goal. And you have to get rid of that doubt and

fear, which holds you back.

And that's, that's the thing I see a lot of people,

you know, they allow that fear to creep in and they allow those

thoughts about, who am I to be able to do this? You know, what

makes me think I can, you know, be an entrepreneur?

And actually, that stopped me for a while too.

So I I'd like to talk about mindset a little bit, because

I think, typically, entrepreneurs are doers.

You know, they focus on the doing, and they

don't, you know and so, like, when a lot of times when they come into

a a program or whatever, and it starts with mindset, some kind of mindset,

which it probably should. You know, entrepreneurs are like, just give me the

thing I need to do. Mhmm. Can we talk a little bit

about, can we talk a little

bit about why that is so important and that

mindset is not just a buzzword. It really is a thing.

Right. So mindset in in

your subconscious mind, you have these thought patterns,

habitual thought patterns. And as long

as those habitual thought patterns remain in control,

and one of them is your self image, they are in

charge, and they will stop you from doing the very thing that you

want to do. So it's a matter of understanding

how to change those

paradigms, we call them, and change those paradigms to the ones that you

want and to the beliefs that you want. And that's

why mindset is so important. You know, you're you're exactly right. So

often people think, oh, I've got a good mindset. That's not my problem.

Well, yeah. It probably is. It's probably one of the main

issues because when you do that,

then your actions have a different intensity.

And you do things intentionally, and you do things with

on a higher what I call higher vibration because

now you're you're operating at a different level. And when

you operate at a different level, which is the level where your goal is or

at least closer to your goal, you put a

different motivation and a different energy

behind every action that you're taking. And if you're

thinking like, oh, this is never gonna happen, then you decrease

it. Just like you're saying, you know, you you either change or

you stagnate or you go backwards. You

know, the world is changing, and and we have to make

sure that we are changing to the person that we want to be.

And I I think the thing that's interesting is

alright. So my framework, generally speaking, is

that first you learn to be, you know, to manage

yourself, and that's where mindset come is so, so important.

Mhmm. How do you, you know, become resilient? How do you

what are your principles and your thoughts and stuff like that?

We are not taught that on purpose as we're growing up.

No. So that's a a weak spot, which is why you know, and the next

thing is how do I manage the project or the business that that I'm

doing? And then after that, you can learn to

manage other people and after that, organizations. But I say

that because there are some

higher level kind of thought patterns. I mean, so for instance,

just a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset,

you know, is a big one. But the one I think in

terms of changing my my my

mindset and how I operated was the concept

that success was not a binary choice. It was not that you

succeeded or you failed. And when I

finally learned that failure was part of of the

process to getting success and you were actually doing

an experiment, you know, so you do something, you look at your

results, you adjust it, and then you keep going. That

was a huge mindset because I was,

you know, as a child, you know, you were always taught, you know, that in

in my family, you know, your head was the most important thing, that you were

the best, that you were at the top always. And so failure

was not an option. And so what that meant is if you

thought you were gonna fail, you just didn't do it. Right.

Right? So I I think that's one of the reasons that

mindset is so powerful and so

important. Anyway, we can probably talk for hours. You know, I see that

with so many people because they'll they'll start out and they have a

dream of something they want to do, and then they

meet with a roadblock or something gets in the way and, you

know, and they may try again later.

But once it happens, once or twice, they

quit trying. Yeah. And and that's really sad

because I I look at those stumbling blocks

along the way as, you know, it's just like a,

an angel out there that's trying to see how badly you want

it. Yes. And so I try to keep

my clients knowing that, you know, not everything you do is

going to be successful, but it's

testing you. It's like a test that you're taking. Are you

willing to take this failure and turn it into a

success? Or is is it sometimes

the failure is you realize that it's not the right

thing. Right. It's time. Yeah. Right?

Okay. So here's what we need to do to make sure we get everything

in. I need you to talk about your free gift and Okay.

Action steps that people can take to to

improve their mindset and their productivity and their profit.

Okay. So my free gift is called from stuck to

unstoppable. And this is kind of a new adventure

for me in that it's a very detailed,

freebie with questions and

information. It goes through those three steps about the thinking

bigger, the becoming the person you need to be, and taking

action. It's giving you a lot of information as

to why you need to do that. And for

myself, I felt very stuck when I,

was raising my kids because I was the mom. I was

Rachel's mom. I was Renee's mom. I was Danny's mom. I didn't even have a

name half the time. You know, people would just say, oh, you're Danny's

mom. And I was okay with that because that was my main

purpose, raising my 3 kids to be,

as what I could get to them, outstanding citizens. And

then when they were going off to college, when my son finally well, he was

my youngest. Went off to college, it's like, what am I gonna do? Because I

felt like I had no identity. Mhmm. And even though I was teaching, I

still thought I had no identity. And so I felt very

stuck. Well, then when I got into business, I also became

very stuck because I did not have any business experience.

And so I was listening to this person and that person and this person and

that and running off doing all kinds of different things.

So in this booklet, I wish somebody had given this to me

and said, okay. So think deeply

about this. What is it that you want? What do you need to change

about who you are? What actions do you need to take

to go forward? So that's, that's why this freebie, I think it's a really

important booklet for people, you know, if they feel a little

stuck anytime, you know, whether it's at the beginning or whether it's midway, they've hit

a plateau, What do I need to get unstuck?

Right. And I think there's a time in your your mind that

everything just clicks. Well At least that's the way it was for me.

And and I think when, you know, just this is my take on on

stuckness. It's stuckness is,

you know, you could still be doing things, but

you're not moving in the direction that you want. It's like,

you know, the, the definition of insanity. And I think

there's a particular time in our life when you, you know,

especially when the kids leave, you know, and, you know, the

other things that you have to take care of for whatever reason lighten

up, and you go. And it really happens close to

around when you're 52. Also, there's

gotta be more. Right. This isn't where I

expected to be. Right? And so you need to keep

looking internally. I mean, that's part of the whole, you know, the whole

journey. Okay. So, again,

we can use the three things that you talked about as our 3 steps.

Mhmm. You can find the information for the freebie will be in

the in the notes. And so my other question is when was

the last time you did something new for the first time?

So this is kind of new, getting on speaking

stages, getting, podcasts. That's

my something new and it's something I'm doing for the pretty much

the first time. So it was about, I guess, a month ago when I made

the decision that 2025 was gonna be my speaking

year. And I was going to pursue getting on as

many stages as possible. Well, I hope this has been a great

experience. I've enjoyed it. So Yes. I've enjoyed it too. I

hope this is a good kickoff for for what you plan on doing. So,

unfortunately, we have to wrap this up. So I just wanna say to all of

you that are listening, as a first step, please subscribe

and, share this with other people, engage on, you know, with the

podcast on social media. And one of the reasons I'm doing this is

to help you have small changes that can supercharge your

business through connection. And it's my way of giving back and

helping you to, on your quest for growth. So I'm

hoping that you will join me for the one small change, as we go

on to this journey of monumental transformation.

And if you haven't gone to the main page, you want to do that so

you can get the first episode about why I'm doing this. And also so that

you can find some other, great speakers that have some

great, you know, words of wisdom so that you can dive

into a world of bold vision and innovative possibilities.

So with that, Patricia, what's what's your last word you want us to

remember you by or a quote that you like? I think

one of my favorite quote quotes is, you can never outperform

the image you hold of yourself. Say that

again? You can never outperform

the made you hold of yourself. So in other words, you know, if

you think if you think of yourself one way and

your, self image is stuck there,

you're never gonna be able to be bigger. Interesting.

That is a great quote. I've never I've never heard that one before.

So we're coming up to the end, and I just want

everybody to remember that change can be simple, but it's

not always easy. Because for one thing, it requires courage,

resilience, and a willingness to step out of our comfort zones.

And it's so comfortable in the comfort zone. But I

hope that you will join me again for the one small change as we

as we look to see what possibilities there are. And

I hope that next time, you will bring

a friend and have others listen as well. So thank you for coming.

Patricia, thank you for giving your time and your information

freebie. Thank you for inviting me. Everything will be in the notes

so that you can get more of her. Bye.